THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
Vol.  93. 
August,  1921. 
No.  8. 
EDITORIAL-  0  i  : 
THE  COMPULSORY  ADOPTION  OF  THE  METRIC 
SYSTEM. 
There  is  a  needless  hue  and  cry  in  the  air  over  the  compulsory 
introduction  of  the  Metric  System  into  general  commercial  use  in 
this  country.  A  bill  known  as  The  Metric  Standards  Bill  has  -been 
introduced  into  Congress  which  calls  for  the  forced  adoption  of  this 
system.  Provision  is  made  in  this  bill  for  the  gradual  advance  to 
the  decimal  metric  units  of  weight  and  measure  during  a  transi- 
tional period  of  ten  years.  It  also  enables  the  manufacturer  to 
choose  any  weights  and  measures  for  use  in  production,  but  calls 
for  the  exclusive  use  of  the  Metric  System  in  commercial  trans- 
actions. All  the  organizations  in  favor  of  its  compulsory  adoption 
have  combined  forces  and  under  the  designation  "The  World  Metric 
Standardization  Council"  are  conducting  a  forceful  campaign  to  in- 
fluence the  country  at  large  to  accept  this  system  as  the  recognized 
standard  of  weights  and  measures.  This  Council  has  met  some  bit- 
ter opposition  from  another  aggregate  of  organizations  who  predict 
disastrous  results  to  business  if  the  country Js  to  be  forcibly  made 
to  adopt  this  Metric  System  plan.  This  latter  organization  is  termed 
"The  American  Institute  of  Weights  and  Measures,"  and  its  cam- 
paign of  education,  if  it  might  be  so  termed,  is  intensive,  expensive, 
and  quite  as  forcefully  conducted  as  that  of  its  opponents.  Both 
sides  marshall  an  imposing  array  of  arguments  and  a  formidable 
army  of  proponents,  and,  if  judgment  were  to  be  based  purely  upon 
the  presentation  of  the  issues  by  these  organizations  of  pros  and 
cons,  it  would  be  indeed  a  difficult  task  to  choose  sides  in  the  argu- 
ment. 
The  multiplicity  of  arguments  with  which  we  have  been  literally 
(520 
