At 11:47 AM 10/7/2002 -0700, Ezra Steinberg wrote: >Jim Elwell wrote (in part): > > > He (the "metric martyr" -- Ezra) refused to use a NEW approved scale > system. > > He had a perfectly good one > > that the government had approved in the past. > >So, then, for example, if a manufacturer has an existing long-standing >approved >fire-protection system for his plant and is suddenly told by the government >that a different fire protection system must be installed, is that ALWAYS >unacceptable? Should "market forces" only decide which kind of fire protection >system should be used in the country?
I'm afraid I do not see this as an accurate analogy. Presumably the government would not require the new fire-protection system unless the new one better protected lives or property. There is no issue of lives or property at stake, nor even minor fraud or cheating, with the scale. It is merely that some people prefer kilograms, and don't want the Metric Martyr to be able to use a pounds-only scale. Let me turn it around: would you support the government requiring that all commercial fire systems be replaced using metric pipe? It has the same immediate benefit to the user (i.e., none), and it is costly. Why do it? Why allow the government to force it to be done? On the other hand, if I were building a new manufacturing facility today, I would be looking very carefully at whether I would want colloquial or metric pipe. I know that in 20 or 30 years that metric will be the norm, and it will be easier to maintain the system using metric pipe. As some point the Metric Martyr's scale would wear out. If that is, say, 10 years down the road, then what will he do? All the scales he will be able to buy in England will be metric or dual-labeled. He might be able to find a pounds-only scale in the US and import it, if he is willing to go to the expense and effort, but then he will be paying the price for bucking the metric trend. And, as years go on fewer and fewer people will want do deal with him, since he won't sell in kilograms. Without any prosecution of this guy, without spending huge amounts of English taxpayer funds, without making a martyr of him, he would have faded away. He would have died or retired, or his scale would have worn out, but it was never a problem that should have ever been anything other than a grumpy old man trying to live in a world that has passed him by. Sadly, the English people had their taxpayer dollars wasted, he had his right to live in peace destroyed, and the anti-metricationists in the USA have been given some ammunition for their cause. Jim Elwell, CAMS Electrical Engineer Industrial manufacturing manager Salt Lake City, Utah, USA www.qsicorp.com
