Article June 21, 1958 Issue

TRUE STANDARDS

ROLAND HALL SHARP

Because the yard, meter, kilogram, pound, and other measurements are essential in human affairs, the precise value of these units is fixed and maintained with scientific accuracy by international agreement and by national bureaus of standards. Great attention is paid to accuracy.

Even so slight a variation as the expansion of wood or metal is compensated for by keeping the standard foot measurement in a chamber of constant temperature and moisture. A child's ruler or a gift yardstick may or may not be a true foot or yard. The only way to be sure is to compare the item in question with the accepted standard.

No one would feel that it is narrow–minded to accept only the standards of weights and measures maintained in Washington, Paris, London, Tokyo, Cairo, or other world centers. The surveyor in driving a tunnel from both sides of a river or through a mountain needs standards of accuracy in his measurements in order to obtain an accurate joint. By using these standards to guide him, he reduces the margin of error as nearly as possible to the vanishing point.

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