Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1899-05-26
longitude Ia deg. 80 min. 30 sec.

east. In time this is 8 hours, IS min
utes and 81 seconds east of Greenwich.
This means that the sun rises over
that island II hours, 3S minutes and
3S seconds before that luminary shines
over the island of Manhattan.
The common day, often called the
civil day, lasts from midnight to mid
Neutrality-suspicious. hours. In order
that the civil day may have the same
number or date the world around, the
leading nations have agreed to use the
date of the days as they begin on the
lS0th meridian.
Thus with every place its dates are
counted from midnight to midnight,
and each day takes the same date as
that given to the latest new day on
the lSOth meridian. We may think
of the new date as travelling westward
with the midnight. The date is
given to each place rs soon as the
midnight reaches it. When midnight
again occurs in the 1S0th meridian
another date begins its journey around
| the earth.
When vessels cross the 1S0th merid-
ian they either drop day or add one
20 the calendar. AS the new date be-
gins on that line, vessel sailing east
ward across the line goes out of the
area having the new date and must
therefore go back day. Sailing
westward the vessel enters the area
having a new day, and must therefore
add a day to the calendar. Thus,
when sailing eastward across the line,
Monday is dropped for Sunday; but
sailing westward over the line Satur-
day at once gives place to Sunday.
The meridian of $50 degrees, at which
all new civil days begin, is called the
international date line"
AS q matter of fact the internation-
al date line is an arbitrary line and
does not conform strictly to the lS0th
meridian. Many islands in the Pa
cific, notably those which are in close
commercial touch with Australia use
East Greenwich time, though geo.
graphically they lie in west longitude.
But our far-off Pacific possessions are
not of these.
Guam, then, is we'll ahead of New
York-more than fourteen and half
hours-so that when it is noon Mt the
city of New York it is 2 o'clock, SO
minutes and 81 seconds in the morn.
ing of the next day at Guam. Our
celebrating of Washington's Birthday
will be day that is past at Guam.
While New Workers will be honoring
the father of the original United
States the inhabitants of Guam will be
soundly sleeping off the effects OF
their jollification, it being after 2
O'Clock in the morning OF February 90
with them.
Manila presents similar phase of
the question of day and date. Our
newest possession is situated in longi-
tude 12O deg. So min. 3 sec. east. In
other words it lies 8 hours, IA min.
and Z sec. east of Greenwich, and since
New York is 5 hours from Greenwich
Manila is 13 hours, IA minutes and Z
sec. distant from the metropolis.
But it must be borne in mind that
Manila is east of New York, and that,
therefore, the sun rises over that
troubled land where Dewey and Otis
have put up such brave fight, 13
hours before it lights up New York.
Hence, when it is high noon with us
it is after l o'clock at night of the
next day in the Philippines. 1t will
be midnight with them when it is
midday with us.
Going east or west around the
world there is in reality no real gain
or loss of a day; otherwise, as Captain
Leckey, in his wrinkles in Naviga-
tion," remarks, man by continually
sailing round east, might be con-
sidered, from the frequent repetitions
of day which it entailed, to have
lived longer than another who stopped
at home. Such traveller, however,
only appears to have stolen a march
on time, because as he has gone east
he has "met the sun in its coming"
and thus shortened the length of his
days by the amount of longitude ira
versed. Had the man remained sta
tionary his days would always have
contained just the "a hours.