New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-11-17
THE NEW TIME STANDARDS.
PREPARING FOR THE CHANGE TOMORROW.

PANY TO ADOPT THE NEW SYSTEM.
Nearly all the necessary arrangements have been
made for the general adoption tomorrow Of the
new time standards that have been accepted with
few exceptions, by the railroads of the United
States and Canada. Instructions have been issued
by the companies for the changing of all their Office
clocks and the watches of their employees aud tho
running time of trains will be based on the new
system. When the observations taken at tho
United States Observatory at Washington deter
mine the moment when the sun has crossed the sew
enty-fifth meridian of longitude at noon the time
will be telegraphed throughout the country by the
Western Union Telegraph Company that thers
can be re-Setting of clocks and watches The
Western Union time-ball will be dropped at the
standard noon hour and the time-balls of the var
ious scientific Observatories at different places will
record the hour.
There willpropably be general acquiescence by
the public in the change as the time standardsof
the towns and cities along the lines of the various
railroads now conform, except in few cases, To
the local time of the places which govern the run
ming of trains The fact that the official clocks Of
the principal cities have been ordered by munich
pal legislative action to be adjusted 10 the pew
system and that jewellers and watchmakers gem
rally will set their customers timepieces according
TO the new standard, unless directed otherwise will
tend TO make the universal introduction of the new
standards a matter of easy and speedy accomplish
ment. In this city, either with or without official
action, the clocks of the Stock Produce Petroleum,
Mining and Maritime exchanges Will be reset on
Eastern or 18th meridian time. At the Custom
House it has not yet been decided to make the
change because of the absence of instructions from
Washington but Postmaster Pearson says that the
Post Office clocks will be altered after the Sunday
noon mail has been disposed Of The only important
city where the local authorities will not adopt the
new standard officially is Washington The Attor-
ney-General has decided that as Congress legisates
for the District of Columbia, official change from
the present standard of Washington time can bs
made without Congressional action. There is littla
doubt that this can be obtained as soon as Congress
meets.
FACTS ABOUT EASTERN DISTRICT TINE.
The whole question of uniform time standards
affects people through the railroads II makes
little difference to New-YOrk whether il governs
itself by the mean solar or clock time of Boston
the mean solar time here. The utility of having
one standard of time TO control large section Of
country lies in the fact that in travelling from ons
place to another the calculation Of the differences
between the local times of different places may bs
dispensed with in regard to the time schedules Of
the railroads. BY the new system the running 0f
trains throughout the country will be based upon
only four standards Of time instead of the hfty
standards now used. While the first published
proposition for the adoption of uniform time
standards came from Professor Charles F. DOwd, Of
Saratoga Springs, n T., the development
of the idea into practical shape and
the securing of the assent of the railroads
to the adoption Of the plan are the work of w. +.
Allen Editor of TIE Tldrellers OFFICIAL Guide OF this
city Under the new system the operation Of tho
railroads will be conducted under division Of tho
country into four belts, roughly divided respec-
lively by the lOngitudes 7l2 degrees on each side
of the 10Th the Goth, the 105th and the 12Oth
meridians. New-England and the Middle States
fall within the Eastern District, the tine
tandard for which is based on the mo-
ment the sun crosses the 18th meridian.
The time belts are not exactly divided by
the fifteen degrees Of which each of the
meridians is the central longitudinal line Such
an absolute division would compel in many cases
the change of time on railroads whose lines ex-
tended short distance beyond the meridian limit
of the time belt which governed the trains when
they started. Hence the time standards OF each
belt will govern every railroad from one end to the
other of its line. For instance, the Lake Shore
Railroad lies most of its length within the time belt
governed by the sandardO of the 0Oth meridian, al
though its trains westward start from Buffalo,
which is within the Eastern t7j tn me-
ridianl District Hence its running schedule out
of Buffalo will be based on the time of the 9Oth
meridian ignoring the seconds, the following table
shows the differences of time in the Eastern
District between the local times, which are tho
present standards for the running of trains on one
or more roads, rs compared with 10Th meridian
the new) time: