To the Editor, Arizona Daily Star, I could not disagree more with some points made in your 2010-03-06 editorial about the 100-kilometer stretch of Arizona's I-19 that has signs posted totally in the metric system of measurement (http://www.azstarnet.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_86183a05-6c2d-56f6-a0c0-55a61daf5b4f.html).
If it is a question of which system of measurement to choose, federal law is quite clear: a 1988 amendment to the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 states that the metric system is the preferred system of measurement for U.S. trade and commerce. If the I-19 controversy causes Arizona to stand at the very point of picking and choosing, the choice should be to retain metric units exclusively. With regard to your statement that the I-19 metric signs are preferable because they are culturally significant-- that they carry a Mexican "flavor"---such a prejudice continues that false national perception that the metric system should not be our national measurement standard because it is somehow foreign. By declaring it to be the preferred system, Congress made metric officially another part of American business, and thus, another part of American culture. It has been the measurement culture of almost all major nations for many years. As I recall, one Arizona official wrote recently that, by changing these signs back to miles, and thus in "accord" with the system widely used in the U.S., Arizona would be making progress. It seems to me just the opposite, that your stretch of metric-only signs is ahead of the rest of the Nation, and it behooves the rest of us to catch up with you. Our country needs to do just that: to use the decimal measurement system that almost all other countries have found to be efficient and beneficial to their people. Sincerely, Paul Trusten, R.Ph. Public Relations Director U.S. Metric Association, Inc. www.metric.org [email protected]
