Our System of Weights and Measures 



6 7 



We cannot expect a Frenchman or an 

 Italian to translate from pounds and 

 ounces into kilograms and grams, etc. — to 

 go through all this drudgery of transla- 

 tion — simply for the purpose of under- 

 standing the value of what he buys from 

 us. So, of course, if he can get the things 

 he wants from a country that already 

 uses his own system of weights and meas- 

 ures he will do so in preference to buying 

 from us, and American trade will suffer. 

 In my opinion, the trade and commerce 

 of the United States will be very much 

 promoted by our adoption of that system 

 of weights and measures which alone has 

 any chance of becoming universal — -the 

 metric system. 



The trade of Great Britain is already 

 suffering from the competition of metric- 

 using countries, and if we also adopt the 

 system it will not be long before she fol- 

 lows our example. Then the metric sys- 

 tem will become in fact the international 

 system of the world. 



We are better prepared to make the 

 change than the British because we have 

 already become accustomed to a decimal 

 currency, and can therefore appreciate 

 the benefits we derive from the applica- 

 tion of the decimal principle to monetary 

 affairs. I am hopeful, therefore, that our 

 people may be made to see by analogy 

 that we would derive similar benefits 

 from the adoption of the decimal prin- 

 ciple in our system of weights and meas- 

 ures. 



WOULD NEW TOOLS IN OUR WORKSHOPS BE 

 NECESSARY ? 



The Chairman: A good deal has been 

 said on this point: We have been told 

 that if we adopt the metric system it will 

 necessitate the use of new tools and new 

 workshops and thereby become a matter 

 of great expense to our manufacturers. 



Mr Bell: That is a matter for very 

 grave consideration, and I think that the 

 difficulty has been unduly magnified. 

 While of course some of our more enter- 

 prising manufacturers would construct 



new machinery and tools specially 

 adapted for metrical work, it does not 

 necessarily follow that the old machines 

 and tools would not be used for the pur- 

 pose. The fact is that the change does 

 not necessarily involve any change in 

 tools or machinery at all — or at least not 

 to any great extent. It is a question of 

 arithmetic, not of tools or machinery. 

 You can measure the work or output of 

 the present tools and machinery just as 

 well by the metric system as in the ordi- 

 nary way. You can express the dimen- 

 sions and weights of all the parts of the 

 old machines, where required, by the 

 metric system, and though the measure- 

 ments might not be exact to a fraction of 

 a millimeter or a fraction of a gram, they 

 could be rated at their true metrical value, 

 or at a closely approximated value in ex- 

 act measure. It is only where very fine 

 and accurate measurements are required 

 that special tools would be needed. 



The Chairman: In making a brand- 

 new machine you very often have to have 

 special tools in order to economically 

 manufacture the machine. 



Mr Bell: Yes. Of course the change 

 would lead to the production of tools and 

 machinery specially made for the metric 

 system ; but whether these tools are 

 specially for this purpose or not, they can 

 be measured by the metric system. 



The Chairman: You mean by that this, 

 do you not, Doctor : That eventually it 

 would come to be that they would manu- 

 facture in even metric sizes as they now 

 manufacture in even sizes of the English 

 system ? 



Mr Bell: Yes, sir. 



The Chairman : But it would not be an 

 impossibility or a very great inconven- 

 ience to manufacture by the sizes they 

 already have? 



Mr Bell: No. I mean it would not be 

 necessary to throw away the machinery 

 and tools they now have, because gener- 

 ally you would have a sufficient approxi- 

 mation to some exact metrical measure- 

 ment for practical purposes. We can 



