The instances I have given of the failure of all the efforts to make the French people take to the metric system are entirely from my personal observation. I conclude them with an extract from Messrs. Halsey and Dale’s ‘The Metric Fallacy’ (New York, 1904) on the failure to convert manufacturers to the system:
The reasons for the failure of this colossal effort of a century to change the textile weights and measures of France is not difficult to find. The ideas of length, area, volume and weight are as firmly grounded as any that find a lodging in the mind of man. They are bound to the records of the past, to the work of the present, and to the plans for the future. They are ineffaceably imprinted upon the mind of every child to regulate his ideas of extension and weight as long as life may last.
These natural conditions are alone sufficient to account for the failure of the metric system in France. Other influences have however served to make the failure more complete in the textile industry. The metric system needed something more than the transcendent mathematical faculties of its designers to make it suitable for textile measurements.
The eminent scientists who designed that system were able to solve the most difficult problems in higher mathematics, but failed to comprehend what system of weights and measures was best suited for the carder, spinner, weaver and finisher of wool, cotton, linen and silk. The glamor of their fame failed to make the centimetre suitable for counting ‘picks.’ Their system had to stand or fall on its merits, and falling has proved that the highest of mathematical abilities is not inconsistent with a dense ignorance of the practical affairs of every-day life.
I strongly recommend Messrs. Halsey and Dale’s book to those who wish to know the opinion of American engineers and manufacturers on the metric system.
[56]. The full French text of Napoleon’s opinion is given in Against the Metric System, by Herbert Spencer (Williams and Norgate, price 3d.).
[57]. Aided greatly by the Alliance Française, an association formed, under government patronage, ‘to extend the political and moral power of France ... and make pacific conquests abroad by its superior civilisation.’ Every member of it abroad is bound to promote this cause.