Metric America (1973)

[Music] well there's something new for Uncle Sam it's out with the pound and in with kilogram out with the foot in with the meter out with the quart and in with the leader we're all going [Music] metric now what's all this fuss about hasn't the foot served us well enough and the yard and the rod and the mile too why change why should we go metric I'll tell you why by way of a tale tucked away in the saw too mountains is a strange Village inhabited by a lovable people called wimples Wars crime and other ugly things are unknown because every wimple is too busy making butter Milling flour baking cookies cakes and generally making life comfortable and like everyone else they have a system of weights and measures to help them in their daily lives unfort fortunately their measuring system is in a mess sack of flow for instance weighs in it so many tuttles Tuttle is the town mayor and one Tuttle is his normal weight but wimple way using many other units too from Bram boost to wackel from barley corns to gobbles with all these units it's no wonder that wimes hate to measure after all how many tuttles are there in a gobble well not far away is another Village of wimes and I'm sorry to report that things are not much better there what with a different economy and some new ideas they have a different system for measuring but it is just as disorderly and just as confusing the only difference is that branberry punch and not pastry G get confused with unfortunate consequences every now and then what makes matters doubly bad is that the two Villages engage in trade punch for pastry pastry for punch but if Brown Boo and tuttles get mixed up what about Brown Boo and barley wigs or gobbles and girdles the wimples were in the real stew each Village has its own measuring troubles and between the two it was Double Trouble until word came one day that other wimple villages in the next Valley had invented a new streamline measuring system everyone understood it and trade was a pleasure now here's the question suppose you were mayor Tuttle what would you do stick with double trouble or switch over to the new system we you me everyone else must answer that very question just about the whole world is measuring metrically and having an easier time of it England was one of the last to be swept up in the metric tide but by 1965 they too were going [Music] metric now North America is standing out conspicuously Canada wants to go metric but waiting for us our two economies are that closely tied good grief who can keep track of the inch and foot yard and Rod leak and mile teaspoon tablespoon pint and quart bushel and a PEC not to mention avoir dupa and others too you see like the wimples our measuring system is halfhazard based mainly on folkways why did you know that the inch was once defined as the length of three barley corns round and dried when laid end to end shades of Mayor Tuttle well isn't a time we forget all this and go metric we won't be all alone 1968 Congress commissioned a threeyear study and the study said in part every country of economic importance except America is using the metric system or has decided to Canada is waiting on us International Trade can be increased and made simpler by going metric America is slowly drifting over to the metric system anyway we might as well get there in an orderly fashion there's something new for Uncle Sam it's out with the pound and with kilogram out with foot in with meter out with quart and in with liter the US of a is going metric you know the metric system is hardly new Thomas Jefferson talked about a metric America and that was a long time ago so did John Quincy Adams and others after him of course Europeans have been using the metric system for years so have our own scientists when Sputnik went up in 1957 the US Army went metric at least as far as Weapons go and drugas have been using metric measurements for more than 10 years no the system is hardly new now here's what it's all [Music] about the meter we have measured length in inches fet yards fathoms rods and miles but now we can simplify and work with the meter one meter is just a shade over one yard 39.37 in to be exact for longer lengths add kilo to meter and you get kilometer kilo means 1,000 so a kilometer is 1,000 M incidentally a kilometer is about 6/10 of a mile for measuring pencils and other short things add Cen to meter and you get centimeter c means 1 100 so 100 cm makes a meter 1 cm is a bit less than a half an inch for really short lengths add Mill to meter and you get millimeter Milla means [Music] 1,000th so 1,000 mm make a meter and that's all the meter is where it all begins kilometer is useful in measuring long distance being 1,000 times as long for short lengths use the centimet 100th of a meter or the millimeter 1,000th of a meter then all you have to do is know how to multiply and divide by 10 so the meter is fundamental in measuring lengths what about [Music] volume the leader used in measuring volume a shade larger than a quart about 1.06 6 quart in fact as with kilometer add kilo to liter and you get Kil 1,000 L for measuring very small quantities add Milla