6-The Perkins Journal Thursday, July 14, 1977
Get ready for the Metric System
[Editor's Note: There is
much discussion, pro and
con, as the United States
embarks upon Metrication of
their measuring system. The
following report taken from
the May 16 issue of
SPOTLIGHT, a weekly news.
paper printed in Washing-
ton, D.C., explains some of
the problems concerning this
project. We are also reprint-
ing it here because it gives
some history of the measure-
ment system, as well as the
metric system which many
may not be aware of. The
Journal will welcome re-
marks from the "other"
side, or from Journal readers
concerning their views on the
conversion to metrics. ]
WASHINGTON--New in-
formation uncovered by The
SPOTLIGHT shows that
"metricating" the U.S. will
cost you tens of billions of
dollars while international
bankers and multinational
corporations will reap the
benefits.
"Metricating" the U.S.
means abolishing the inch,
foot, yard, mile, ounce,
pound, quart, gallon and
every other traditional mea-
surement and replacing
them with international
metric units.
Last week, The SPOT-
LIGHT examined the esti-
mated $100 million cost of
changing the nation's speed
limit signs to the metric
system. The $100 million
figure is the "official"
estimate. Private estimates
run considerably higher.
But changing every speed
limit sign on every road in
the country is just the
government's foot-in-the-
door. The bureaucracy plans
to ram the metric system
down your throat in every-
thing you do.
So if you re a homemaker
ho sews your own clothes,
regulations, the speed signs
will only be in metric--not
even a transition period of
both metric and miles-per-
hour so you can get used to
the changeover.
And how high is your
truck? You better watch
those underpasses. When
the height-restriction sign as
you approach an underpass
has a big "4" on it, that will
mean four meters clearance.
But your truck is 11 feet, 10
inches high. An inch is 2.54
centimeters. A meter is
made up of 100 centimeters.
Quick, do the calculation.
But remember that one
meter is just over 39 inches.
And while you're working
on that, a speed limit sign
says "50." Hurry, do the
calculation from 50 kilome-
ters-per-hour to whatever
mph. A kilometer is three-
fifths of a mile. A mile is 1.6
kilometers. Just hope you
don't shear off the top of
your truck going into that
underpass, and watch out for
"smokies"--the speed limit
changeover will be a boon to
states wanting to drum up
some cash with more speed
tickets.
If you're a carpenter,
homebuilder, or even a
prospective homeowner, the
metric craze will cost you
time, money and efficiency.
Since Colonial days, the
home.building and construc-
tion industry has been
geared to the English system
of foot-pound-gallon.
But not even the housing
industry will be immune
from the metricrazed bur-
eaucrats. The housing indus-
try is already in a depression
and metric conversion will
hurt it more.
Metric conversion will
affect everything in the
building industry since ev-
erything that goes into
construction is based on
'inehev and pounds-per-
quare-inch. House framing
100 years ago.
But where did this "metric
madness" come from and
why is it being rammed down
your throats now?
The first country the
metric system was introduc-
ed in was France, but it took
a revolution to do it. On May
8, 1790, less than a year after
the French Revolution be-
gan, the radicals forced the
metric system on people. In
fact, the metric system was
based on a very inaccurate
system of decimal fractions
of the quarter meridian
running through Paris.
But the radicals were
determined and the metric
law was enforced by spies
and the secret police.
Everything was "metrica-
ted". Months were divided
into three periods of 10 days
each and days were divided
into 10 hours of 100 minutes
of 100 seconds.
So fanatical were the
metric zealots that they
made it a crime to buy or sell
anything by the dozen--you
had to buy 10 or 20 of what
you wanted. But the
committee that worked out
the metric measurements
was amply rewarded for its
work. On August 1, 1793, the
Weights and Measures
Committee was taked for its
work--and Lavoisier, the
great scientist and principal
member of the committee
was sent to the guillotine.
Many of the metric fanatics
had lost their heads, but not
like Lavoisier.
Finally, the Emperor
Napoleon brought back the
Gregorian Calendar in 1805
and also permitted use of the
traditional measurements,
freeing the French people
from the burden of the
radicals' legacy. And al-
though the metric system
was returned by law in all
measures except time in
187, even today many
French secretly use the
billion. All that money,
drained from the economy,
will be unproductive. Not a
cent will be used to build
plants, hire workers, build
houses, plant crops or
anything else that is truly
productive. It will all be used
on changing road signs,
redesigning machinery to fit
metric standards and the
like.
Gross said: "Every dollar
of the cost will ultimately be
paid by (you,) the purchaser,
customer and consumer."
Who will reap the bene-
fits? The multinational cor-
porations that owe allegiance
to no country and want the
U.S. to adopt the metric
system to help their corpor-
ate profit sheets.
This does not mean that
"businessmen" favor metric
conversion. On the contrary,
all but the very biggest
businessmen will lose much
from conversion.
The National Federation of
Independent Businesses
(NFIB) says that: "Forced
conversion to the metric
system could prove the
difference between success
and failure of many small
firms that do not have the
capital or the expertise to
make the transition."
