Han Maenen wrote in USMA 24260:
As far as I can remember, there was no controversy in Canada about the centimetre versus the millimetre. The arguments were metric versus inch-pound. The engineers and architects went metric, but the house builders would have none of it .may be right and obviously it worked in Australia. But it never worked in Britain. It seems that in that country metrication using centimeters works better than with millimeters. The big great stumbling block for metrication is what happens in the retail trades. In the Netherlands hundred of 'metric martyrs' have been prosecuted in the 1820's and 1830's; and we all know what is still going on in Britain today. It paralyzed Canadian metrication. The main reasons why it took so long in France was once again severe resistance in the retail trades by shopkeepers and consumers alike and an anti-metric ruler, Napoleon, who had this hellish Systeme Usuel invented in 1812. Then there was a lot of political turmoil in France and at last came 1837-07-04 that saved the metric system from the same fate that time reforms had suffered and started its take off into the world.Han
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Joseph B. Reid
17 Glebe Road West
Toronto M5P 1C8 Telephone 416-486-6071
