The Founding of the National Bureau of Standards in 1901, continued

Standardization in commercial transactions was also badly wanting. As markets expanded, the nation required greater uniformity in its measures. The states had largely failed as the custodians of Hassler's standards.

While most states had adopted the standards that the Office of Weights and Measures had sent to them, they had not adequately attended to their enforcement duties. Moreover, they had few funds for maintenance of state reference standards or for construction of working standards. Over the years, they had allowed their statute books to become a jumble of conflicting regulations.

Industry representatives and scientific societies lobbied for a national standards laboratory such as then existed in many industrialized European nations. On March 3, 1901, President McKinley signed into law a bill establishing the National Bureau of Standards.

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