McCook weekly tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 188?-1886, 1883-11-22
THE COMMON STANDARD.
The Difficulties in tho Way of the Adop
ton of the New Railroad Uniform
Time System Explained.

1 zion OF the New Railroad Uniform
| Time System Explained.
New Haven Register.
Yesterday the Register told how, il
consequence of the adoption of the
new standard of time to 60 into effec
on the 18th of next month, the clock.
and watches of those persons in oul
section OF the country would be founG
to be three minutes and fifty-eight sec.
Onds faster than the correct or new
standard time. This information came
but as the result of very interesting
talk with Professor H. A. Newton, in
his quaintly-furnished and attractive
study on Elm street, which abounds in
globes and maps and bear skins, and il
filled with grooming book cases. For q
long period Professor Newton has been
Interested in the fixing of a single stand
ard OF time, 80 that when it should be
| II O'Clock in Boston it would be IL
O'Clock in New Haven and in New
York, ETC., simultaneously.
"There has been," said the professor,
"much trouble and Inconvenience
occasioned by these differencesIin time.
Why. it came out in the legislature of
this state no longer ago than when the
matter of the adoption of Connecticut
standard time was brought up, that
the people of the city of Hartford alone
was laboring under the disadvantage of
having three different system of time
to cope with. Some of their trains left
on Boston time, others on New York
time, while in the city of Hartford
local time was used. You can see for
yourself what the Inconvenience must
have been. Here in New Haven we
were once using time that was four
minutes faster than the New York time
used by the railroads. 1t occasioned
much trouble.''
''The new system,' continued the
professor, "has not come up without
opposition. On the contrary it has re-
celved the severest friction, and that is
one thing that assures its success. 1t is
a result of the recent convention of the
railroad men in Chicago. They real
lied that they needed some common
standard of time not only for their own
benefit but for the convenience of pas
sengers."
'What is the nature of the system as
applied to the entire country?"
''Four meridians have been taken,''
said the professor. "'The first is for the
eastern section of the United States, and
Is the seventy-ffth meridian, which
passes nearly through Philadelphia. 1t
is calculated that all New Yerk rail-
roads, and very soon all the roads in
the eastern part of the country, will
adop this time, which will be three
minutes and fifty-eight seconds slower
than Greenwich time. The second
meridian, the ninetieth, is just fifteen
degrees west, and will pass through the
cities of st. Louis and New Orleans.
This is the central division, and will fix
the time for the roads in the Mississippi
valley region. The time at this point
will just be one hour slower than at
New York, or six hours slower than
Greenwich time. The third meridian,
the 1O5th, will run through Denver, the
time being seven hours slower than at
Greenwich, while the eighth, the 120th
meridian, will control the time of the
Pacific coast and run through Carson
City, and the time there will be eight
hours slower than at Greenwich"
"Why was the seventy-fifth the meri-
dian chosen on the Atlantic coastP'
"Becsuse the Philadelphia meridian,
the one to be conveniently used, ran the
closest to the center of population of
the country. l have reckoned it that,
the places which are but from
ten to fifteen minutes distant from the
meridian tbaro 10 a rop,,
lation of more than 100000 people |
along it in the United States"
'Does the system 60 into effect in
all the divisions at once?"
"No. Attention has not been turned
to the western divisions as yet 1t is
needed in the east. The arranging of
the times in the western divisions will
be light matter, as you see they differ
only by even hours from our time and
from Greenwich time. The minutes
and seconds used are to be the same.''
"Do you regard the innovation as 8
good step IN the right direction in the
settlement of this much mooted ques-
ton, professor"
81 do, most certainly. All the pub
lie clocks should be at once regulated |
with tbs time as adopted by the rail- !
roads on the morning of the 18th of
and then all trouble arising
from differences of time will have come |
to an end. There need be no more of !
losing trains nor of the other difficult |
ties that have hitherto been occasioned |
by it,