May 23, l9i)2.J 



SCIENCE. 



833 



the system is taught and learned and the 

 facility with which it is applied to the prob- 

 lems which in ordinary arithmetic are complex 

 and difficult to solve. When we consider that 

 there are over 15,000,000 school children in 

 the United States being educated at a public 

 cost of not less than $200,000,000 per year, the 

 enormity of the waste will be appreciated. 

 In the lifetime of a single generation nearly 

 $1,000,000,000 and 40,000,000 school years are 

 consumed in teaching a system which is in 

 harmony with that of no other nation of the 

 world. 



In higher education the metric system of 

 weights and measures is used almost exclu- 

 sively, and attention is called to the action of 

 the associated academic principals of the 

 State of New York — a body of some 700 high 

 school principals, superintendents and prom- 

 inent educators — which has passed the follow- 

 ing resolution in regard to the adoption of 

 the metric system : 



Resolved, That we hereby instruct our legisla- 

 tive committee to forward to Congress of the 

 United States, if there shall be suitable occasion 

 and opportunity, our earnest petition for the en- 

 actment of such legislation as shall render the 

 use of the metric system obligatory throughout 

 the United States. 



Many similar actions by educational bodies 

 of all kinds throughout the country have been 

 called to our attention. 



It is a matter of evidence on the part of 

 educators in the United States, Great Britain, 

 and Continental Europe that the metric sys- 

 tem and its application to the solution of prob- 

 lems may be learned in one tenth the time re- 

 quired for gaining an equal facility in the use 

 of the English system of weights and meas- 

 ures. It is doubtful whether any measure 

 of more vital importance and benefit to the 

 educational interests of the country has ever 

 come before Congress. 



RELATIONS TO MANUFACTURING INTERESTS. 



It should be emphasized that this measure 

 in no way contemplates any change in exist- 

 ing technical standards, sxich as screw threads, 

 wire gauges, lumber measures, and numerous 

 others, except as manufacturers and other in- 



terests involved find it to their interest to 

 make the change. Doubtless a change in the 

 fundamental standards of length and mass 

 would facilitate the simplification of such 

 standards; biit the changes would still be 

 brought about as heretofore by the special 

 interests involved. 



Any change in the standards employed in 

 manufacturing, no matter how perfect the sys- 

 tems proposed or how beneficial the change 

 may be, must be very carefully and judi- 

 ciously made. In the case of textile fabrics, 

 materials of construction, package goods, and 

 almost all kinds of manufactured products, 

 a change would no doubt involve some incon- 

 venience, but the expense of modifying ex- 

 isting plants or machinery would be very 

 slight. In many cases no change or expense 

 would be necessary, and the benefits to be 

 derived from a convenient and universal 

 standard would far more than compensate for 

 the expense and confusion temporarily in- 

 volved during the transition stage. 



The relation between the manufacture and 

 the sale of these products is so close that any 

 change in the system of weights and measures 

 which will lessen the burden and expense of 

 the counting room and office is worth the cost, 

 considered from the standpoint of economy 

 alone. The action of many associations of 

 manufacturers and merchants, both in the 

 United States and in Great Britain, has been 

 called to our attention, and without exception 

 they have urged the adoption of the metric 

 system of weights and measures, on accovmt 

 of its international character and superiority 

 over the present system for manufacturing 

 and commercial purposes. 



In no other country has the construction 

 of machinery reached a degree of perfection 

 superior to that of our own, a result prin- 

 cipally due to the system of interchangeable 

 parts. The latter may be said to be a product 

 of American ingenuity and to be the greatest 

 single advance in modern machinery. It 

 has for its essential features a uniform stand- 

 ard of length and accurate length-measuring 

 instruments. This work has been done upon 

 the basis of the inch, which in many cases has 

 been decimalized. 



