Grades, Standards

'Tîi.i^' In S,ny exchange of goods the buyer and seller must agree on how much of a commodity is to be delivered. As soon as trade gets beyond simple barter, it has to depend therefore on weights and measures. Likewise, all trading, except simple barter, in- volves price. Price in practically all markets is a common denominator by which are expressed unlike details of size, amount, weight, and quality of products being traded. Besides weights and measures, therefore, standards for other attributes of goods have been developed. Grading is a basic function in practically all transactions. 142 The purpose is to establish a common language under- stood by buyers and sellers as a basis of judging the quality of a product in relation to its sales price. Grades are useful to all persons who engage in trade. They are also useful in describing the quality of many consumers' retail goods. Controversy over compulsory grade label- ing of consumer goods has waxed strong, however. Much of the argument has been concerned with the system of grading to use.

systems of units the old names often Units and remain in-use. In Paris, after loo years of compulsory use of the metric system, hucksters still cry the price of fruit per Standards of livre (pound), just as the Berliner talks of the Pfund, even though the weight of each is actually a half kilogram. Measurement Our own customs are equally hard to change even when they cause some real trouble: We still give statistics on In any exchange of goods the seller grains in bushels, although by law and buyer must agree on how much deliveries must be by wêight and al- of a commodity is to be delivered. As though farmers in some sections prefer soon as any trade gets beyond simple to talk of barrels or of hundredweights. barter, it has to depend therefore on In relatively recent times marketing weights and measures of some kind. areas have grown to the extent that In early days each locality or each local and even national customs and social and political unit developed its regulations regarding weights and own measures. The result was a vast measures have had to be adjusted diversity of units and methods of and—as far as practicable—unified measurement and with it misunder- and simplified. standing and the possibility of fraud. When uniform practices are not The processes of trade are eased if attainable, it is necessary at least to the weights and measures to be used know the units in which major produc- are prescribed by some authority and ing areas measure a commodity. The are not left as a subject for argument price the Kansas farmer gets for his between buyer and seller. So regula- wheat depends upon the size of the tion of weights and measures by law crops in Canada, and Argentina, and has been undertaken in all civiliza- Australia. To collect and distribute tions of which we have record. information on crops one must know But customs so closely related to our about the units and money used in everyday life are slow to change. Even each country. in countries that long ago adopted new In manufactured products the need 143 144 YEARBOOK OF AGRICULTURE 1954 for uniformity of measurements is still made a standard of platinum to repre- more obvious. A replacement bolt sent the kilogram in usable form. that does not fit may put a tractor out As usually happens in such difficult of business, whether it be in Illinois, measurements, the length of the meter Brazil, or Africa. bar and the weight of the kilogram The world has made much progress cylinder were later found not to cor- toward such uniformity. Considerable respond exactly to the natural stand- diversity exists in details of each sys- ards from which they were derived. tem, but two general systems now Also on account of the departure of the dominate trade throughout the civi- kilogram standard from the intended lized world—the metric, based upon weight, the liter (unit of capacity), the meter and the kilogram, and the defined as the volume of i kilogram of English or ''Imperial," which has as water, is slightly larger than the cubic its basic units the yard and the pound. decimeter which it was intended to equal. THE METRIC SYSTEM was primarily a The French Government decided to result of the French Revolution. It adopt the units as preserved by the was itself a revolutionary development. platinum standards and thus in effect A reform of weights and measures was discarded the first principle on which urgently needed because France was a the system was based. The simplicity composite of kingdoms and principali- of the decimal system, however, and ties, and large differences existed be- the urgent need for uniformity in tween the units used in different parts weights and measures led to the wide- of the country. Instead of trying to spread adoption of the new system. adjust and reconcile the diverse units, Its use was made mandatory in the scientists to whom the problem France in 1840, and gradually spread was assigned devised an entirely new to other European countries; system. The two chief characteristics An act of the United States Congress of the system were that its units should in 1866 provided: 'Tt shall be lawful be derived from unchanging natural throughout the United States of Amer- standards and that units of various ica to employ the weights and meas- sizes should all be related by factors of ures of the metric system; and no con- 10 or its multiples, so that calculations tract or dealing, or pleading in any could be made simply by pointing off court, shall be deemed invalid or decimals or adding ciphers. liable to objection because the weights As an unchanging natural standard and measures expressed or referred to of length, the committee chose a quar- therein are weights and measures of ter of the circumference of the earth to the metric system." be measured along a meridian passing through France. The practical unit, the FORMAL INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE meter, was to be one ten-millionth part of the metric system was brought about of that quadrant. After extensive sur- by meetings in 1870, 1872, and 1875, veys by competent geodesists to deter- which resulted in a treaty that set up mine the length of the quadrant, a a permanent organization to maintain platinum bar was made as a standard and perfect the system. The organiza- to represent the meter in a usable form. tion included a laboratory (the Inter- The unit of weight, the kilogram, was national Bureau of Weights and Meas- to be derived from the meter by making ures), to be placed on neutral inter- the kilogram the weight of i cubic national territory given by the French decimeter (that is, a cube one-tenth of Government, and an International a meter on a side) of pure water at the Committee on Weights and Measures temperature at which the water is most to direct the work of that bureau. dense (about 37° F.). As had been done The first duty of the new organiza- for the meter, however, the scientists tion was to provide standard meter UNITS AND STANDARDS OF MEASUREMENT 145 bars and standard kilograms for the It is the legal system in all of Latin International Bureau and for the coun- America and in several Asiatic countries that were members of the organi- tries, although older units still remain zation. As material to make the stand- in use in many countries. China, India, ards, the Committee chose platinum and Indonesia have planned to intro- alloyed with lo percent of iridium. duce it gradually to replace the many The making of the standards and local units still in use. Thus the whole their calibration took many years. In world uses or expects to use the metric 1889 they were completed and dis- system, except the English-speaking tributed to the various countries to countries, and in them the metric serve as national standards. One par- system is used in nearly all work in ticular meter bar and one kilogram were selected as the prototypes, or basic standards, and deposited in a ALTHOUGH THE METRIC STANDARDS subterranean vault at the Interna- made of platinum-iridium have served tional Bureau. At intervals since then their purpose very well, many scien- the meters and kilograms of the several tists have cherished the belief that the countries have been taken back to the system should eventually be based International Bureau for comparison upon natural standards of even greater with its standards. permanence. In particular, certain The metric system therefore has the wavelengths of light have long been advantages of being founded upon considered as possible substitutes for well-established standards of the high- the metal bar as the ultimate reference est attainable accuracy and of having standard of length. The natural ma- a competent organization to make sure terials, such as cadmium, mercury, that worldwide uniformity is main- and krypton, which might be used to tained over long periods. Also in the produce light for this purpose, how- everyday use of the system, as well as ever, are really mixtures of "isotopes," in learning it, the making of all calcu- that is, each of them includes atoms lations by multiplying or dividing by that have diverse atomic weights al- tens is a great saver of labor. though they are designated by the A minor advantage is that names for . same name and atomic number and all multiples of the basic units are are so similar in structure that they formed in a systematic way by pre- cannot be separated by ordinary chem- fixes, as follows: ical procedures. The various isotopes milli=one thousandth of a given element produce wave- centi=one hundredth lengths slightly different, so that the deci=one tenth waves given off by a natural element deka = ten are complex in form. This complexity hecto = one hundred limits the accuracy of measurements kilo=one thousand made by using such light waves. So, for example, 1,000 grams make Research on atomic structure has I kilogram; one thousandth of a gram provided methods for producing ma- is I milligram. There is, however, a terials containing only one isotope of special name for 1,000 kilograms, i an element. Such material gives off metric ton, or tonneau, which hap- waves simple in form; they produce pens to be only 1.5 percent smaller fine, sharp lines in a spectrum. With than a British or long ton. them measurements of length can be Originally 17 countries signed the made much more precise than is metric treaty of 1875. ^^^ number be- possible with lines ruled on metal bars. longing to the weights and measures Consequently in 1953 an Advisory organization has since increased to 33. Committee of the International Com- The metric system is used exclusively mittee on Weights and Measures, in all continental European countries. including members from 11 countries, 146 YEARBOOK OF AGRICULTURE 1954 recommended that wavelengths pro- tems, a conglomeration of discordant duced by some isotope be adopted to series with no simple relation either supersede the bar as the basis for the between the different sets of units or definition of the meter. This recom- between units of different size in a mendation would become effective given series. For example, we use, for upon approval by a General Confer- different purposes, three series of ence on Weights and Measures. The weights (avoirdupois, troy, and apoth- conferences convene at 6-year inter- ecaries') and the only unit common vals, and one is scheduled for 1960. to all three is the grain. The irregularity of steps between THE UNITED STATES was a party to units is well illustrated by measures the treaty of 1875 and received two of length. We divide a yard into 3 meter bars and two kilograms in 1889. feet, and a foot into 12 inches; ^.