Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 66.djvu/331

Rh a person accustomed to buy sugar at six cents a pound, it would be a little perplexing at first to buy it at 13 cents the kilo, or 6 cents the half-kilo. It is the experience of the average American, however, that in a foreign city, where the metric units and coinage have both to be acquired, familiarity is obtained after about two weeks. Consequently, less time should be needed to gain familiarity with the metric system, when the coinage is unchanged.

If it be questioned as to whether it is worth while for the whole nation to be involved in this trouble and expense of transition, it should be remembered that practically all countries, except the English-speaking countries, have already considered it worth while to make the change, and that none of these countries has expressed regret for the step. Moreover, the labor involved in the change, if the transition is not too sudden, will be small compared with the labor saved to the young in acquiring the present complex system, as well as to adults in wastefully consuming time for constantly applying it.

The United States cover so large a territory, and have within this territory so large a market, that the pressure upon their citizens for meeting the requirements of trade with countries outside of Great Britain, or her colonies, has not been felt as it has been felt in countries like Germany. Nevertheless it is the often-repeated statement of the U. S. consuls living abroad that the non-metric price-list, weights and measures of American manufacturers are a handicap on American trade with metric countries.

Already the metric system is used in the United States for nearly all scientific work and literature. It has even permeated popular literature to some slight extent. It has already invaded pharmacy and microscopy. The international electric units are metric units. It has come into our currency. A nickel weighs, by law, five grams, and a dollar twenty-five. The U. S. foot is defined by law as a certain fraction of the international meter.

The colonies of Great Britain, less conservative than their mother country, have recently urged Great Britain to adopt the metric system. In August, 1902, the prime ministers of the colonies officially urged upon the Secretary of State the importance of adopting the metric system throughout the British Empire. At the Congress of the Chambers of Commerce of the British Empire, held in Montreal in August 1903, with delegates from all parts of the empire, a strong resolution was adopted concurring with this action of the colonial prime ministers, and urging the British government to adopt the metric system.

The parliament of Australia passed a strong resolution in favor of adopting the metric system throughout the British Empire, in June. 1903. A similar, but less decided, motion was carried in the Cape of