But the very large
multinational corporations
want to be able to standarize
their holdings, so they want
the entire U. S. to convert to
the metric system. For
instance, they want to he
able to ship widgets, made in
Mozambique (labor's cheap-
er there) everywhere in the
world. A single standard of
measurement enables them
to keep their costs down. As
long as the taxpayers pay for
the conversion, they don't
care.
One multinational com-
pany pushing for conversion
is the Bendix Corporation,
which has promoted the
metri system ifi its era'
pounds, so if you're out to
get two pounds of coffee,
you'll end up paying for even
more.
A liter is about five
percent more than a quart,
so the cost of your milk will
be going up too. In fact, all
your spending habits will be
invisibly restructured to
benefit big business.
All this metric madness--
beginning with the plan to
turn speed limits to metric--
can be repealed. The first
step is to prevent the FHWA
from implementing its plans
for roadside signs.
The address to write to the
FHWA to comment on their
proposed regulations is:
FHWA Docket 77-7, Room
4230, Federal Highway
Administration, U. S. De-
partment of Transportation,
Washington, D.C. 20590.
But that's just the
beginning.
Public outrage can easily
prompt Congress into repeal-
ing the 1975 Metric Convers-
ion Act, from which the
FHWA regulations and all
the other conversion plans
flow.
Your representative's ad-
dress is: House of Repre-
sentatives Office Building,
Washington, D.C. 20515.
Your senator's address is:
Senate Office Building,
Washington, D. C. 20510.
-O-
Local Item
Mr. and Mrs. Lyle Allison
and son from Farmington,
New Mex. were recent
visitors of his mother, Mrs.
Florence Allison. Then on
July 2nd other family
members from Guthrie,
Tulsa and Dallas were guests
of the Allisons, also Mr. and
Mrs. Charles Minnick and.
daughter of Oklahoma City
called in the evening.
Forno rational reason-
The two most frequent arguments
heard on behalf of converting the U.S. to
the metric system are that, "Everybody
else uses it so we should too," and "It's
so much simpler" than the traditional
English system of foot.pound-gallon
measurements.
But just how simple is the metric
system? For Britain, it has turned out to
be a disaster. Britain is now in the 12th
year of its "10 year plan" to go metric
and it's estimated that it will take another
five to ten years.
In addition, British shopkeepers
complain that being forced to use the
complicated metric units drives away
balky customers. But British shopkeepers
are fined if they don't observe the metric
requirements.
The zealotry of British bureaucrats
compares favorably with the fanatacism
of the French revolutionaries who first
introduced the metric system, however.
The French radicals had people thrown in
jail or beheaded if they failed to honor the
metric system.
But it is true that about 90 percent of
the people in the world live in countries
using the metric system. Such industrial
giants as Outer Mongolia and
Afghanistan are on the metric system.
Super-powers like Chad, the Sudan and
Mauritania also use the system.
But if everyone should use one system
of measurement, why not one language?
If only 10 percent of people use the
English system of measurement, only
about 10 percent of the people speak
English. If only 400 million people in the
world speak English, shouldn't they be
required to switch to another language as
well? Perhaps Chinese. After all, more
people speak Chinese than any other
language. But to avoid argument, how
about "Esperanto? .... Esperanto" is the
"universal language" invented by an
internationalist European intellectual
decades ago.
And isn't internationalism the real key
to the metric debate? When the
internationalists are done, there will be
no differences between nations. National
identities will be gradually phased out, to
be replaced with "international citizen-
ship." And doesn't every international
citizen need a world government to tell
him how to run his life?
Why, after all, should the U.S. adopt
the artificial metric system? A meter, the
standard metric length unit, is defined as
"1,650,763.73 wavelengths in a vacuum
* of the orange-red line of the spe&rum of
the element krypton-86." What possible
tion" have to anything you might
your everyday life? You'll
spectrograph now, too, in addition to!
calculators and computers.
Natural measuring units, as op
the artificial metric units, have
beeal
history of the great civilizations. In $,Wl:
B.C., the Egyptians standardized
cubit, their main measuring unit. It
equivalent to what is now 18.24 i.,i
the length of the bent forearm fro ....
point of the elbow to the tip of the mTi
finger of the outstretched hand. ,_<'
Would the Egyptians have been able,'
build the pyramids if they'd b
shackled with the metric system? !
cubit was used to build all .
pyramids--and so accurate a mesS
ment was the cubit that each side of !i
Great Pyramid measures 500 cubits,
all measurements are in multiples
fractions of cubits. The perimeter ofi
pyramid measures 2,000 cubits--one'
a meridian mile• /
froir
The meridian mile also dates ..I .,-
least 4,000 B.C. It is still used by se
the world over today. It consistedof
cubits or 1,000 Egyptian fatho ':
I
fathom originally being about six .
long. It too is still used today, and I
another natural measurement, this tip
!
the length of the outstretched arms.
In fact, the ancient Egyptians /
Chaldeans were so accurate in
astronomical and land measuremenll:,.
made with the meridian mile--that e
greatly im rove .
modern science can't p il jj
these 6,000-year-old measurementsi_.
