Astin: Our next discussant is Mr. Francis L. ue, who is Special Assistant to the President of International Nickel Company of Canada, Limitand a Vice President of the International Nickel pany, Incorporated, assigned to executive supof major corporate activities.

short time ago he headed a distinguished panel r the Commerce Department's Technical AdviBoard to study our national needs with respect andards. His report is well known and has been ly read and discussed and I think was a major ›r in the recent organization of the United States merica Standards Institute. It is my pleasure to ent to you Dr. LaQue.

LaQue: Thank you, Dr. Astin. Distinguished ts from abroad, ladies and gentlemen: I will take risk of telling a story that might be considered ‣ funny to some people, and it has a moral. The ' is this.

here were a lady and her husband walking down street. The lady noticed a weighing scale in a way. She went over, got weighed and came with smiles all over her face.

er husband asked her, "My dear, how much weight are you now?”

e said, "I am not overweight at all. There is a t in there on that scale, and according to that t I am 6 inches too short."

he moral is obvious, of course, that when relahips are indicated between one measurement another we cannot safely assume the interpretaof this relationship is going to be the same by yone who endeavors to make it, and I would

that the danger in this direction is likely to ase with the international use of any such sysof relationships.

assume that the ground rules will permit me to in my occupation as discussant, with matters were presented this morning as well as this noon. I was particularly interested in trying to are a discussion in advance of what I thought McLuhan might say. That was an interesting ity, so in preparing my comments an immediate

problem was presented in trying somehow to relate anything as "hot" as precise standards documents to the "cool" world which Dr. McLuhan visualizes as being imminent and perhaps desirable. The words "hot" and "cool" are used in this context in the sense that the speaker has tried to understand Dr. McLuhan.

Precision and Uniformity in Standards

In the field of international trade, in which standards are an essential component of the language of communication, it is likely that everyone will agree that there must be maximum precision in describing by reference to an appropriate standard what the buyer expects to receive and what the seller agrees to furnish. There must also be precision in the description of how compliance with stipulated requirements is to be determined, so that the buyer can confirm that he got what he expected and so that the seller can be sure that what he furnished is likely to meet the tests that will be applied by the buyer.

The ability to describe what is wanted and what is offered very precisely become more and more important as the revolution in means of communication progresses. It is already possible to transmit facsimiles of printed documents overseas in a matter of minutes. When such means of communication take the place of discussions at first hand, the need for precision in description of what is being dealt with becomes greater and greater. Along with this need for precision is an almost equal need for uniformity of standards on an international scale. Thus, advances in communication techniques increase the urgency of the development of international standards as a vital factor in world trade.

The standards I have been discussing apply, of course, to things that are prescribed in terms that describe exactly what is to be furnished, keeping in mind the purpose for which it is to be used. These precisely descriptive standards or specifications must of necessity fall into what Dr. McLuhan would consider to be a "hot" category.

Performance Criteria

On the other hand, we can see a trend toward another type of standard or specification which prescribes what is wanted in terms of the performance needed or expected, without stipulating how this performance is to be achieved. This begins to approach Dr. McLuhan's realm of the "cool", since it implies a degree of freedom-if not exactly free

eeling—in which display of imagination and new proaches are favored in the "cool" atmosphere of tivated vagueness, which the speaker guesses Dr. cLuhan would welcome and endorse.

It seems reasonable to recommend that our attide towards the nature of standards and specificans should remain fluid, so that the advantages of y sensible approach can be examined and utilized a rational basis, in what Dr. McLuhan might deribe as being a "cool" way to do it. We must, wever, continue to use the "hot" line whenever it impossible or impractical to employ the "cool" proach and when there are no reliable means her to define adequately the circumstances of the tended use or to measure performance capabilities osely enough to permit the use of a performance andard in preference to a descriptive one.

The tremendous capability of the National Buau of Standards, as represented by its staff and its w facilities on display on this occasion, is being plied more and more to the development of new d better means of measuring performance as well properties of materials and things that enter orld trade. This is bound to accelerate greater use performance as compared with descriptive standds and specifications, and thus we shall feel more d more at home with our standards in the new d "cooler" world in which we are going to be ing.

I have some additional comments pertinent to me of the questions raised this morning and coments made.

Technology flows in world trade through the subince of engineering and material standards and ethods of test, which include the distilled product the tremendous amount of research upon which ese standards are based. This will be a means by ich the developing nations can be given the adntage of the technology of the nations in which è most sophisticated standards originate and apar in their most highly developed form, most useto developing nations-that is, international Indards. This requires, of course, the existence or

cultivation of an ability to make use of knowledge provided in this form to the developing nations.

