Technikatörténeti szemle 10. (1978)

A MÉRÉS ÉS A MÉRTÉKEK AZ EMBER MŰVELŐDÉSÉBEN című konferencián Budapesten, 1976. április 27–30-án elhangzott előadások II. - Zupkor, R. E.: A méterrendszer az Egyesült Államokban

the Civil War and that such growth was linked inseparably to the use of English weights and measures. (4) English metrology had become an integral part of American culture and to adopt a foreign system would seriously disrupt the social life of the nation. English advocates denied that there was any demand of serious consideration in favor of a change to the metric system in this country and pointed out that what little demand existed came from scientists and a few professors. Metric proponents, they said, have simply been exploiting a limited sentiment to make it appear that a strong demand existed. One anti-metric group even argued that such a change would weaken the ,.moral" fabric of American life, while a second—consisting of extreme reactionaries—considered metrication to be a ,,Communist plot!" (5) A decimalized system of weights and measures was not superior intrinsically or extrinsically to the old system. In fact, the English system was considered more adaptable to the intricacies of the American economic machine since it allowed for greater variances in product dimensions, designs, manufacturing techniques, advertising schemes, and the like. Its superiority was apparent also because its fundamental units, such as the inch, foot, pound, ton, quart, and gallon, developed from the eternal process of a natural selection of the most appropriate units and not as the result of a rigid inflexible plan. (6) Americans had gotten too accustomed to using fractions and that decimals were not as adaptable or as easily understood in popular parlance and everyday activities. (7) Since metrication would require a total national effort, other more pressing matters of national concern would be threatened or even ignored outright. Some maintained that the change to the metric system would involve enormous disturbance to the habits and customs of the public and privlate sectors to the overall detriment of the nation's well-being. (8) The investment of huge sums of money both initially and over the long-run would not warrant the slight increase in returns from foreign saes. Eventually the American manufacturing and production complex would lose its unique, individual personality and would make and distribute goods which would vary only in limited degrees from those of foreign competitors. (9) Resistance to metrological change was so nationally and indelibly ingrained in the American experience that the metric system would falter eventually through massive non-compliance with government directives. English advocates believed that the experience of other countries showed conclusively that the difficulties arising from a drastic change in the habits of the people, from the necessity of revising the technical literature of the country, and from the confusion incident to the use of two systems side by side during the long period of transition necessary, would be insurmountable no matter what form of compulsory law was adopted. Also, since compulsory laws were required to bring about a change, the metric system had no advantage which would lead people to adopt it voluntarily.