The Egyptians also used the span '
length between the tips of the thumbnail I
little finger of the outstretched hand. l:It
"just happened" to be exactly one-h
cubit. The universal size of the brick, s<,..
use today, was based on the span. #.U
in
The statute mile is almost equallhe --
old. One thousand paces was establi
as the statute mile several hundred
before the birth of Christ. That was
to 5,000 feet, or four-fifths of a meri
mile. !
/ /
The ancients were so much more aw
of the accuracy of natural measureme:a,.
and the use of correct numbers, that th
systems are still accurate : :
today. /
divided
The Chaldeans first the c" '
into 360 degrees several thousand Y
ago. They knew the value of the null
six, as opposed to the sterile de
system based on 10. The numbers
two, six, 12, 36, 360 and their
was the system their calculations
based on; calculations that
improved on even today.
you'd better get ready to studs are 2-by-4 inches, traditional measurements ployee newspapers for years. -o-
throw out all your patterns. Rafters and joists are 2-by-6 despite laws enforcing met- Secretary of the Treasury application could this bizarre "define-
They'll be useless once the or 2-by-8, Bricks are just ric use. Michael Blumenthal is a
bureacracy shoves the metric under 2-by-3-by-8 inches, an The U. S. never paid much former Chairman of Bendix
system onto cloth manufac- easily handled size. Cement attention to the metric and is also a member of the
turers. Of course, you can blocks are usually eight system until 1975, when 300 Trilateral Commission.
always "convert" your pat-inches high and eight inches representatives passed a bill In addition, metric conver-I / Ci[/ttO
terns to metric measure- long, their thickness either to make use of the metric sion will also hurt the U.S.
ments--ifyou have an IBM four, eight or 12 inches, system compulsory. The defense capability. The De-
360 computer. Again, experience shows Senate had already passed it. partment of Defense's report
Likewise, you can throw these are the most easily The 63 members who voted on metric conversion found
your cookbooks and measur- handled sizes. Try convert- against the bill were the that: "The added costs to cstoe V y 16
ing cups and measuring ing all those measurements most far-sighted members of maintain constant (defense)
spoons. Cups and teaspoons to metric, the conservative ranks, capabilities while converting
will be out, along with Since building involves so although some conservatives to the metric system is _4-"1"'1J-
everything else Y°u're famil" many Pr°fessi°ns and indus" were duped ant° v°ting f°r estimated t° be appr°xi" D[/ j !
ear with--metric will be in, tries--surveyors, architects, the bill, which President mately $18 billion (in 1970
which means you 11 have to engineers, building inspect- Gerald Ford then signed, dollars) and are such that
know how to cook with ors and product manufactur- How much will total metric they cannot be absorbed
kii°grams °f sugar' millili" ers--every°ne inv°lved has c°nversi°ncosty°u?Y°uwill with°ut deteri°rati°n °fthe " '" r "
ters of mdk and scores of to speak the same language, bear the cost, one way or (U.S.)mdltarypostu e.
otherarca, nemeasurements. They already dowith inches, another. And who will Huge corporations that
watch out. You d better get a square-inch. After metrica- also reap a bonanza from
portable calculator to handle tion", perhaps everyone in Former Rep. H. R. Gross conversion. They'll be able ,--"I
the conversions from the the building will, also be (S.lowa) sald the total cost to sell larger, more expen- at t
metric speed limit signs to required to learn Esperan would reach $60 billion. And sive quantities of their
mile-per-hour. Under the to, the universal language that was a few years ago, so products to naive consumers.
Federal Highway Adminis- some pointy-headed Euro- inflation has already pushed A kilogram is about 10
tration's (FHWA)proposed poan intellectuals concocted the cost up at least $80 percent more than two
Agricultural Weather ForecaSt
Farm and Ranch
Forecast for
Week Ending:
July 19,
1977
WEDNESDAY
July 13
H. 97 Lo: 77
RH% 35
Fair
Furnished as a
Public Service by
Oklahoma Farm Bureau
Prepars#, by
Weatnerscan Interaational
Bethany, Oklahoma
NORTH CENTRAL OKLAHOMA
THURSDAY
July 14
Hi: 98 Lo; 78
RH'/. 35
Fair
FRIDAY
July 15
Hi: 99 Lo: 78
RH % 45
Fair
SATURDAY
July 16
Hi: 97 Lo: 75
RH % 35
Fair
SUNDAY
JulY 17
Hi: 96 Lo: 76
RH % 35
Fair
MONDAY
July 18
H;: 97 LO: 76
RH % 45
Partly
cloudy
TUESDAY
July 19
H;: 98 Lo: 77
RH % 35
Fair
I STATEWIDE SUMMARY:
Temperatures will
tation viii be sparse.
sections as weak upper
Major storm track viii remain well north of 0kla.
continue slightly above seasonal norms. Prectpi-
Best chances for rain will be in northern
level disturbances move across the state.
SPONSORED BY
RALPH'S PACKING CO.
PERKINS, OKLAHOMA
PHONE 401/147-ZM)4
ii!i
i
Phone:
865-2675
STOP
and enjoy
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We would like to say Thank You for
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