to liter and use milliliters remember the liter is the main metric unit for measuring volume just about a quart 1 L of milk 50 L of gas and that's the way it's done so much for length and volume there's weight to measure [Music] too the kilogram used to measure metric weight a little more than 2 lbs 2.2 is close enough the kilogram is good for weighing meat and people and trucks and anything that's not too light otherwise take off kilo and what's left the gram of course 1,000th of a kilogram a gram is heavier than a pin but lighter than a dime if the gram is too heavy which it rarely is there's always the milligram used by druggists and folks like that length volume weight what's left to measure [Music] temperature so C have you heard the term Celsius is in and Fahrenheit is out maybe you have heard of the Centigrade scale well Celsius is the man who invented it and now to honor him we call Centigrade Celsius the Celsius scale is based on the temperature of water zero is freezing the temperature of water just turned to ice 100 is boiling the temperature of water just turned to steam at sea level most temperat you measure in between unless you live at the North Pole is there anything left to measure time for one well you'll be happy to know there's no change here because metric time is also figured in seconds minutes and hours there's some other scientific units none of which are new and you already know the important changes there's kilogram and the Celsius the meter and the liter everything else comes from dividing and multiplying by 10 or 100 or 1,000 scientists and Engineers go even [Music] further so how will this metric change take place not all at once not overnight but slowly over the next 10 years there are two kinds of changes to be reckoned with measuring changes and changes in Hardware measuring changes are easier it's a matter of Education in the schools relabeling package Goods revising roadside signs and so on it'll take time there's no denying well for example the post office will have to call in more than 300,000 customary small letter scales and issue metric ones instead but it will all be by schedule and one day the works all through and postage will be by the gram apples and oranges by the kilogram Hardware changes will be tougher to make and they will take a lot more time everything from the common milk carton to dimensions of lumber to sizes of bolts diameters of tires will have to be redesigned but not all at once present packages can be filled with metric amount until they have to be redesigned for other reasons many machines can easily be converted if not metric Replacements can wait until the old ones retire some Industries like the bearing industry is already metric now all these changes are very important metric countries are standardizing all their manufactured goods that means an English nut will fit a German bolt and a Japanese strike plate will fit a Russian switch and an Australian gear will fit an English car very efficient instead of countless different sizes there are only just a few and they're interchangeable result increased International Trade now you tell me will the Chinese buy an American wrench if they don't fit metric bolts will the French buy American doors if they get them in a [Music] jam will lithuanians buy us presses if the only replacement parts that fit are American and it takes two years to get them not likely standardization that's the key and it's all expressed in metric terms so we'll have to change if we want our share of international trade and we do whatever it costs to make this change is small compared with the new business that will come our way of course some things will never change makes no sense to relay every railroad track just to make them a standard metric distance apart printers will still measure in pikas and astronomers and light years because these units are convenient even though they're not official metrically speaking some measures will never change but the majority certainly will so will many sayings a pinch to grow an inch will become a pinch to grow 2.54 cm and what happens to an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure I'm afraid the Indianapolis 500 becomes the indd 830 and I won't even tackle the 10g Hat now my story about our new metric America is on almost at an end but give me a moment to wind things up by telling you what we have to gain we replace a lot of complicated units with a few simple ones all related by factors of 10 everyone's arithmetic will be simpler and more [Music] accurate did you know that the Aerospace industry can save over $50 million a year in calculating time alone according to one of official the hardware change over will give many Industries a chance to clean house for instance 116 screw thread sizes are being reduced to 25 and America's share of international trade can increase dramatically through standardization so like I said there's something new for Uncle Sams out with the pound and in with the kilogram out with the foot and in with the meter out with court in with the leader America's going metrics it's a darn good thing and that's all [Music] [Music]