The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-08-28
TwRNTY.FoUR O'CLOCK.
The New Time System Which the
Country MAY Come To.

| country May Come TO.
The railroads of Georgia are gust now in
tsrested in the 24-hour notation system, a
railroad man said yesterday. By degrees
uniformity in railroading in America is be-
ing adopted, and when the rail-
road system is uniform on all
railroads north and south, he said,
the 24-hour notation may be inaugurated.
At meeting held in New York a short
time ago the question was thoroughly dis
| cusSed, and inquiries were sent out all over
the country to the general managers and
presidents Of all railroads, asking their
views, and, if favorable to the system, u
state when they consider an opportune time
to inaugurate it.
The A-hour system is something new in
! the south, and, in fact, in all parts of the
| country south Of the border line of Can
ada, where the new system is in operation.
II Is proving immensely popular in Canada
| The system dispenses with the use Of a. m
and p. m. Instead of repeating the time in
the afternoon the numbers continue Thus,
| when it is l o'clock p. IN. by the present
time, it will be by the new time 13
O'Clock, and so on until "A o'clock,
which is II O'Clock at night by the present
time, is reached. Then the time begins
| again at l O'clock By this method the full
twenty-four hours are measured and all
repetition is avoided.
Railroad dispatchers in Canada are find
ing this method to be invaluable, the rail-
road man said. There IS now no cause for
an improper or an obscure order to be given
and there is never an occasion for them to
mistake a. IN. for p. m. Several years
have been devoted to efforts to
get up system of more uniformity than
| the present system. So many errors have
been made by dispatches in giving orders,
| and SO many terrible wrecks, telescoping of
trains, ETC., have resulted therefrom, that
railroad men all over the country see the
| great necessity of a system obviating the
complexity of the present time system.
Many OF them believe that the 24-hour nota-
| tion system is the requisite, and must neces-
sarlly displace the present time system.
Among those who have spoken favorably
OF the system in Georgia, Florida, Alabama
and South Carolina are: General Manager
| q. II. Hudson of the East Tennessee,
Virginia and Georgia, General Manager
NJ. S. Belknap of the Central railroad
| Vice President and General Manager
| Walters and General Superintendent
J. +. Divine of the Atlantic Coast
Line, General Manager j. w. Green of the
Georgia railway, and Superintendent S. A.
Hemphlll OF the Georgia railway, Assistant
General Superintendent J. J. Phillips of the
| Florida Railway and Navigation Company.
General Manager T. G. Sage of the Georgia
Pacific, Superintendent b. +. Swoope Of
the, South Florida railroad, Superin-
tendent j. W. Fry of the East
Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia rail
road, General Manager H. S. Morse of the
brunswick and Western railway. General
Manager Il. A. Flewellen of the Columbus
| and Western railroad, General Manager
John Postell of the East and " est rail way,
! Vice President and General Superintendent
| w. D. Chipley of the Pensacola and At
| lantic railway, and General Manager John
Is. Peck of the South Carolina railway.
I'm special cases. tao railroad man
said, during the introduction of the new
system, explanatory notes may be added;
| thus it could be stated with reference TO au
| important engagement, it will take place
at l9:45' 7:45 o'clock p. m. old style1.
The 2+hour notation will not involve
any change in the character of ordinary
| clocks and watches now in use. All that is
necessary is to place on their dials the new
| numbers OF the afternoon hours in an inner
circle, or In such other manner as expe-
rience may dictate The temporary means
| employed by railway managers in introduce
ing the new notation is the use of additional
| dials. The extra dials furnished are
| OF thin paper of sufficient size to
| contain the new afternoon hours, 10 to "a.
| Within the existing Roman numerals | to
XII. They are cut to the proper size,
| pierced for toe axis of the hands. coated
with gum like an ordinary postage stamp
and made ready for application II the
watch or clock has a second hand a segment
should be removed from the extra dial to
make room for it. In applying new dial
moisten every part of its gummed surface,
carefully place it in position, aud press it
| evenly and firmly so that every portion will
adhere to the old dial. Unless this be done
| the new dial may scale off or blister and in
terfere with the hands The best time to
apply the new dials, the railroad man said,
is at 4:30, $3.50, $50 or 7:30, when hour and
minute hands are together and little in the
way"
The railroad man said that the abortion
of the 24-hour notation is favored
by prominent men of science in Russia.
Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Great
Britain, and indeed, throughout Europe
generally 1t is warmly supported in the
United States and Canada. 1t has no
stronger advocates than the imperial astron-
omer of Russia and the astronomer royal of
England. 1t has long been in common use
in Italy and Bohemia. One of the great
clocks over the portico of ST. Peters, at
Rome, has the dial adapted Co the 24-kour
notation. 1t has been brought into daily
use on the great lines of telegr aph
communicating from England to Egypt.
NiAAAeAi AuSbid anu EoOQU0 africa.
The Canadian Pacific railway adopted the
notation on the opening of the line from
Lake Superior to the Pacific coast in 1886.
1t has continued in use only to obtain more
assured favor. 1t has likewise been accepted
by the Canadian government on the Inter
colonial line from Quebec to Halifax. Since
the beginning Of 1888 it has been employed
for railway purposes in the provinces of
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, On
tario, Manitoba, Assiuibola, Alberta and
British Columbia. A few months back the
A-hour system was adopted on the railways
In China. Wherever it has been adopted
on railways it has been found ad-
vantageous in facilitating the movement of
trains and promoting the public safety.
Experience has shown that, in the more in
telhgent and progressive communities. the
puohc have readily accepted the change.
The press, generally, has expressed a favor
able opinion with regard to the new nota
ton. ut has been received with favor in
nearly every quarter where it has been con-
sidered, he SAID, land it is believed the dav
Is not far distant when it will be brought
| into common use on RAILWAYS GENERALLY