Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1880-08-21

lightful book have forgotten either
Passepartout, Phineas Fosg's French
valet. the pOssessor of the great silver
family watch, or his rage when the de-
tective Fix tells him at Suez that the
highly-prized heirloom is more than
two hours slow. Fix explains that
Suez time is faster than London time,
and that Passepartout must set his
watch by the ruling meridian of each
country. IL alter my watch" screams
the valet; "never." Every well,
then. it will no longer agree with the
sum- replies Fix. Then so much the
worse for the sun. 1t will be he who
has gone wrong" The term ruling
meridian is used advisedly, for, as
the rapidity of communication in
creases, the fashion of keeping one
railway time in each country is found
absolutely necessary. The difference
between the time OF large towns in
small country like England is not so
startling as that between London and
Fiji-that is, from noon to midnight
but quite appreciable, nevertheless.
1t is not possible to experience within
the limits Of Great Britain the peculiar
sensation produced at New York by
hearing which horse has won the Derby
before eleven o'clock in the morning of
the eventful day, or of discussing and
paying bets over Harvard and Oxford
boat race during luncheon by The Hud-
son-the race being set for five o'clock
in the afternoon on the Thames. Still
it would be possible to telegraph a
speech to Edinburgh, before apparently
it was spoken in London, the differ
ence of longitude between Greenwich
and Edinburgh being three degrees
and eleven minutes equivalent to
twelve minutes and forty-four seconds
of time. Greenwich is specially men
toned in this place because of a little
difficulty which arises in speaking of
London time" In London Green
witch time is kept, albeit true London
time is twenty seconds slower, the
great city lying westward of the ruling
meridian. All over the world, how
ever, London time is synonymous with
Greenwich time, the small difference
just noted being of no practical i'm
pOrtance.
Edinburgh was Just cited as an in
stance of the difference of time prevail
ing in England, but it would not be
difficult to select a large number of
similar instances. Liverpool is twelve
minutes all but four seconds slow of
Greenwich time, and Penzance twenty
two minutes and four seconds in the
rear: while Yarmouth is six minutes
and fifty-twO seconds ahead. There is
thus nearly half an hour between one
end of England and the other, a varia-
ton sufficient to cause great annoyance
to those travelling on business, were it not
that railway companies in England and
Scotland have made short work of lon
gitude by decreeing that one railway
time shall be kept in Britain, North and
South, and that that shall be Greenwich
time. At every great railway terminus
and every little country station through
out the island Greenwich time is exact
" kept. At Yarmouth, as at Penzance,
the station-master' clock is set by
Greenwich. and the inhabitants are
quite familiar with the difference be-
tween railway time" and ''lOcal
time" On the London, Chatham &
Dover line the time is flashed through
the telegraph wires every morning at
ten o'clock. A minute or two earlier
the lines are cleared, and then at ex-
actly ten o'clock at the meridian of
Greenwich the message goes forth. and
every clock on the line is brought into
harmony. 1t is obviously unnecessary
to dilate upon the, importance of rail-
way clocks telling the same story, and
the difficulty which would ensue if any
attempt were made to keep local time
on the crowded lines of Great Britain.
Severely punctual persons. however.
should recOllect the difference in time
between London and plymouth, for in
stance, when they have appointments
to keep. Greenwich time thus pre-
walls on English and Scotch railways.
b,,t not ~ tho s;rtor i-Ion1 In this