Union, section, and committee activities

Abstract

The accompanying tabulation (see next page) of 1080 replies to the Committee's Metric questionnaire, as a sequel to a similar analysis published in the September Transactions, confirms our belief that nine out of ten scientists and engineers in the United States are convinced that conversion to the Metric System would be to their advantage. The completed questionnaires and many supporting letters were returned by the readers of eight of the leading technical magazines of the United States in response to the poll of last spring.Attention is called to the average of 22 years as the recommended period of transition between the passage of the enabling act by the Congress and the date when the Metric System becomes the only official system of weights and measures in the United States. A long transition period is mandatory and will provide opportunity for the change to be made with a minimum of economic dislocation in such a highly industrialized country as ours; it will give adequate time for educational emphasis on the Metric System, for normal obsolescence of heavy equipment, and for the retirement of personnel now imbued with the English units. The Committee estimates that once the country has embarked on the needed change, fully 80% of the change‐over will have been effected in 10 years or less, because of an impatient desire on the part of our people for the comparative simplicity inherent in the Metric System. The English units, however, would continue to be entirely legal throughout the entire transition period.