The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1883-11-22
A New Timetable for Railroads.
sTb;e train starts of "a O'Clock -

'''This train starts at "a o'clock"
These were the words used by q gen.
tleman at Broad street station, Phila-
delphia,a few DAYS since, in explanation
Of theory which will,in all probability,
be put into practice at no distant day.
Ihe theory is the establishment of
standard time,n as the railroad men
term it, to be put into operation on all
the railroads in the country. The pro-
posed standard would simply add the
hours after midnight to II, so that ii
o clock in the morning would be %
o'clock and noon would be "a o'clock.
The dials of the clocks would be made
into twenty-four divisions of time and
the troublesome A. NJ. and p. M. would
be avoided Uniformity and certainty
in the movement of trains in all parts of
the country is one of the greatest ad
vantages claimed for the new standard,
and simplification of timetables that
the public would be quick to recognize
and appreciate would follow. The
Pennsylvania Railroad company has
given the question of the new standard
a favorable consideration. An officer of
that corporation says there are now in
operation at least fifty standards of time.
The reduction of their number has en-
crossed the attention of the different
timetable conventions held within the
past twenty years, but no solution of the
problem has been reached. The last
railway convention held was at St.Louis,
in April last, and it was there that a
plan for reducing the number of stand
ards from fifty to five was suggested as
the easiest and simplest way out of the
trouble. s'Of course said the Penn
sylvania Railroad officer, 1.-THE railroad
managers had to adopt the plan before
it could be put into effect, and responses
had been received favorable to the five
standard arrangement from the officers
of corporations controlling seventeen
thousand miles of road, forming an un-
broken line from Boston to Omaha on
the west, and Charleston, S. c., on the
south. Still it was not unanimous and
therefore not effective
The originator of the theory of the
twenty-four hours for standard time
was Mr.. HW. Devices, of Philadelphia.
Mr. Devices, upon expressing his views,
said recently: Anything more crude,
uncertain and insufficient than the style
now in use cannot be imagined. 1t is
a relic of the dark ages, adopted cen
was thought of. Modern progress de-
mands something better adapted to the
present advanced civilization. II my
plan is adopted | think twill gradually
extend throughout the world. | would
take time from Greenwich observatory,
for it is the best time that exists. 1t is
exact, constant and known (or ascer-
tainable) everywhere.
Objections, he said, ''are likely to
be urged against Greenwich time by the
people. 1t would probably be contend
ed, that inasmuch as the hours of the
daY would run from one to twenty-four,
instead of the day being divided into
halves of twelve hours each, as is the
present civil day, great inconvenience
would result to the public. People
would soon, however, become accus-
toned to the new method. Should
Greenwich astronomical time be taken
as the standard, II o'clock midnight
would become the end of the twelfth
and the beginning of the thirteenth
hour. Two o'clock A. NJ. (present
styie), the beginning of the fifteenth
hour; six o'clock A. NJ, present time,
the beginning of the nineteenth hour,
and so on around the circle. A man
reading of events occurring in Europe
at a certain time of day would not be in
blisSful ignorance, if the new standard
were in force, of the time when they re-
ally did occur. Under the new standard
there would no longer be any question
aeout New York, Philadelphia. Wash
ington. Pittsburg, Chicago and the nu
merous other standards now in force.
1t viii be very easy, even upon the
clocks and watches now in use, to reck-
ON the railroad time Another time
convention will probably be called, at
which the subject VIII be thoroughly
canyassed and adopted. Boston Times.