Februaey 19, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



299 



orders, now has the goods of other countries brought 

 daily and cleverly to his immediate notice, by adroit 

 commercial travelers or by extensive catalogues, in 

 the language which he understands, which give him 

 every particular of the article he wants in the weights 

 and measures and currency of his own country. What 

 English firms carry a commercial enterprise to this 

 extent? Some doubtless do; the majority do not. 

 But these things must now be done, and many others, 

 unless we are willing to give up without a struggle 

 our well earned commercial and industrial su- 

 premacy. ' ' 



Sofia, October 14, 1896. — "I have several times 

 referred, in previous reports, to the difficulties which 

 arise to hindrance of commerce in consequence of the 

 obstinacy of Great Britain in adhering to its anti- 

 quated system of weights and measures and money. ' ' 



Vbra Ceuz, December 3, 1896. — ' ' The compulsory 

 use of metric weights and measures with regard to 

 British goods exported to foreign countries and their 

 use in quotations and advertisements of such goods, 

 in lieu of Imperial weights and measures, would 

 greatly tend to the benefit of the British export 

 trade." 



Amoy, November 17, 1896. — "For many years I 

 have been convinced that the introduction of the 

 Decimal System into our weights, measures and money 

 would effect an immense saving of labor and would 

 vastly increase the wealth of our country, and that it 

 would greatly facilitate the sale of our commodities 

 to foreign countries. I am very much rejoiced that an 

 association has been formed to educate public opinion 

 at home as to the advantages of the Decimal System 

 and to bring the matter to the cognizance of the 

 government." 



FoBEiGN Office, London, November 17, 1896.— 

 "lam directed by the Marquis of Salisbury to in- 

 form you that a dispatch has been received from Her 

 Majesty's Agent and Consul-General at Cairo. Lord 

 Cromer considers that a very general opinion un- 

 doubtedly exists in Egypt that British trade with that 

 country would benefit by the adoption of the Metric 

 System of Weights and Measures." 



It was voted that the next meeting of the 

 Society be held at such time as the Council 

 shall direct. 



THE APPRENTICESHIP QUESTION. 

 The American Machinist has been doing a 

 work of great interest and importance to 

 the sociologist and the political economist, 

 in the collection of facts relating to the ap- 

 prenticeship question. Its editors have 



sent out to a large number of employers 

 and managers of manufacturing establish- 

 ments, and also to representative men 

 among the trades-unions, a circular letter, 

 calling for their experience and opinions 

 relative to the desirability of maintaining 

 the old methods of apprenticeship, and of 

 thus insuring a supply of skilled labor in 

 the coming generation. The summary of 

 this, which is probably the first, attempt to 

 secure reliable information at first hand, in 

 this manner, is published in the issue of 

 December 24th, which is substantially all 

 devoted to the subject. It makes a mass 

 of material which will well repay study and 

 serious consideration. 



A discussion in which this matter was 

 made prominent took place at the Detroit 

 Meeting of the American Society of Mechan- 

 ical Engineers, which showed that the great 

 leaders in the manufacturing industries of 

 the country were very much alive to the 

 importance of this question, and some inter- 

 esting facts and opinions were there given, 

 for which the transactions of that Society 

 may be consulted. Articles appearing in 

 the Century Magazine in 1893 also bear di- 

 rectly upon the subject. In the latter dis- 

 cussion, however, it is assumed that ap- 

 prenticeship is abandoned, and that trade 

 schools only can be expected to replace the 

 older system in the supply of skilled labor. 

 This assumption is proved to be without as 

 much foundation as had probably been 

 generally supposed. Of the 116 establish- 

 ments contributing to this later discussion, 

 85 take apprentices — 73 per cent, of the 

 whole number — and 92 per cent, of these 

 express themselves as satisfied that the 

 system is a good one, even for our time. 

 Forty-seven per cent, of all those taking 

 apprentices have written agreements and 

 contracts with them. The general trend 

 of testimony seems to be in favor of taking 

 a boy for a probationary period, to ascer- 

 tain his capabilities and disposition, and 



