Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-11-01
New Time System.

The proposal of the Pennsylvania
Railroad to introduce uniform rail-
ray time standard and to measure the
day by twenty-fodr enumerated hours,
instead of by twelve, is very startling
and, in its way, interesting suggestion.
The Pennsylvania plan proposes simply
to sweep away local meridian systems,
and the habit of trying to reckon by
home time, and to set up as the uni
versal time standard of the world that
of Greenwich observatory. If this
should be done, Boston man reading
timetable would know the absolute
instant at which train containing his
family leaves Chicago, and BY referring
TO his watch, set by Greenwich time,
he could ascertain the exact position of
the east-bound train at any given mo-
nIent. At present, if he wishes to tele-
graph to his wife who is on his Journey,
he must 90 through a fussy computa-
ton of longitude and time, based on the
real time where he is, that where she
is, and the distance in geographical
miles between them. Under the pro-
posed system, every train Advertised to
start at 10 o'clock, or - o'clock, would
roll out of the station at the same in
slant; whereas under the existing sys-
tenn the starting process OF the 10
o clock trains is deferred, as we see by
mentally CHANGING backward, until the
sun in his sedate course rolls across the
local meridians Great advantages. no
doubt, for travellers. But there are
very decided objections to the plan.
Dull people would never to their diving
day understand it, and some people
not dull would not master it easily. 1t
would necessitate the division of our
days into "a hours each. The first hour
would begin as the sun crossed the
meridian of Greenwich, and one o'clock
to men scattered along the continent
would mean very different amounts of
daylight and darkness instead of the
same real apparent amount of solar de-
clination. People who now rise reou-
larry at 8 O'Clock in the morning would
find themselves awakening a little after
3 p. M, or, as it would he called under
the "A hour system, .'15 0 clock But
we should merely have transferred our
present difficulty to another spot. If
travelling were the most important and
NOA' AAAct' NSStp ttiOh VI iitCi IL DG
wise to make the change, but 1t is not
For 80 of every 100 acts Il man, wom-
an, or child performs in the course of
the year, the local time is more useful
than common standard would be. As
compared with Greenwich, Boston time
is hours "A minutes and II seconds
slow. TO every person who stays in
Boston 1t is vastly easier and more nat
ural to remember that the DAYS work
begins at clock, and school at 9, that
dinner is at noon and bedtime at 10
O'Clock, than to translate it to Green
witch time. And if the person goes from
Boston to Chicago to live, instead of
accommodating himself to the local Gus
tom by single change of his watch, he
must learn from the beginning the whole
arrangement of the day. Instead of be-
ginning work at 10 minutes past II
O'Clock, he does so at 9 minutes past Is
o'clock. And even were whole hours
only regarded, there would be great
confusion. The Pennsylvania Railroad
Company may treat the matter Of travel
as the most important event in mans
life, but it is not SO; and no people will
ever change habit which has always
and everywhere prevailed in order to
avoid some complication in the matter
of starting and running railroad trains.
-BOstOu A61,prtiSpr