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

42 AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY
quantities necessitates standards of far greater range than can be
obtained at present."
"The introduction of accurate scientific methods into manufact-
uring and commercial processes involves the use of a great variety
of standards of greater accuracy than formerly required."
More and more, "commercial transactions are * * * 'based upon
the reading of electrical measuring apparatus, inaccuracies of which
involve great injustice and financial losses." It should be possible
"to calibrate or test electrical standards of all kinds for commercial,
as well as the most refined scientific work."
"The scientific work carried on by the different departments of the
Government involves the use of many standards and instruments
of precision, which are too frequently procured from abroad" and
regularly returned there for testing.
The manufacture of scientific apparatus and instruments of pre.
cision recently begun in this country is growing, and "to secure
the requisite degree of uniformity and accuracy" in their products,
"American manufacturers of such apparatus must have access to a
standardizing bureau equivalent to that provided for the manu-
facturers of other countries, notably Germany and England."
Not least,
"The recent acquisition of territory by the United States increases
the scope and importance of the proposed institution, since the
establishment of a government in these possessions involves the
system of weights and measures to be employed," and in the near
future "large public inmprovernents * * * [such as] schools,
factories, and other institutions will be established, all of which
require the use of standards and standard-measuring apparatus."
These were, for the most part, immediate and pressing considerations.
They indicated clearly the degree of dependence of American science, in.
dustry, and commerce upon European agencies, and made glaring the con-
trast between the work possible in the little Office of Weights and Measures
and in the German Reichsanstalt.
Interestingly enough, except for the general reference to the scientific
work of Government agencies, no mention was made in the "conditions" of
better standards required in the collection of customs and internal revenue,
in the purchase of supplies for the Government, or in establishing specifica.
Letter, Secretary of the Treasury, Apr. 18, 1900, sub: National Standardizing Bureau
(56th Cong., 1st sess., H. Doc. 625, serial 3997), p. 3. See also Annual Report, Secretary
of the Treasury, 1900, p. lxvii.