834 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 386. 



There are a few who claim that the inch 

 is better suited for this purpose than the 

 units of the metric system. However, it 

 should be kept in mind that the interchange- 

 able system does not depend upon the unit 

 used, but upon uniform, reliable standards 

 and accurate measurements, and it is difficult 

 to see why the inch and fractions of an inch 

 should be superior to the centimeter and 

 decimals of a centimeter. German, French, 

 English, and American manufacturers are 

 successfully manufacturing upon a metric 

 basis and have shown no desire to return to 

 the old system, notwithstanding the fact that 

 the change has been made in the latter cases 

 under very adverse circumstances. 



It is admitted that the temporary inconven- 

 ience caused in the shop and drafting room 

 by the proposed change would be very serious 

 if suddenly brought about, but any measiire 

 which contemplates only the gradual introduc- 

 tion of the one system for the other, or even 

 the continuation of the old by all except the 

 departments of the Government in case it is 

 desired, can not be said to be compulsory or 

 capable of producing more than a minimum 

 of inconvenience or expense, and certainly an 

 interchangeable system upon an international 

 basis will be superior to one based on the 

 standard of a single country. 



THE NECESSITY FOR THE METRIC SYSTEM IN 

 COMMERCE. 



The enormous development of the com- 

 merce of the United States within recent 

 years has brought to the attention of our 

 merchants and business men the great advan- 

 tages to be derived from the adoption of an 

 international system of weights and measures. 

 The use of the old system not only involves 

 great loss of time in making computations, 

 but places our merchants at a great disadvan- 

 tage in dealing with countries which have 

 already adopted the international system. 



More than sixty per cent, of out commerce 

 is now carried on with countries using the 

 weights and measures of the metric system, 

 and it is evident that the commerce of the 

 world must soon conform to the metric basis. 



Theodore C. Search, president of the Na- 



tional Manufacturers' Association of the 

 United States, states as follows : 



Wherever manufacturers undertake to extend 

 their trade in foreign countries, they encounter 

 the metric system, and it is the only system of 

 absolute imiformity which prevails throughout 

 the world. The pound, the quart, the gallon, the 

 ton have varying values, wherever encountered 

 in foreign countries, and to insure accuracy the 

 use of these units requires further explanation 

 and some qualifying description in order to in- 

 dicate just what quantity is meant. The enor- 

 mous growth of our export trade during the 

 past four years has brought our manufacturers 

 in touch with the outer world as never before, 

 and has given very practical illustration of the 

 cumbersome character of our methods of measure- 

 ment, and the advantages to be derived from the 

 adoption of a system which is absolute and uni- 

 form throughout the world. * * * 



And as we have only just entered upon a com- 

 mercial conquest of the world, the utility of the 

 metric system will become more and more ap- 

 parent and the necessity for its adoption more 

 urgent with each year of our growing export 

 trade. The extension of our governmental func- 

 tions to the Philippines, Cuba and Porto Rico 

 brings into the circle of our commercial opera- 

 tions millions of people to whom the metric sys- 

 tem is the recognized standard and to whom our 

 own cumbersome system of weights and measures 

 is a strange and unknown language of trade. 



We recognize that any effort to supplant our 

 present system of weights and measures mth the 

 metric system will be attended with more or less 

 difficulty, and will involve some trouble for many 

 of our manufacturers, because of the necessity 

 of changing drawings, patterns, and standards, 

 but we believe it entirely possible to accomplish 

 such a change by gradual steps, and there should 

 be no necessity for causing loss or injury to 

 any of our industrial interests. 



It seems to me that every argmnent is in favor 

 of the unification of standards of weights and 

 measurements throughout the world, and for ua 

 to insist upon an adherence to our antiquated 

 standards is not in accord mth the progressive 

 nature of our people and the progressive tendency 

 of this age. 



Mr. W. O. Wilson, director of the Philadel- 

 phia Coromercial Museum, states as his be- 

 lief that 'millions of dollars are lost every 

 year in transporting our weights, measures, 

 and money from that of , one country to an- . 



