The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-10-12
STANDARD TIME.
Annual Meeting of the Railway Time
Table Convcnfion-Preposed Change of
Great Convenience 10 she Public.

CHICAGO Oct.11.-The annual Railway Time
Table Convention began this morning and
is being attended by Representatives from
nearly every important railway in the coun-
try. In addition to arranging winter time
tables, it is proposed to take definite action on
the adoption by railroads Throughout the
country, of proposed plan for uniform time
standards. The new plan has been termed the
"Hour" System. 1t provides for standards
differing from each other by exactly one hour,
leaving out the Eastern and Western extremes
of the Continent.
There are the "Eastern," "Central" and
Mountain" lines. The first will be employed
from Brunswick to the meridian of Detroit;
the second as far west as the boundary between
Kansas and Colorado; the third to the line be-
tween Utah and Nevada 1t is proposed that
all railroads now using Boston, Newport.
Philadelphia, Baltimore, Toronto, Hamilton
or Washington time as the standard shall be
governed by Eastern or Seventy.fifth Meridian
time which is four minutes slower than New
York.
By this plan the minute-hand of the travel
er's watch will never have to be changed,
however far, or in whatever direction he trav-
els His watch will be just one hour slow
when he crosses the imaginary line into the
next division to the east or one hour fast
when he crosses the line into the next division
to the west, Over 80,080 miles of road are
now pledged to adopt it and to make the neces-
sary changes when their next time-schedule is
issued. The railroads centering in Boston
have not considered it desirable to make the
change which has already gone into effect on
the Concord Railroad, till the general adoption
of the plan and with the cooperation OF the
Harvard observatory. Prof. Piokering's assent
being necessary to the latter condition, the for
NAL assent of the observatory people had to be
delayed till his return from Europe. When he
reached New York last Sunday he was met by
Mr.. Edmands of the observatory, and the mat
ter met with his hearty approval. According
ingy the following note was sent to the secre-
tary of the time convention on Monday:
NEW YORK, Oct g. 1888.
W. q. Allen, Esq, Secretary General Of
Southern Rail,cGy Time Convention:
Dear Sir am requested by Prof z. @
Pickering, director of Harvard College obser-
vatory, to inform you that he is strongly in
favor of the system of standard time, which
has been recommended by your convention,
and that he desires to do what may be in his
power to aid the scheme. Accordingly, If the
convention adopts the system. the observatory
will be ready to furnish telegrap hIc signals
conforming to the minute and second of the
proposed standards. Respectfully,
j. RAYNER EDMANDs,
Assistant in charge of time service, Harvard
College observatory.
An interview between Mr.. Edmands and the
Boston fire commissioners ON Tuesday, resulted
in tho adoption of letter to the observatory
by the commissioners, in which they say that
they consider the time furnished by the Har-
ward observatory as the standard time for Bos-
ton, and that if the time be changed by the
observatory the change will be accepted by the
commission, and that they will have the
meridian bells struck and the city clocks, in
schools, etc., set to correspond. The adoption
of the same standard in New York and other
cities within this time division will probably
soon follow. The Western Union Telegraph
Company in New York has already asked
the Naval observatory to drop the time ball
by the new standard, and if the principal cities
thus adopt it the smaller cities and town will
speedily conform to the new standard. The
time now furnished by the Harvard observato-
ry is the mean solar time fer the Boston State
House. The new time will be 10 minutes,
44.5 seconds-practcally 10 34 minutes-slow-
er, and will be the average time for this divi-
sion, which includes the New England States,
New York and Pennsylvania, and the greater
part of Canada. North of Lake Erie, the di-
vision extends west to Detroit while south of
Lake Erie, Pittsburg is practically ON the
western boundary of this division. Thus in
the region north of the lake the standard time
will be five hours slow of Greenwich, and
south OF Lake Erie and west of Pttsburg it
will be six hours slow of Greenwich. The
time for this division is thus very rear Phila-
delphia time. The new standard will doubt
less go into effect on somesSunday noon, after
due notice to the public, and from that hour
all the railroad trains will be run by the new
time.