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

MAIN STREET, 1900
AT THE
TURN OF
THE CENTURY
On May 3, 1900, the House Committee on Coinage, Weights and Measures
met to consider a letter recently submitted by the Secretary of the Treasury.
The Secretary requested the establishment of a national standardizing bureau.
Knowing little, perhaps, of the science of measurement, but learning
that it was "a matter in which a great many people seem to be interested, one
which is thought to be very necessary for this country," the committee heard
out the group of eminent men called from science and industry to testify at
the hearing. It was a brief hearing, lasting less than 2 hours and reported in
15 pages, yet so persuaded was the committee that its members reported to
their colleagues in the House:
It is therefore the unanimous opinion of your committee that
no more essential aid could be given to manufacturing, commerce,
the makers of scientific apparatus, the scientific work of the Gov-
ernment, of schools, colleges, and universities than by the establish-
ment of the institution proposed in this bill.1
There were some in Congress by no means certain such an agency was needed,
but 10 months later the bill founding the National Bureau of Standards passed
both houses of Congress.
The idea of a national bureau of standards was presented at an
auspicious hour. America in the year 1900 thought well of itself. The hard
times of 1893—95 were all but forgotten in the aura of prosperity and sense
of achievement that energized the Nation. Industry and invention boomed
and business flourished as never before. The prophets at the turn of the
century unanimously agreed on the good years to come.
The Nation was now an industrial power to be reckoned with. In
the 3 years preceding 1900 the value of American manufactured goods sold
abroad almost trebled, and total foreign commerce passed the 1 billion mark
as exports exceeded imports for the first time. The great commercial
invasion of Europe had begun.
1
H.R. 1452, "National Standardizing Bureau," 56th Cong., 1st sess., May 14, 1900
(U.S. House Reports, serial 4026, vol. 6, 1899—1900). This is the inscription over the
new Bureau laboratories at Gaithersburg, Md.
1
CHAPTER I