It also would’ve been better measured by holding the tape with the numbers facing him and the tip actually against the wall. Kind of reminds me of these stock pictures about any trade with someone lying bricks with the help of a hammer, using a stethoscope without putting it in their ears, or grabbing a soldering iron by the tip and probing into a computer board…
Unless the point of it was a verifiable record of the measurement, I suppose. I don’t really know the state of photography back then, if that would be cost prohibitive for a government to employ or even worth doing.
It also would’ve been better measured by holding the tape with the numbers facing him and the tip actually against the wall. Kind of reminds me of these stock pictures about any trade with someone lying bricks with the help of a hammer, using a stethoscope without putting it in their ears, or grabbing a soldering iron by the tip and probing into a computer board…
Unless the point of it was a verifiable record of the measurement, I suppose. I don’t really know the state of photography back then, if that would be cost prohibitive for a government to employ or even worth doing.