John David Galt wrote:
....
> Decades of experience in the USA show that this is not true at all. Without
> any laws or policies to restrict the use of imperial, we already have:
>
> - Metric tooling (bolt/nut/wrench sizes and the like) having mostly replaced
> inch-based sizes, mainly due to the auto industry, which finds it cheaper to
> produce cars for all markets in metric. I believe even the American makes
> have all switched.
Yes, they have. This is one of the few examples of full metrictation
within a major industry. Part of the impetus behind this was a
government push for metrication. Another part was severe competition
from overseas by metric automobile companies, which led eventually to
some of those companies making cars in the US. Also, US companies
started using more foreign-made off-the-shelf parts, which were metric.
It all came together at about the same time.
>
> - The "fifth" of liquor has been entirely replaced by the 750 ml bottle.
Due to government action.
> - Soft drinks are widely available in both metric and US measures, with the
> 2L and 0.5L bottles here to stay.
Not due to government action. Unlike the wine and liquor industry's
government-directed conversion, left to industry initiative and market
forces, this has taken decades and it is still not complete.
....
> .... And I'm a firm believer in doing things voluntarily
> no matter what it does to people with grandiose plans for everybody.
I still think that a neat way to do things would be for the federal
government, on a specified future and certain date, to delegalize non-SI
units of measurement --- making it a matter of law that vendors could
use "pound", "foot", "gallon", and the like to mean anything that they
wished (like the two scoops of raisins in the cereal box). No person or
company could be sued for short-filling a container or fraudulently
advertising a product specified in those units. Having no legal
standing, those units would wander off into figures of speech and tales
told by Grandpa.
Since dual unit indications exist for most products, the non-SI
portions of laws and regulations would merely become moot, like adipose
tissue. In the few instances where only non-SI regulations are in place,
the responsible authorities would have a known time in which to restate
them in SI terms or suffer the consequence of deregulation by inaction.
....
> Can you imagine the chaos if the metric system had been compulsory when it
> was first introduced? France would not have been able to abandon the metric
> calendar (which lasted until Waterloo) or the metric clock (which was so
> confusing they abandoned it after 16 months).
These examples and the grad you mention later are interesting
historical glitches. But that's behind us now. If and when the U.S.
government fully metricates, it will not be adopting an untried,
untested new system. Also, unlike France, we would be nearly the last
nation to do so, not the first. Your analogy fails on those counts.
Interestingly, it did take an imperial decree (by Napolean) to
metricate France. Later, this was reversed and it took France another
half-century to metricate.
....
> But just because I reject compulsory metrication doesn't mean that I
> wouldn't have the government do anything to help. I can think of three
> simple changes the US government could make which would greatly speed
> up adoption of the metric system in the US.
>
> 1) All laws referring to old-style measurements of things should be
> metricized. For example, gasoline taxes and liquor taxes should be
> assessed by the litre rather than by the gallon. Laws regulating gas
> mileage (if we must have them) would refer to km/litre rather than
> miles per gallon.
>
> 2) Change all road signing and speed limits to metric.
>
> 3) Have the government do all its procurement in the metric system
> wherever possible. Order all paper-pushing agencies to switch to A4.
> Design all new tanks, fighter planes, and submarines in metric, and
> have them use metric parts and tooling. This also goes for anything
> the government sells.
>
> The government is such a large part of the economy that changing just
> their procurement will push enough businesses to change, that business
> will find it profitable to get the rest of us changed over, too.
The above is part of the rationale behind the amendment in the Omnibus
Fair Trade bill and the related executive order. These steps have helped
us move towards metriction but only at glacial speeds.
Jim
--
Metric Methods(SM) "Don't be late to metricate!"
James R. Frysinger, LCAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/
10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Charleston, SC 29407 phone: 843.225.6789
