The Scientific Monthly, October to December, 1915Various
Science
The Scientific Monthly, October to December, 1915
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
Careful study of the whole matter showed that the main cost to
make the change to the new system would be in dies, patterns,
gauges, jigs, etc. A careful estimate put this cost at $600 for
each workman and assuming a million workmen, we have a total
cost of $600,000,000. But we have just seen that the annual
expense of retaining the old system of weights and measures is
over $300,000,000. Thus we see that two short years would
suffice to pay for what seems to the great manufacturers
association an insuperable expense. From all this we see that
the question is not one for N. M. A. bookkeeping, but for
national bookkeeping.
Many well-informed people studying the matter superficially,
think the difficulties in the way of a change to the new system
insurmountable. Thus, they think of the cost to the
manufacturer--which we have just seen to be rather large but
not insurmountable; they think of the changes needed in books,
records, such as deeds, and the substitution of new measuring
and weighing instruments. Germany and all the other countries
of continental Europe made the change. Are we to assume that
the United States can not? That would be ridiculous. Granting
that commerce has grown greatly, so also has intelligence and
capability of the people for doing great things.
Scientists are universally agreed as to the wisdom of the
adoption of the metric system. The country, as a whole, must be
educated up to the notion that sooner or later it is sure to be
universally adopted, that it is only a question of time when
this will be done. Already electrical, chemical and optical
manufacturing concerns use the metric units and system
exclusively. The system is also used widely in medicine and
still other arts. Then all institutions of learning use the
metric system exclusively whenever this is possible. All that
is needed is to complete a good work well begun.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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