The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1881-01-14
A Sfmplifled Time Table.

A Simplifled Timetable.
The Chillicothe CO., Gazette presents
81 the railway managers of the country
the following suggestions for simpiified
form of timetable:
The railway managers of the country
are the live, active men OF the day, and
are not as a rule those who carry dead
weight because their fathers did. Yet,
in their time-cards, they all carry an
circumference that positively confuses
the uninitiated. Not one man in nifty
can take an ordinary time-card and, In
the multiplicity Of Il. ms and p. m: 8
-dittoing rs they do from the top ana the
bottom of the card, figure out the time
from New York to st. Louis or Chicago
without becoming confused and uncer-
tain, and from New York TO San Fran
cisco it becomes a positive impossibility
with many more. Not only this, but
the railroad companies pay thousands
of dollars every year for the setting up
of these letters by the printers, and for
the cardboard and paper on which they
are printed, besides making their time
cards large and cumbersome.
1t is within the power of the COM
panies to get rid of these letters. They
now furnish the standard time to the
whole country. There is no more rea-
son why there should be two twelve
O'clocks in one day than there is why
there should be two twelve mile posts
ON n twenty-four mile railroad. Prac-
tically the day commences at midnight,
consists of twenty-four hours, and ends
the next night at midnight. By &C
kuowledging that fact and dividing the
day into hours and minutes, numbering
oonsecutively up to twenty.four hours
the record of time would be greatly
-simplifed. Thus, instead, of saying
1915 a. M, we would give the time as
fifteen minutes, written 10, showing
that it was the fifteenth minute of the
day. Instead of saying 1880 a. M,
80, or in the same manner for any
number of minutes up to 1 O'Clock,
which hour would be written l instead
of a. m. The same rule would be fol
lowed up, emitting the a. m. and p. m
up to 1859. What we call O'Clock p
m, under the new system we would cal
thirteen O'Clock or thirteenth hour
l:s0 p. m. would be 1880;
O'Clock D. m, IA, and so on up t.
fwenty-four.
The system might sound little ode
at first, but the ear would soon become
accustomed to it, and it has the positive
convenience that any figures which ma.
be written can designate but one tim
of day, and that is certain as soon a
you see or hear them, without searching
or inquiring whether it means a. m. o
p. M The only disadvantage it has
that all the watches and clocks are ad
iusted and figured for the twelve-hou
system, but with person not absolutely
stupid at figures it would be no troubl
to make the calculations mentally, o
watch and clock dials could have tn
additional figures marked in an inne
circle to those already on the dial. Blu
It would be but little while until all tn
numbers would be definitely fixed Il
the mind. and to say eighteen o'cloc
would convey a certain meaning to tn
mind lust as much as when we now So
six o'clock p. m.
As we said before, the railroad mans
gers of the country have the matter {
time in their own hands. They fix
for che country, can introduce this sy!
TEN, and greatly simplify their time
tables, besides reducing the cost
printing them, and give them in MOI
compact form. We have suggested sue
a change to number of our railroa
friends, and while they all appear
wonder that time-cards can not (
readily understood by the public, the
quickly concede that the system abo'
described would be simpler and not Ii
bile to be misunderstood, and that Il
adoption of it by one of the gre
through lines of the country would bril-
it into general use at once. The COZ
,panies, too, could count upon the acti
Incorporation of all the printers in ma
ing the public familiar with the chang
for these a. M and p. ms cause
end of swearing every time time ca
is set up in every Office in the land.