How would you define a non-metric nation? A lot of countries use a mixture of metric and some traditional units, including the US and Great Britain. The only countries which are relatively non-metric are former British colonies and countries with a tie to the US, like Liberia.
Honestly, by the standard of counting "preliminary steps to authorize the metric system" and counting Great Britain as metric in 1860, today's non-metric list is the null set. Even we are metric by that standard and the Metric Act of 1866. ________________________________ From: James R. Frysinger <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Cc: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Wed, May 25, 2011 11:43:13 AM Subject: [USMA:50502] Re: Stark comparison I think you missed my point, Pierre. Breaking it down by country makes too large a presentation. It should be simplified as shown in the template I provided as an example at the end of my message. Note that I didn't even include imports in that. KISS Jim On 2011-05-25 1033, Pierre Abbat wrote: > On Wednesday 25 May 2011 11:03:10 James R. Frysinger wrote: >> The latest edition of Metric Today (just received here on my farm) >> contains a neat "reprint" from a U.S. House of Representatives report of >> 1860. This reprint includes two tables showing the values of imports and >> exports to and from (1) metric nations and (2) non-metric nations. In >> each case the metric nations trade was significantly greater than the >> non-metric nations trade with the U.S. And that was 15 years before the >> Treaty of the Meter! >> >> It might bore folks to see a country-by-country list as is shown in this >> report, but the bottom line comparison should show a stark contrast. >> >> Perhaps someone can peruse the pages of the ITA or similar source to >> develop a "factoid" showing that our trade with metric nations is vastly >> larger than our trade with non-metric nations. With just two figures to >> compare, the message should be clear. >> >> "In 2010 U.S. exports to metric nations had a value of $xxx and U.S. >> exports to non-metric nations had a value of $yyy." > > The biggest country figure is the exports to Great Britain and colonies, which > are listed among the metric nations. I didn't see India in the list, so I > guess it's among them. > > Also note that the trade with Hayti was a lot more than with San Domingo. > Nowadays Haiti is poorer, and it's smaller in area. > > To be compared validly, the trade figures should be divided by the population > and the area (not both at once). > > Greece is listed among the metric nations, and Turkey (where the dönüm was > several square meters less than its present 1000) and Ionian Republic among > the non-metric. What was the Ionian Republic? > > Pierre -- James R. Frysinger 632 Stony Point Mountain Road Doyle, TN 38559-3030 (C) 931.212.0267 (H) 931.657.3107 (F) 931.657.3108
