Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1883-11-17
STANDARD TINE.
it, Adoption BY the City and Railroad
Tomorrow.
The Reason. In F. vor Of It. 1.sr.a.es....

In pur'uance to an order passed BY the city
government the city will adopt the standard
time so called tomorrow, and at noon the
city clock will be set back l6 minutes. The
city bell will also be rung in conformity 18th
the new time. At the same hour the Maine
Central Railroad will substitute the standard
for the Boston time which is now in use on
the road and has issued an order to that ef-
feet which has already been published. That
this change in time will result in some in.
conveniences at first and perhaps losses to
individuals Is to be expected, yet its adoption
seems necessity and all must sooner or later
conform to it. Its movement is irresisti-
Bile and mills, banks, publishing houses, schools
and factories, should announce their inten-
ton to adopt it. Individuals generally
should adapt their plans to the new arrange
ments.
II is of the greatest practic Importance
ina business community and among travellers
to have an accepted standard time. to which
well constructed clocks and watches conform.
True solar time is not regular enough for
to keep time with it, mean time" is an ar
bitary device which overcomes the difficulty
At different seasons of the year it is alter
nately faster and slower than true solar time.
yet it serves practical purposes so well that
many persons are ignorant Of the fact that
the difference exists. As the division of the
day into "a hours and the calling of noon
"l2 o'clock" are both mere conventional ar
engagements. no difficulty has been found in
calling it IL o'clock when an imaginary or
''mean" sun crosses the meridian, although
twice year this mean noon varies more than
quarter of an hour from true solar noon.
For places in different longtitudes mean
noon occurs at different instants. Many
suburban resident would find his watch
minute wrong by city time should he keep it
true to the local time of the town where he
lives. But he fails to notice this fact, be-
cause none Of the clocks in his town show
the local time. Suburban clocks are made
to agree with those of the city, and the city
clocks often show the time of some larger
city. For example there is hardly an inland
city in New England which uses its own local
time. Clock time therefore is arbitrary and
conventional in nearly every respect 1t is
an invention which has been modified from
Even in legal matters no one would thiak of
appealing to the true solar time, but, in the
absence of statute, would rely upon what
ever standard is used by common consent.
The greater Importance of precise time to
us than to our ancestors is due to our in
creased facilities for dealing with those who
live at a distance the railroad, the tee-
graph, the telephone and the fast mail. The
same causes made it the more necessary to
be punctual in appointments with neighbOrs.
1t is difficult to realize how much more i'm
portant an exact knowledge of time is for
purposes of this sort than for all others. Few
people appreciate the number and variety of
interests which depend one way or another
upon the arrival and departure of trains.
This is especially true of q city surrounded
bv well-developed suburbs.
The consideration which induces a commu-
nity to allow its time to differ from the local
time is the existence of a railroad, which
uses the time proper to some other longitude
There are instances MAPPED out by nature
as the times tor men t. perform their daily re-
curing acts. Hours for meals vary widely;
and people show the latitude which exists in
the choice of times for beginning work or
amusements by taking even hours and
half-hours in preference to the interme-
date quarters or smaller divisions. What
ever be tine standard of time, mems daily
affairs can be appointed according to conven-
fence and if it be desired to use even hours
and half hours by the clock, the railway
standard offers many chances for conven-
lent arrangements as does local time. The
best plan is then. for all the timepeces,
public and private, to conform to that
standard. As each railroad carries one
standard to two termini, this plan is ncon-
.is,ent with the general use of local time.
Heretofore there have been over so different
Standards in use at once upon the railroads
of the United States and Canada In many
places, moreover, where two or more stand
ard, are used. the local time enters to in
crease the confusion. Remedies for this
state of things have been studied by able
scientific men, discussed at length BY learned
societies and developed practically by rail-
road managers. All purely ideal solutions
have had to give way to those considerations
which affect the convenience of the public.
For example, an early suggestion was for
TN. railroads to use one universal standard,
while each community should use its own
local time But such a scheme is visionary,
since neither the railroads not the people
would nut it into practise. According to the
plan which the railroads have recently adopt
ed, the minute hands of watches all over the
country are to be in coincidence, but the
hours are nowhere to depart far from local
allowing for difference Of an odd number
of minutes is avoided. Again the boundaries
between sections using successive hours are
to be fixed with due regard to economic con-
siderations.
Those American communities which have
heretofore had their own local time must now
consider wether to retain them or submit to
the temporary Inconvenience of adopting the
new standard. which is to come into use by
the railroads. The recurring seasons OF the
wear and the gradually altering conditions OF
a CITY often call for altering the time set t"
start a train. begin work or open public en-
tertainmeut. Some Inconvenience immediate
ly results, but it is quickly compensated. IL
the standard OF time be changed manv ap-
monuments will remain the same by the CLOCK,
with positive Improvement in some cases,
while others will be soon shifted accord
ing to convenience. Men will not con-
tinue long to do things too late or too early
in the day just because the standard has been
altered. Suppose. for example. that the
clocks in the city were put back quarter OF
an hour If the time set for opening schooi
or factory had heretofore been thought rather
early in the day. the change would be oene-
fetal II. on the other hand, the hour for
Late hn