^ Meter No. 27 and kilogram No. 20 yards make a rod, 40 rods make a were accepted formally by President furlong, and 8 furlongs make a mile. Harrison on January 2, 1890. Since In the United States we have dry as then they have been considered as the well as liquid quarts and pints, the primary standards of the United difference being more than 16 percent. States. From them are derived the In actual trade, confusion between precise values for units in the "Eng- these two kinds of units has been lish" system as well as those of the largely removed by requiring most dry metric system. commodities to be sold by weight Following the example of the 1866 instead of by dry measure, but in act of the Congress, several States have liquid measures we still divide a pint recognized the legality of using metric into gills for some things and into units—Idaho, Kansas, Massachusetts, fluid ounces for others. Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, and The diverse units we use were inher- Tennessee. California law permits use ited from colonial days when the Eng- of the metric system in contracts and lish settlers along the Atlantic seaboard in the marking of goods to show naturally brought with them the cus- weight or measure. In Nevada desig- toms, including the weights and meas- nations of weight or volume may be in ures, of the mother country. metric units in lieu of the customary The history of the various units in units. England can be traced back to medi- Nevertheless every one of the States eval times. The actual origin of some named has some requirement as to of the units is doubtful. Somewhat commodities or containers that must different units were used in different conform to the customary units. For sections of England and for trade in example, bread must be in i-pound different kinds of goods. As trade de- loaves and milk bottles must hold i veloped, royal decrees from time to quart or the usual fractions of a quart. time prescribed standards of measure- Although stated to be legally permis- ment. The decrees in general simply sible, then, the metric units are confirmed units already established by practically not used at all in trade in custom of the people or of the guilds the United States. that controlled the trade in various Our customary, or "English," units commodities, but they brought about are the result of gradual evolution of a fair degree of uniformity in the coun- customs among the people, rather than try. The American colonies, although of logical or scientific planning. Vari- acting separately, consequently ob- eties of the units are universally used tained from England weights and in trade in all the English-speaking measures that were substantially of the countries, but they can hardly be same kind although they were not in called a system. exact agreement with each other. They include, in fact, several sys- The foundation of present United UNITS AND STANDARDS OF MEASUREMENT 147 States units is itself complex. The need adopted a standard avoirdupois pound for uniform weights and measures was and a yard. The pound was derived fully recognized when the Colonies from the troy pound of the mint by united, and power to establish them taking the ratio for the two accepted was given to the Federal Government. in England, that is, 7,000 to 5,760. The Articles of Confederation pro- The yard was the 36-inch interval be- vided, "The United States in Congress tween two specified inch marks on an assembled shall also have the sole and 82-inch brass bar made in London 20 exclusive right and power of . . . fix- years before for the Coast Survey. A ing the standard of weights and meas- gallon of 231 cubic inches and a bushel ures throughout the United States." of 2,150.42 cubic inches were adopted. The Constitution, effective in 1789, They were old English units, the wine likewise included the provision that gallon of Queen Anne and the Win- "the Congress shall have Power to chester bushel, and were believed to ... fix the Standard of Weights and represent more closely than any other Measures." English units the average values of President Washington's first annual the measures in use in the United message to the Congress in 1790, and States, although both of them had been later messages by him and his succes- abolished in England in 1824. sors emphasized the need for action to The action taken by the Treasury assure uniformity of weights and meas- Department to unify the weights and ures, but to this day there is no legisla- measures of the customs service was tion defining the basic units of our viewed with such favor that the Con- common system, the yard and the gress decided to give it wider effect. pound. The uniformity of practice A resolution of June 14, 1836, directed which we have was brought about by the Secretary of the Treasury "to cause other means. a complete set of all weights and The first act of Congress establishing measures adopted as standards and a definite standard was a law of 1828, now either made or in progress of providing that a brass weight obtained manufacture for the use of the several by the minister of the United States at customhouses, and for other purposes, London in 1827 should "be the stand- to be delivered to the governor of each ard troy pound of the Mint of the State in the Union, or such person as United States, conformably to which he may appoint, for the use of the the coinage thereof shall be regulated." States, respectively, to the end that a That weight was supposed to be an uniform standard of weights and meas- exact copy of the standard troy pound ures may be established throughout of Great Britain. While the act of Con- the United States." gress quoted made this troy pound The concluding clause of the resolu- only the standard for coinage, it prac- tion appears to be the expression of a tically became the basic standard from wish rather than the exercise of the which the avoirdupois pound was constitutional power to fix the stand- derived. ard of weights and measures. Never- The next step was taken to meet theless, the effect has been practically needs of the customs service. In 1830- to