St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-04-27
TIME SIGNALS.
A Fight Between the Western
Union and the Observatories.

A Fight Between the Western
Union and the Observatories.
The Western Union Telegraph COM
pany, in cooperation with the naval
observatory at Washington, proposes a
systematic distribution of time signals
throughout the country. The various
astronomical observatories who have
been engaged in this work. in some in
stances derive therefrom gOodlY rev.
innovation. The distribution of time
signals was began by various
college observatories prior to the
war, and In 1868 the Western
Union company began to receive them
from the Washington observatory. In
1878 several municipal governments in
various parts of the country succeeded
i'm inducing the telegraph company to
supply the noon signals to their citi-
zenS. 1t Is only within few months
that the company have realized that
time is money, and in looking around
for added means OF revenue have set
about dispensing. for cash, to railways,
manufactures, municipalities, jewelers.
and others, the signals which the nation
furnishes gratuituously. There are cut
rates, too, which it offers.
There are in the United States proba-
bly, fifty astronomical obServatOries.
Some of the larger ones, like Harvard's.
are not dependent on the revenue OBJ
tanned from their time service, but 9TH
ers will be severely crippled by being
deprived of it. Nevertheless" said a
distinguished astronomer, sit is not so
much the direct loss of the money which
is to be regretted This time service is
about the only communication we have
with the people. By this they know
that we exist, and are doing something
useful.in the world. I.keeps alive gen
eral interest in our work, and this is
matter of vital Importance. 1t is not
unlikely that the Western Union COM
pany can add something like 500, 900 a
year to their income by making time
service department of their business,
but it will, after all. be false pretenSe.
The Washington observatory can fur
nish a correct time only when the sky
is clear. An attempt, therefore. TO dis
tribute its time or that of any single OBJ
servatory throughout the country can
not be successful much more than half
the time. 1t will be pretty nearly the
correct time, and that is ALL" Said
Prof. Langley, secretary of the Smith
sonlan Institution: II remember in the
old days, in a certain large city, seeing
jewelers. clocks which pretended to be
standard vary Ia seconds. Ii this was
the case with clocks. how much worse
must it have been with watches? Now,
multiply l5 by 100000, say, and then by
365 and you have startling aggregate
of error If you could he lifted up above
long line Of railway and witness its
operation you would get clear view of
the vast Importance of uniform accurate
time in preventing disaster and in per-
hitting traffic."
Prof. E. G. Pickering, the distin-
guished director of the Harvard college
observatory. set forth the inadequacy of
a national time service which depends
or single observatory, and also of one
which does. not furnish to railway.
say, something more than clock serv-
ice. ''The railways" he said. demand
for the use of their employees continu-
Gus ticker service. The ideal arrange
ment would be cooperation of OBJ
servatories, so that there need be no
failure in accuracy on account of clouds
at any station. This system has been
in practice between the Harvard OBJ
servatOry and that at McGill college,
Montreal. The astronomers are now