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 (During its centennial year, The Wall Street Journal will report events of the past century 
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that stand as milestones of American business history.)
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 Thomas Jefferson sold Congress on the idea of the decimal system for currency, 
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thus saving Americans the headaches of pounds, shillings and pence.
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 But he struck out with the decimal system of metric weights and measures 
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the French had invented.
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 Instead, Congress opted for the inches, feet and yards 
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the colonists had brought with them.
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 Americans didn't dislike metrics; 
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they simply ignored them.
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 Scientists felt differently.
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 In 1807, the Swiss mathematician 
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who headed the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey 
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made an iron meter 
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that he had brought from Europe 
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the standard of measure.
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 By the end of the century scientists had embraced the system.
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 Businessmen took their cue from the engineers.
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 When Congress finally passed the Metric Conversion Act in 1975, 
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industry was far ahead.
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 Because the law made compliance voluntary,
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 it inspired little more than jokes.
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 (The press had a field day with questions 
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about what would happen to six-footer, yardstick and inchworm.)
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 Today, 
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though the public is barely aware,
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 much of U.S. industry, particularly companies 
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manufacturing or selling overseas, 
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have made metrics routine.
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 General Motors, for example, uses metric terms for its automobile bodies and power trains.
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 (In auto advertising, however, items such as wheelbases are still described in inches.) 
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Farm-machine makers such as Caterpillar and Deere work in the metric system.
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 The liquor industry went metric 10 years ago.
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 The Pentagon has led the charge, 
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particularly as military alliances spread world-wide.
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 New weapons systems will be around until the next century, 
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notes John Tascher, the Defense Department's metric coordinator.
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 Still, like the auto makers, 
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when dealing with Mr. Everyman 
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the Pentagon sticks to the tried and true.
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 Soldiers and sailors are still measured in inches and pounds.
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