LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL THE HONORABLE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE SIRS: I have the honor to present the seventh in the series of interim reports stemming from the U.S. Metric Study, prepared by the National Bureau of Standards. This Study was authorized by Public Law 90-472 to reduce the many uncertainties concerning the metric issue and to provide a better basis upon which the Congress may evaluate and resolve it. I shall make a final report to the Congress on this Study in August 1971. In the meantime, the data and opinions contained in this interim report are being evaluated by the Study team at the National Bureau of Standards. My final report to you will reflect this evaluation. Respectfully submitted, Mannice H. Stano Secretary of Commerce Enclosure LETTER OF Honorable Maurice H. Stans Dear Mr. Secretary: I have the honor to transmit to you another interim report of the U.S. Metric Study, which is being conducted at the National Bureau of Standards at your request and in accordance with the Metric Study Act of 1968. The Study is exploring the subjects assigned to it with great care. We have tried to reach every relevant sector of the society to elicit their views on the metric issue and their estimates of the costs and benefits called for in the Metric Study Act. Moreover, all of these sectors were given an opportunity to testify in the extensive series of Metric Study Conferences that were held last year. On the basis of all that we have been able to learn from these conferences. as well as the numerous surveys and investigations, a final report will be made to you before August 1971 for your evaluation and decision as to any recommendations that you may wish to make to the Congress. The attached interim report includes data and other opinions that are still being evaluated by us to determine their relationship and significance to all of the other information that has been elicited by the Study. All of these evaluations will be reflected in the final report. FOREWORD The U.S. Metric Study needed to determine the attitudes of Americans toward the metric system and their knowledge of it. This was done through a representative sample of American households surveyed by the Survey Research Center of the University of Michigan under the direction of Professor George Katona. In this volume, Professor Katona and his staff at the Survey Research Center report on their efforts to determine: (1) How much the American people know about the metric system, (2) Their attitudes toward the use of it, (3) Their opinions regarding conversion to it, and (4) Their preferences as to what methods should be used to improve public knowledge about it. To supplement the report of the Survey Research Center, several papers on selected areas of consumer interest are included in this volume. We are grateful to the individuals and organizations who contributed these papers and to the American Home Economics Association and its Executive Director, Dr. Doris Hanson, who arranged for their preparation. Reports covering other substudies of the U.S. Metric Study are listed on the inside front cover. All of these, including this report, are under evaluation. Hence, they are published without prejudice to the comprehensive report on the entire U.S. Metric Study, which will be sent to the Congress by the Secretary of Commerce in August of 1971. The preparation of this volume was coordinated by Bruce D. Rothrock. Other members of the Metric Study staff who assisted him were Jeffrey V. Odom, Robert W. Carson, Mrs. Linda J. Luhn, Miss Jean M. Simon, Mrs. Evelyn Tallerico, and Miss Debora Gilbert. In this, as in all aspects of the U.S. Metric Study, the program has benefited from the independent judgment and thoughtful counsel of its advisory panel and the many other organizations, groups, and committees that have participated in the study. Daniel V. De Simone, Director |