Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 1, 1873, Part I, General Correspondence; and Papers Relating to Naturalization and Expatriation, Volume I

No. 118.
Marquis de Noailles to Mr. Fish.

[Translation.]

Legation of France,
Washington, February 15, 1873. (Received February 18.)

The international standard commission adopted a series of resolutions at its last meeting, among them those contained in the inclosed note, the object of which is to secure the establishment at Paris of an international bureau of weights and measures.

In accordance with the instructions contained in paragraph xxxvii the standing committee appointed by the standard commission has addressed the minister of agriculture and commerce for the purpose of securing through the mediation of the French government the creation of an international bureau of weights and measures on the basis stated by the commission itself.

The minister of agriculture and commerce has caused an approximate estimate to be made of the expense which would be necessary for the creation of the bureau, and also of the amount which would annually be required for its maintenance. It appears from the statements which have been furnished to him that, even if it should be found necessary to establish the proposed bureau in a special building, the cost of construction, together with that of an appropriate site, and of the necessary instruments, would probably not exceed 500,000 francs. The amount annually required for salaries, &c., would, it is thought, be from fifty to sixty thousand francs.

The French government having been specially requested to bring the inclosed resolutions to the notice of the various countries interested, I have the honor to commend them to your excellency’s attention, begging you to be pleased to inform me whether the Government of the United States gives its adhesion to the principle therein involved. If so, there would doubtless be ground for the conclusion of a diplomatic convention to establish the conditions for the working of the international bureau, in conformity with the proposition of the commission, and to fix the share to be paid by each country of the expense of building and maintenance, a regular estimate of which expense would probably be prepared.

I shall be grateful to you, Mr. Secretary of State, if you will be pleased to inform me, as soon as possible, of the opinion entertained by the Federal Government of the proposition which I have hereby had the honor to submit to your excellency.

Be pleased to accept, &c.

MARQUIS DE NOAILLES.

XXXVI. The international commission calls the attention of the governments interested to the great advantage which would accrue from the establishment at Paris of an International Bureau of Weights and Measures, on the following basis:

1. The establishment shall be international and shall be declared neutral.

2. Its seat shall be at Paris.

3. It shall be founded and supported at the common expense of all the countries which shall become parties to the treaty to be made, for the creation of the bureau by the countries interested.

4. The establishment shall be a dependency of the International Standard Commission, and shall be under the surveillance of the standing committee which shall appoint its director.

5. The international bureau will have the following functions:

A. —To be at the disposal of the standing committee for the comparisons which are to serve as a basis for the verification of the new prototypes, of which the committee has charge.

B. —To preserve the international prototypes according to the orders of the international commission.

C. —To make periodical comparisons of the international prototypes with the national standards, and with the test standards, and also to compare the standard thermometers according to the rules established by the commission.

D. —To attend to the manufacture and verification of the standards which may hereafter be required by other countries.

E. —To compare the new metric prototypes with the other fundamental standards used in the different countries and in the sciences.

F. —To compare such standards and balances as may be sent for its inspection by governments or learned societies, or even by artists and men of science.

G. —The bureau shall perform all operations that may be required by the commission or its standing committee in the interest of meterology and of the propagation of the metric system. (Commission VII.)

XXXVII. The bureau of the international commission is instructed to address the French government requesting it to communicate, through its diplomatic representatives, the recommendation of the commission in regard to the creation of an international bureau of weights and measures, to the governments of all the countries represented in the commission, and also requesting it to solicit these governments to conclude a treaty for the establishment, by general concurrence and with the least possible delay, of an international bureau of weights and measures on the basis proposed by the commission. (Commission, VII.)