Measures for Progress: A History of the National Bureau of Standards

THE BUREAU AND THE METRIC SYSTEM 211
abroad, and Stratton predicted with confidence that it would be in common
use "in a comparatively short time." 131 He was not a good prophet.
In support of the first metric bill presented after the war, General
Pershing himself attempted to set at rest public fears by reporting that the
troops overseas "were able readily to change from our existing system of
weights and measures to the metric system." He urged its adoption "to the
greatest extent possible * * * [as] the only system with a purely scientific
basis." 132 Again the measure failed. Said a disappointed Stratton, "The
opponents of the metric system see to it that every Congressman is reached,
and Congress does not see that it originates practically from a single
source." 133 Almost certainly he referred to the American Institute of
Weights and Measures, founded in 1917 by the antimetricists Samuel Dale
and Frederick A. Halsey. With the support of the National Association
of Manufacturers and less than a dozen other trade organizations, Dale
had founded the institute for the sole purpose of opposing metric legisla-
tion—and had succeeded.134
Another metric proposal followed a year later, but the era of normalcy
was at hand and Stratton had to admit that the political climate was no longer
favorable. Moreover, past experience had shown that neither inducing
prominent personalities to appear before Congress, soliciting petitions, nor
lending the Bureau's own prestige were sufficient. More was needed. The
Bureau must adopt a policy of wider education and secure the conversion
of members of Congress through their constituents.
Between 1920 and 1930, 23 metric bills were introduced in Congress.
Science in industry and iiidustry itself, with an eye on foreign trade, inclined
more and more to the metric system.135 But the great depression saw foreign
131
Remarks of SWS reported in minutes of meeting, Standards Committee, Society of
Automotive Engineers, Feb. 16, 1917, pp. 3-4, 20 (NBS Box 20, MS).
Letter, John J. Pershing to W. Mortimer Crocker, Nov. 24, 1919, transmitted to SWS
(NBS Box 20, MS).
133
Confidential letter, SWS to Fred R. Drake, Drake & Co., Easton, Pa., Dec. 29, 1920
(NBS Box 20, MS).
See miscellaneous documents of the A.I.W.M. in L/C: QC81.A347 and A349. The
counterpart of the American Institute is the British Weights and Measures Association,
active since its founding in 1904 in opposing introduction of the metric system "as a
British standard."
135
NBS C593, "The Federal basis for weights and (R. W. Smith, 1958), p. 19.
How "vital and timely" the subject seemed just after World War I is evident in the
special report prepared by the National Industrial Conference Board, The Metric
versus the English System of Weights and Measures, Research Report No. 42 (New
York: Century, 1921).
In support of a metric bill introduced in 1921, Stratton reported 102,842 petitions
ceived at the Bureau, 15,501 of them from engineers and manufacturers, and 98.87
percent of the total number favorable (memo, SWS for Secretary of Commerce Hoover,
Oct. 29, 1921, NBS Box 20, MS). ,