The record-union., 1899-03-21
UNCLE SANS CLOCKS.
ALL SORTS OF TIME IN HIS
VAST DOMAIN.

What His Chronometers In Manila,
| Guam, Hawaii, Cuba and Porto
Rico Indicate When It Is High
| Noon in New York.
The time of day-in other words,
/ what o'clock it is, is a simple matter,
well understood and easily compre-
hended by everybody in a. city or in ap
proximately the same locality. But
when people are separated, some being
to the east or the west of the others,
the simplicity Of the answer to the
question, What time is it? is by no
means SO apparent.
| Indeed, confusion has so often arisen
lin consequence of the difference be-
tween clocks, say at New York and
| Chicago, that it has been found decid-
edly advantageous to divide the United
States into time districts, each district
differing from the adjoining one by just
one hour of time. The railroad cempa-
MES were the inaugurators of this ad-
mirable system, which business men
and finally the Government shortly
adopted.
Thus in the United States to-day
there are Eastern time corresponding
| to the 10Th meridian of longitude west
from Greenwich, Central time (corre-
spending to the Goth meridian west
from Greenwich), mountain time (cor-
responding to the 1O5th meridian west
from Greenwich), and Western time
| corresponding to the 10th meridian
west from Greenwich).
STANDARD TIME.
! Owing to this simple arrangement it
| therefore follows that when it is high
noon in Eastern time at New York, for
instance, it is IL o'clock in Central time
at Chicago, 10 o'clock in mountain time
at Denver, and O'clock in Western
time at San Francisco. This division
of time, though not astronomically cor
rect, is sufficiently so for all practical
purposes, and one can readily under
stand how greatly business is thereby
! facilitated.
For instance the longitude of the City
Hall of New York is 20 degrees "a sec
onds This, converted from arc into
time, gives 4 hours, 56 minutes 1.6 sec
onds But the time of the clocks III
New York and throughout all the East
\
from Greenwich, which is the time cor
responding to longitude of 70 degrees
west. Since the adoption of standard
time. as these times into which the
mainland of the United States is divld-
ed. is called. the dominion of the coun-
| try has been extended. 1t now COM
prises islands in the Atlantic ocean
and islands in the Pacific Ocean, Ha-
vana. most people have the idea, hes
to the eastward and southwark OF New
York. Instead, it is situated nearly
south of Key West, in longitude 81 de-
prees 81 minutes 80 seconds west, or >
hours % minutes 26 seconds from
Greenwich, about midway between
Eastern and Central times. Undouot-
tdly Eastern time will be the time 10
which the Cuban clocks will eventually
be set .,.
San Juan is situated in longitude %
degrees Z minutes % seconds west
This. reduced from arc to time by d.
viding it by 10. gives 4 hours "A min
utes 80 seconds Here again, perhaps
Eastern time will be adopted Wneh
trade between the West India Islands
and the ports along the Atlantic sea
board has increased to the great Vol-
unle which is sure to come with peace
and prosperity.
| CLOCKS IN THE WEST.
| Now for the great West. San Fran
cisco lies hours 9 minutes and oS sec
onds distant in time from Greenwich.
though, according to our adopted
standard time 1t is regarded CONNER
| cially as only s hours distant. Homo
lulu, in the Sandwich Islands of the
United States, is distant by sun time
| QR seconds
| from Greenwich. 1t would certainly
be more convenient to drop the minutes
and seconds and consider the Hawaiian
group as a round ten hours distant from
Greenwich, or two hours from San
Francisco. or five hours from New
| York.
So far. this question of time has been
plain sailing, as the nautical men say
We have been following the sun to the
westward, taking our date and day with
! u.s. the same with which we started
! from Greenwich or New York; but after
we shove off from the Sandwich group
and head for our tight little island OF
Guam we encounter a difficulty that is
decidedly puzzling to the landsman, and
even the nautical man has to sit down
and work it out.
The difficulty lies in the adding to or
dropping from our calendar Of an en-
tire day, according as we may be going
to the east or to the west of that me-
ridian of longitude called $50 degrees.
THE CLOCKS AT GUAM.
| Guam lies in the Pacific Ocean, III
longitude IA degrees 80 minutes 30
seconds east. In time this is 9 hours
3S minutes and 81 seconds east of
Greenwich This means that the sun
rises over that island IA hours SO min
utes and SO seconds before that lumin
cry shines over the island of Manhat
tan.
| The common day, often called the
civil day, lasts. from midnight to mid
night-twenty-f -four hours. In order that
the civil day may have the same num-
Der or date the world around, the lead
| ing nations have agreed to use the date
of the days as they begin on the 1S0th
meridian.
THE INTERNATIONAL DATE LINE.
| Thus with every place it's dates are
counted from midnight to midnight, and
each day takes the same date as that
o-iven TO tha latest new day on the