establish uniform standards, be- 1832 the Treasury Department, in re- cause the States have used the stand- sponse to a resolution of the Senate, ards supplied and nearly all States made a survey of weights and measures have adopted them by law. then in use at customhouses in various The Act of July 28, 1866, which American ports. The survey showed legalized the use of metric units, in- that serious differences existed be- cluded tables of conversion factors tween ports. The Treasury Depart- which "may be lawfully used for com- ment proceeded to furnish uniform puting, determining, and expressing standards. As a basis, the Department in customary weights and measures 2814:^7° -54 11 148 YEARBOOK OF AGRICULTURE 1954 the weights and measures of the metric by the general acceptance of the sets of system." Recognizing the superior standards distributed in accordance quality and probable permanence of with the congressional resolution of the metric standards, the Office of 1836. In other respects, however, there Weights and Measures, then a part of was wide diversity of practice—in sizes the United States Coast and.Geodetic of packages or containers, other cus- Survey, announced on April 5, 1893, toms of the market, and the enforce- that thereafter the customary units, ment, or lack of enforcement, of regu- the yard and the pound, would be de- lations designed to assure the use of rived from the metric standards "in correct weights and measures in trade. accordance with the Act of July 28, The Constitution gives the Federal 1866.'' Government full power to regulate The act of 1866 gave 39.37 inches as trade between States and with foreign the practical equivalent of i meter. countries, but there might be argu- Turning this about, the 1893 an- ment as to whether its power '*to fix nouncement defined the yard as being the standard of weights and measures" exactly 3600/3937 meter, and that covers regulation of market practices definition is still used in the United within a State. States. The equivalent for the kilo- At any rate, the control of local use gram was stated in the law as 2.2046 of weights and measures has been pounds, but in defining the United largely left to State and local author- States pound several digits have been ities. Such a condition might naturally added. In accordance with a com- lead to the perpetuation of local or parison of the British pound with regional practices, but in fact various the kilogram reported in 1883, the influences have worked toward na- pound has been defined as equal to tional uniformity. One is the rapid 04535924277 kilogram. growth of interstate trade. For ex- The adoption of those definitions ample, the nationwide distribution of did not make any appreciable change fresh fruit and vegetables from con- in the ordinary units, because the centrated sources of supply makes it values adopted were those already in advantageous for both producer and use as nearly as they could be deter- consumer to have uniform practices mined. Exact and permanent stand- so that special packing or handling for ards had never been made to represent different markets will not be necessary. the customary units. Deriving them In turn, the progress made toward from the metric standards had the uniformity of requirements has as- double advantage of providing the sisted greatly in the development of best basic standards known and of interstate trade. tying together the units of the two sys- Such desirable uniformity of prac- tems so that their relative value re- tice in methods of sale of products has mains permanently fixed. been promoted by voluntary coopera- The custody of the standards was tive action of State, city, and county transferred from the Coast and Geo- officials in National Conferences on detic Survey to the National Bureau of Weights and Measures. The confer- Standards in 1901, when the latter ences, begun under the leadership of Bureau was established, but the units the National Bureau of Standards in as set up by the Survey have been 1905, have been held every year since maintained. The primary metric stand- then except when wartime conditions ards are therefore the basis for precise prevented. Officials of almost every calibration of other standards repre- State have taken part. Agreement has senting the customary, or English, been obtained to take uniform action units as well as the metric ones. on many regulations. One of the early Uniformity among the States in projects was the drafting of a model basic standards was attained largely law to provide for inspection of weights UNITS AND STANDARDS OF MEASUREMENT 149 and measures. It has been amended each side. The British gallon, howêver, and extended from time to time to as tourists w^ho visit Canada may have include many specific requirements on learned, is one-fifth larger than ours which general agreement has been (277.42 cubic inches instead of 231); reached. Most of its provisions have while the British bushel is about 3 been enacted into law in a majority percent larger than ours (2219.36 of the pStates. cubic inches instead of 2150.42), The The net result of cooperative action British bushel is exactly equal to 8 by State authorities, combined with gallons, so that quarts and pints are Federal requirements covering forms exactly the same for liquid and for dry and sizes of certain containers, such as barrels and baskets, has been to establish a large degree of uniformity UNITS OF ADDII IONAI, kinds become in the marketing of farm products. necessary as more and more technical This uniformity is based upon our cus- developments play a part in everyday tomary units of weight and measure. life and business. Electrical units espe- The adoption of a more simple cially concern the farmer as well as the system, easier to learn and to use in city dw'ellcr, whose bills depend upon records and calculations, might be the number of kilowatt-hours used. economically justified by the net sav- To