The daily gazette., 1882-02-15
A Quesaien of Time.
From the St. Louis oIobe Democrat


No person ever journeyed be-
tween the East and the We without
being annoyed to find his watch
regularly gaining or losing, as the
case might be. This peryersity on
the part OF his timepiece has been
particularly vexations If he has hadto
''stop over.' 1t has obliged him TO
keep setting the hands forwards or
backwards, OF else, to go ahead
in blind uncertainty whether he
would catch his train and make
connections or not. There are said
TO be seventy or eighty different
standardston the railroads of the
United States, while in the majority
of towns "railroad time" is one
thing and local time another.
The trunk lines betN cen New
York and Chicago or st. Louis haYe
each at least two time systems.
Suppose person to leave New
FORK for this city by the Pennsyl-
vania, Panhandle, and Vandalia
lines at 5.55 Z. NJ. lie starts on
Philadelphia time, which is Ave
minutes slower than New Yorktlme
and his watch says 6 o'clock when
the ferrvsboat pulls out from her
dock. he reaches Pittsburg at $50
the next morning, or 8.35 by this
watch, when, if he glances at local
clock, he finds that it indicates only
S.l1. The time table tells him
that he departs from the "Smokey
City" at 9.l0, but that is time as
indicated by the.cloeks of Columbus,
200 miles further west. Instead Of
9.l0 1T is .9:22 by the Plttsburg
clocks when he gets away while the
hands OF his watch point to.9.46. At
Indianapolis there is another change.
Reaching that city al IL Z. M,
according to his conductor, who
has Columbus time his own watch
tells him it is ll.36, while the
Indianapolis clocks stand at l0.48.
He starts out again at IL O'Clock
indianapolis time IL ,48 by his watch
and alights in st. Louis UnlonDepot)
at 7.30 A. M. city time, though by
his train time it is TAT, and his
watch indicates S.35.
The constant movement westward
over railroad journey OF 1,065 miles,
or little more than 10 deg. of longi-
tude, has, therefore, carried our travel
Ter TO a point where his timepIece is one
hour and five minutes fast. He started
from the headquarters OF New York
time, brought up where St. Louis time
prevailed, journeyed from New York to
Pittsburg by Philadelphia time, from
Plttsburg to indianapolis by Columbus
time, and from Indianapolis to ST. Louis
by indianapolis time, and not for one
moment after he entered the Pennsyl-
Vania Depot in New York had bis watch
agreed with those of the railroad men
where he happened TO be. .
These various changes from one reck-
oning to another are perhaps rather
scientifically Objectionable than pracLl-
cally troublesome. People learn to
make allowances fer the gaining or los
ing Of their watches as they 90 West OF
East, aud for possibly discordant stan
dards IN the same city, and railroads
care little or nothing about the standards
OF rival or connecting roads, provided
their own can be adhered to accurately
And yet 1t would greatly simplify mat
ters TO have only one or a few standards
for both local and railroad time, II
place of the multiplicity of division:
which now prevail.
Many scientific students and some or
Ranized bodies have been at work on thu
: problem for good while. The mos
practical suggestion is one offered b!
J Professor Benjamin Pierce as part of
scheme for uniform International tint
4 system, In the United States, east o
] the Pacific slope, he would have bu
three standards-Phlladelphia lime, 81
Louis time, aud Denver time. The iE
, terVals in each case, singularly enough
are just an hour. Each standard woul'
rule for half an hour, or 400 miles, o.
each side. Philadelphia time woul
prevail IRON the Atlantic Ocean to th
y meridian of Columbus, or thereabouts
ST. Louis time thence TO The middle G
Kansas, and Denver time from ths
mer dian to Salt Lake City. The chan
i ges In railroad time would, under thi
system, be even hours. A train comm
West which reached Columbus, say {
4 10 a. M, Philadelphia time, woul
I leave, without delay, at A. NJ, s.
Louis time. In course OF years the loci
times ip each belt would doubtless b.
come assimilated to the standard, an
the utmost variation from the correI
!, indication would be only half an hou
+ In the illustration just given the tru
time al Columbus would be $50. Clocl
n and watches might be set at either 0 {
y l0without anybody's knowing. that thei
was an error.