Dear Jim, Well done. That's a good letter, soundly reasoned.
Cheers, Pat Naughtin LCAMS Geelong, Australia -- on 2003-08-31 02.37, James R. Frysinger at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Posted a few minutes ago: > > "James R. Frysinger" wrote: >> >> Dear Mr. Wheeler, >> >> The single largest reason that the very public and federally driven >> metrication effort in the United States "failed" in the latter part of >> the twentieth century was that U.S. law makers and other political >> leaders were afraid they would not get re-elected if they continued this >> effort. They did not feel the electorate was sufficiently strong in >> their support of this movement. Such leaders measure the pulse of the >> country not only by the mail they receive but by listening to industrial >> leaders, lobbyists, and private organizations of concerned citizens. The >> political leaders did not feel that pulse beating sufficiently >> "metrically". To put it in plain English, they chickened out. >> Fortunately, the industries and the private citizens in America who see >> the benefit of metrication did not chicken out. >> >> That is why the U.S. Metric Association is a grass-roots organization >> that works at garnering industry support. The public meeting on >> metric-only labeling held in Washington, DC last November was a positive >> sign that there is a lot of support out there. The question that must be >> answered in lawmakers' minds is, "Is there sufficient support that I can >> push for this and still get re-elected?" >> >> Let me clear up what may be some questions or confusions here. Your >> daughter's teachers were perhaps referring to the events in the >> presidency of Thomas Jefferson. This was the time frame in which >> Napolean abolished the metric system in France, which went back to the >> metric system a couple of decades later. The vascillation by the French >> unnerved our Congress and to some extent Jefferson who then hesitated to >> commit to a young, new system of measurement of questionable >> survivability. >> >> U.S. manufacturers do not produce metrically only for foreign markets; >> they do so for us as well. Many, many domestic products sold in the U.S. >> are designed, produced, packaged, and sold in the U.S. in metric units. >> Taking some items from our Metric Moments page, these include pencil >> leads, medicines, floppy disks, CDs, mini-CDs, automobiles, etc. The SI >> is not French, it is international. We use the SI not just for foreign >> commerce but also for our internal business affairs. Many U.S. >> corporations are entirely metric; besides the automobile manufacturers >> these include Xerox and a large welding machine manufacturer upstate in >> South Carolina --- just to cover the gamut from large to small. Again, >> all federal buildings being designed and built today are metrically >> dimensioned. The workers use metric tools. The parts and products going >> into those buildings are metrially designed and built. >> >> I again urge you to visit the pages of the U.S. Metric Association via >> the link >> http://www.metric.org/ >> and see for yourself how America is metricating even faster than it was >> in the '70s even though it is doing so with much less fanfare and public >> attention. I further urge you to write to all of your congressional and >> state legislature representatives urging them to support metrication >> efforts. >> >> regards, >> Jim Frysinger >> >> You wrote in your reply on Mon, 25 Aug 2003 19:41:20 -0700 (PDT): >> Yes, sir, I understand that a lot of US companies are already using the >> metric system with foreign companies, but this question boiled down to >> exactly >> "why" we never completely switched over to the metric system. That is, >> "if there is any one reason." Her teacher mentioned something about the >> US >> and France, but I really am not sure what she was getting at. I know >> years ago, they started selling gasoline by the liter in my hometown in >> Georgia. >> But, what would be the single most reason that the US has not done it? >> Thanks a bunch!!! >> >> -- >> 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
