Han Maenen wrote in USMA 22469:
>
>Traders have vested interests in blocking change, so they sabotage it as
>much as possible. Marketers have kept the stupid horsepower alive and
>kicking.  In France, in the nineteenth century,  traders almost killed
>metric and after decades of misery, the only way was to impose metric on
>trade by law in 1837. Private persons have never been prosecuted for using
>illegal units of measurement.


The law making metric compulsory in France was passed in 1837, but 
took effect from January 1, 1840.

Reply via email to