set up these units originally re- ings of time and trouble over a long quires elaborate apparatus, but the period of years. Any radical change basic ideas are simple. from the customary units, however, The amount of electric current wôuld involve vast expense and cause (amperes) flowing in a conductor can much misunderstanding and confusion be measured by the push or pull that during a period of transition. Such a coils carrying that current exert upon change would be politically possible each other. The ''pressure" making the only if desired by a majority of our current flow is measured in volts. The people throughout the country. No product of the numbers of amperes and such desire apparently exists, and it is of volts is the power (the rate at w^hich safe to assume that there will be no w'ork is done) in watts. The number of change in our practical wêights and w'atts multiplied by the number of measures in any foreseeable time. hours of work gives the energy supplied in wâtt-hours. The watt-hour is a FOREIGN TRADP: must continue to rather small unit; 1,000 wâtt-hours, or involve dealing with units clifíerent one A:27oW'att-hour, is a more convenient from ours, and to a considerable extent magnitude for accounting. each segment of commerce has its Energy supplied by electricity is own peculiar customs with regard to regularly measured in kilow'att-hours, measurement of commodities. With and electrical generators are common- regard to general systems, we are out ly rated on the basis of their output in of step w'ith the rest of the world. All kilow'atts. Howêver, the powder of the of the more important countries out- machines that drive the generators, side the English-speaking world difíer such as waterwheels or steam engines, from us in using the metric system. is usually stated in horsepower, one Furthermore, while our customary horsepow'er being about three-quarters units are called ''English," none of of a kilowatt (746 W'atts). Electric those in use in the United States is motors likewise are generally rated in precisely the same as the one called by horsepower, although the power used the same name in the countries of the by other electrical appliances is indi- British Commonwealth. In the basic cated in wâtts or kilowatts. units, yard and pound, the difí'erences Lamps also are marked to show the arc very small, and we may eventually number of watts, that is, the amount get rid of them by a little change on of power they use, although the user is I50 YEARBOOK OF AGRICULTURE 1954 generally interested in the amount of Although gold is never seen in ordi- light that comes out of the lamp rather nary trade because law prohibits its than the electrical power that goes into circulation in our domestic markets, it. The amount of light is stated in prices used in everyday transactions lumens. Small sizes of ordinary fila- in 1954 tie back to the basic standard ment lamps give about lo lumens for of 35 dollars for every troy ounce of each watt used. Larger sizes produce gold. But the value is also measured in up to 20 lumens per watt. terms of dollars for a given weight of Practical grading in the market is the product, the troy ounce. commonly done by eye, usually by Gold against which the dollar is comparing the product with standard evaluated must be free of impurities samples, but the establishment of the and of a certain degree of fineness. standards and the checking of their Thus, money, which is the standard constancy from year to year are based for price and which is one of the sim- upon specifications and methods of plest of all standards, gets its measure measuring colors which have taken of value in our economy from the num- many years to develop. So in this field, ber of dollars which our Federal Gov- as in many others, experimental work ernment will off'er for a given weight goes on to extend our systems of meas- of a particular quality of the metal. urement. While the basic principles and the fundamental units are well PRICE in practically all markets is established, new uses for measurement related to some usual, accepted com- develop and greater convenience and mon denominators relating to size, certainty are demanded so that the amount, weight, and quality of prod- work of the measurement laboratory ucts being traded. is never done. {E. C. Crittenden.) For instance, prices on corn relate to bushels of 56 pounds and to grade; on cotton to pounds and to staple; on cattle to hundredweight and to grade; on butter to pounds and to score; on Price Is a eggs to dozens and to grade and to weight per dozen; on most feedstuff's to hundredweight or tons and to per- Nexus and a centages of carbohydrates, protein, fiber, and, in more recent years, often to vitamin content; on fertilizer to Symbol tons and to formulas expressed in per- centage of active ingredients; on lum- ber to thousands of board-feet and to Price ofí'ers the nexus through which grade; on barbed wire to spools of 80 quantities, qualities, or other attri- rods each and the number of points on butes of goods are finally measured the barb; on roofing to 100 square feet when they are bought or sold. of specified weight; on electricity to Price is also a symbol of a standard. kilowatt-hours, and so on to the myriad Goods or services that are being ex- other items which make up a farmer's, changed are measured in terms of some or any other person's, purchases and medium of exchange. It may be based sales. on gold, or on silver, or (as in some Great numbers of other standards past or more primitive societies) on also are back of the finished products. shells, on certain types of stones, or on The feed manufacturer buys various cattle, or wives, or tobacco (as in the grains, such as No. 2 yellow corn, or American Colonies), or on whatever No. 3 barley, and oilseed meal or meat offers a basis for calculating exchange scraps on the basis of their protein of values. content, then mixes them with alfalfa