New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-06-01
TWENTY-TOCR-HO NOTATION.

The letter of Mr. Charles f. Dowd in favor of
The twenty-four- hour notation which we pub
lishcd Yesterday calls attention once more to
reform In our system Of marking time which
must come sooner or later The Anticipated pre-
fixes a. IN. and p. m were well enough in day
of simple habits and slow travel. but they ar"
the cause Of endless confusion. annoyance and
mistake in this time Of long Journeys and in
this stirring world. which has come largely to
ignore the difference between night and day
The railway timetable. with its arbitrary break
in notation in the middle Of days journey and
its cumbersome letters to be hunted for AT some
obscure point In the column. Is an affection with
which all travellers are familiar Some railroad
companies strive to overcome the difficulty by
printing the morning and afternoon figures in
different type. hut this Is a conventional device
which must have key In every case. and is al
best clumsy makeshff. 1t would he far bet
ter If our railroad managers would agree. as
they were once on the point of doing TO adopt
the twenty -four-hour notation and print Their
timetables with figures running In sequence
from START 10 finish. Then there could never be
any question whether train went at morning
or night.
The system would seem odd for a month or
our present method Several years ago Italy led
the way and the experiment has worked per-
fcctly. Canada has made limited trial Of the
method. and now the railroads Of Belgium have
been using II for month TO the great satlsfac
ton of all who have had occasion to use BEL
gian train The astronomers Use the twenty
four-hour notation. though they begin their day
M noon. so as 10 set their thermometers ny thc
meridian and have an unbrOken nights obserya-
ton all in one day. But for obvious reasons
the business day should 90 from morning 10
night. The adoption Of The new notation by the
railroads would cause no Inconvenience TO the
public. Everybody would know what ID O'Clock
meant in spite of its queer sound watch
makers already make dials with second ring
of the new figures within that OF the old, ana
ANYBODY who did not realize without thought
that II and . D. M were the same would see IT
with glance a. his dial
We must look for this reform to the railroads
They gave us the boon Of standard times. chang
ING bv even hours. and saved us from the con
fusion Of watches at every crossroad. III they
will agree TO give Ms timetables such as the Bel
eians and Italians use we shall before we know
il be accustomed TO the larger numbers anu uh
willing to return to the present style. We should
probably continue to talk and think or morn
ing and afternoon, but the advantage OF having
notation in common use which did not require
a prefix would be very great in the care or
kilograms ard in other transactions where
brevity is desirable and where mistakes are
easily made Fourteen is not likely to be trans
mitted three. but p. m. and a. IN. are often con-
fused. The use of the twenty-four hour nota'
ton would give sure relief from all such blum
ders. make our travelling simpler, make our
train dispatchng safer. and at the same time
leave us entirely free 70 reckon time rs we al
WAYS have done in our daily walk and CONVEX