The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-05-04

and Portuguese reach their possessions
in the Pacific from the east and since
most of these islands are on the same
eide OF the one hundred and eightieth
meridian as the mother country there
was no necessity for the marines and
merchantmen to change their log books
for the day of the week. But about two
centuries ago the Spaniards, in their
palmy days, with gold-searching ships,
rounded South America, and passed into
the constant western current of the
trade-winds, and pursued their journey
until they reached the Philippine
Islands, which Spain holds to-day.
These islands are near the coast Of
China, and nearly sixty degrees west of
the one hundred and eightieth meridian.
The Spaniards did not then change the
day at the one hundred and eightieth
meridian, but regarded the Philippines
as having the same day with the mother
country, hence the great irregularity in
the International date line, or the line
where day begins.
5. Let us sail from San Francisco, Cal,
to Toxic, Japan Cor rather Yokohama,
its seaporD. After passing the Sand
witch Islands, SO as to have the right day
of the week at Yokohama, it will be ne
cessary to skip one day. The log-book
would be kept in this manner: Tues
day, July 3, 1883, and the next day
would be entered as Thursday, July 5,
1888. The same object would be gained
if July 3 and 4were crowded into twen-
ty-fOur hours. Suppose the vessel should
come to the one hundred and eightieth
meridian at three o'clock, p. M, of the
Sd, then the rest of that twenty-four
hours was called the 4th of July, then
the next morning would be the 9Th. But
the custom is to continue the full day,
and pass over one day on the log-book.
Thus you see it is possible to be cheated
out of the glorious Fourth altogether.
Again, in going from Yokohama to San
Francisco it is necessary to add day at
the one hundred and eightieth meridian.
In this case the record would be Wednes-
day, July4 a., 1888, Wednesday, July
4 U.), 1888. On this journey it is pos
sible to enjoy as many as six Sundays in
February and as few as three. Some
times the change is not made until the
time of arrival at the port.
6. On account of the curvature of the
line to the westward to include the
PHILIPPINES on its east side, some pecu-
liar changes may be noted. Take Ma
Mia, the capital of the PHILIPPINE Islands,
and Adelaide, the capital of South Au-
stralia, which is about eighteen degrees
east of the former. The difference of
time between these two places is about
one hour and twelve minutes, so that
when it is twelve o clock at Adelaide it
Is twelve minutes to eleven o'clock at
Manila; but since Manila is east of the
fine. and Adelaide west of it, when it is
10:4S a. m. of Tuesday, July 3. at Ma
Mia, it will be twelve o'clock Wednes-
day, July 4, 1888, at Adelaide. But it
will be observed (by reference TO the
map or the date line) that Adelaide,
since it is east of Manila, will enterupon
the day of July 5 before the latter place
is finished with July 3. Hence, if the
time at Adelaide is one o'clock on the
morning of July 5. it will be fifteen
minutes of twelve o'clock (midnight) of
July 8, at Manila. That is. two places
with a difference in time of one hour
and twelve minutes are two days apart
in the same week.
Z. The irregularity in the practical
direction given to the date line causes
day to last on the earth nearly thirty
hours. Let us place telephones on the
meridians which are fifteen degrees
apart, and call for the time. All places
on the same meridian, whether the
northern or southern hemisphere, will
have the same time. When it. is six
o'clock a. m. at Cincinnati, Monday,
July 2, it will be Monday over almost
the entire world with the exception of q
small portion of the Pacific Ocean. The
western part of Europe will have noon,
the central part of Asia between five
and six o'clock in the evening, Japan
and the eastern part of Australia be-
tween nine and ten o'clock at night.
When Cincinnati is at six o'clock p. m.
on Monday, July 2, then nearly one half
of the whole globe would respond to
Tuesday, and the other half to Monday.
At San Francisco. Cal, the time would
be 1928 o'clock of Monday, July 2; at
Calcutta it will be about $50 o'clock a.
m, Tuesday. July 3; at Cairo, Egypt,
Odessa, and st. Petersburg, in Russia,
the time would be between half-past
one and two o'clock a. m, Tuesday,
July 3; the British Isles, thewestern part
of France, Spain and Portugal would
respond to July 2, and the time between
eleven and twelve o'clock midnight.