Systems of Measurement

I have another comment dealing with occasional presentation of statistics relating world trade to systems of measurement. Statistics on possible effects of systems of physical measurement on international trade ought to be refined, to make a proper distinction between items where the size module or system of measurement is likely to be important-for example, a component of manufactured goods as distinct from a complete assembly such as an automobile or a machine, and as distinct from those where no significant effect is likely such as foods, fuels, and raw materials.

It is easy to understand that the problems presented by a change in the system of measurement will be least in the case of measurements of weight and volume and greatest in the case of linear measurements as applied to machine components, and here the problem is not so much one of the units used for measurement as it is the size that is measured. We speak of international cooperation in achieving uniformity in the realm of measurement and I would hope that we could look forward to a lot of give and take, in which the module sizes already well established with the one system might be accepted in other areas in return for the acceptance of the unit of measurement on an internatioal scale.

I recall that in Mr. Wynn's paper he referred to the desirability of bringing to bear on safety standards the accumulated knowledge, wisdom and experience of every country, rather than to develop such standards on an individual country basis. I think this is merely an extension of what I believe is the most important factor in the development of safety standards in any country, which is not to waste time debating where the dominance of development of such standards should rest, but to try somehow to find the best way to organize competence from every available source.

Dr. Astin: Our next discussant is Mr. Samuel H. Watson, who is Manager of Corporate Standardizing of the Radio Corporation of America.

Mr. Watson: Dr. Astin, distinguished guests, both from our many friendly countries abroad and the United States:

Standardization is recognized and firmly established as an essential function in government, in the military and in industry. My identification is predominantly with industry, where the pursuit of standardization can be difficult, costly, and limited in effectiveness unless it is a team effort which includes Government and the Department of Defense. The areas of mutual interest are extensive. Teamwork is in effect in many committees at the national level and because it is, more and more standards are appearing with a stamp of universal approval and acceptance. They are the product of hard-working, objective, and highly dedicated people; they are truly United States of America standards. They clearly identify United States of America positions on the subjects resolved, and they equip U.S.A. delegations well with the documentation and the authority needed for effective participation in international standardization.

Coordination of Standards

Thoroughly coordinated standards are needed in greatly increased numbers. To this end, the function. of the reconstituted American Standards Association under the new and appropriate name, United States of America Standards Institute—if its function can be briefly stated-is: "to provide the coordination, the procedures, the administration and the centralized services needed to accelerate the production and maintenance of United States of America standards and to establish and maintain appropriate USA participation and effectiveness in world standardization." The capacity of the Institute to carry on this important task will be markedly increased with the granting of the proposed Federal charter.

Standards as Aids to Communication

The standards in greatest need internationally are those that can make a contribution to improved

communications, a contribution in each case that worth the effort and expense required to bring about.

One of our great international standards, a boo to communications and world trade, is the Gregor an calendar. Occasionally a proposal to change it i publicized. Perhaps the change is convincingly ex plained as one offering some improvement in com munications. However, since the existing calendar is working so well and since it took almost 400 year to get it into universal use, it is not likely to change i the near future.

In any avenue of international communications where all those involved readily understand on another, further purification of the basic standards communication is not likely to affect world trade any measurable degree. Conversely, changes in exist ing standards or newly introduced standards whic can substantially speed-up and sharpen understand ing among the representatives of different countri can have far-reaching effects upon world trade.

Such standards are a most favorable influence to ward improved utilization of world manpower and material resources. Standards in this latter categor are the breakthroughs, the difficult standards to come by. Included would be any standard, practice or procedure that softened the greatest obstacle in the conduct of international transactions-the lan guage barrier.

Perhaps the near future will bring an ingenious way of accelerating the already somewhat advanced merging of languages. Probably few of us in the English-speaking countries realize how much French we know until we thumb through an English-French dictionary. In the same vein, if others share my experiences, it is disturbing when using an English dictionary to note how much English we do not know.

I stated that standards that improve communica tions are most important. Through them, the peoples of every nation will better understand and better evaluate the standards and offerings of other countries; each in terms of its own economic needs and preferences. As a result, it is likely that a degree of variety and not global sameness will continue to prevail.

The trends in color television preferences in the countries of Europe today provide an excellent example. Color television receivers will be powered by a variety of voltages and frequencies, the pictures will contain a varying number of lines per frame.