Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-03-04
UNCLE SANS CLOCKS.
All Kinds Of Time in his Vast Domain.

The time OF day-in other words, what
o'clock it isis a simple matter, well I'M
derstood and easily comprehended by er-
erybody in a city or in approximately the
same locality. But when people are sep
| arated, some being to the east or the
west of the others. the simplicity of the
answer to the question, What time is it?
is Dy no means so apparent.
| indeed, confusion has so often arisen in
consequence of the difference between
clocks. say. at New York and Chicago,
! that 1t has been found decidedly advan-
tageous to divide the United States into
time districts, each district differing from
the adjoining one by just one hour of
time. The railroad companies were the
| lnaugurators of this admirable system,
which business men and finally the gov
eminent shortly adopted.
Thus In the United States today there
| are Eastern time corresponding to the
| 18th meridian of longitude west from
GreenWich), Central time corresponding
to the gth meridian west from Green
Wlcb, mountain time corresponding to
the lO5th meridian ives; from Greenwich.
anu western time corresponding to the
lalth meridian west from Grecnwich)
| owing TO this simple arrangement ii
! therefore follows that when it il high
noon IN Eastern time at New York. for
| instance. II Is eleven o'clock in Central
Time at Chicago, ten o'clock in noun
| tain time at Denver and nine o'clock in
\ Western time at San Francisco This
| division of time, though not astronom-
caily correct. is sufficiently so for all
nractlcai purposes. and one can readily
understand how greatly business is there
! by facilitated.
For instance. the longitude of the city
nail OF New York is 20 deg. n sec west.
| hours 80 minutes lie seconds. But the
time of the clocks in New York and
throughout all the Eastern time section
or district Is five hours from Greenwich
which Is the time corresponding to a
| longitude of 10 deg. west Since the adop-
Ton OF standard time. as these times in
70 which the mainland of the United
States is divided are called, The dominion
OF the country has been extended. Ii now
comprises islands in the Atlantic Ocean
ana Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Ha-
| the eastward and southwark of New
York. Instead, ii is situated nearly south
OF Key West, in longitude 81 deg. q min.
| 80 sec. west, or hours % minutes ~ seq
onds from Greenwich, about midway be-
! tween Eastern and Central times. Tn
| doubtedly Eastern time will be the time
70 which the Cuban clocks will eventual
San Juan is situated in longitude 66 deg.
| min, y sec. west. This reduced from
arc 70 time by dividing by Is gives hours
u minutes 30 seconds. Here again. per-
haps. Eastern time will be adopted when
trade between these West India islands
and the ports along the Atlantic seaboarI
has increased TO the great volume which
IS sure to come with peace and prosper
\ ity.S
Now for the great West. San Francisco
lies hours. . minutes and IS seconds dis
tant in time from Greenwich. though ac-
cording to our adopted standard time, II
Is regarded commercially as only hours
d gisaaa H9 ono IN the Sandwich
| by sun time 10 hours, 81 minutes and IS
| seconds from Greenwich 1t would GER
| talnly be more convenient to drop the
minutes and seconds and consider the
| Hawaiian group as a round ten hours ans
tant from Greenwich, or two hours from
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
US. 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 entire
| day. according as We NAV be going to the
east or to the west of that meridian of
longitude called $50 degrees.
Guam lies in the Pacific Ocean in longi-
tude IA deg. 80 min. - sec east. In time
| this is 3 hours. 81 minutes and 81 seconds
east of Greenwich. This means that the
sun rises over that island IA hours. IS
minutes and IS seconds before that lumi-
nary shines over the Island of Manhat-
\ tan.
The common day. often. called ihe civil
| day, lasts from midnight to midnight
| twenty-four hours. In oruer that the
civil day may have the same number or
date the world around. the leading ma
| days as they begin on the 1S0th meridian
Thus with every place its dates are
counted from midnight to midnight. and
each day takes the same date as that Civ
en- to the latest new day on the lS0th me-
ridian. We may think Of the new date as
travelling westward with the midnight
The date is given to each place as soon
as the midnight reaches 1t. When mid
| night again occurs in the 1S0th meridian
| another date begins its journey around
the earth.
When vessels cross the lseth meridian
| they either drop a day or add one to the
calendar AS the new date begins on that
line, a vessel sailing eastward across the
| line goes out of the area having the new
Sailing westward the vessel enters the
area having a new day and must there
fore add day to the calendar. Thus.
when sailing eastward across the line,
Monday is dropped for Sunday: but sail
ing westward over the line Saturday at
once gives place to Sunday. The merid-
ian of $50 degrees. at which all new civil
days begin. is called the international
date line.
AS a matter of fact the international
date line is an arbitrary line and does not
Many islands in the Pacific. notably those
which are in close commercial touch with
Australia. East Greenwich time,
though geographically they lie in west
longitude. But our far off Pacific pos
sessions are not of these.
Guam. then. is well ahead of New York
more than fourteen and a half hours
SO that when it Is noon at the city of New
York it is two o'clock. thirty-eight min
utes and thirty-one seconds in the morn
ing of the next day at Guam Our cele-
brating of Washington's birthday will be
IA 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 eff
fects of their Publication. 1t being after
two o'clock on the morning of February
% with them
Manila presents similar phase of the
question of day and date. Our newest
and maybe our richest possession is sit
uated in longitude 100 deg. IS min. 8 sec
east In other words it lies eight hours,
of Greenwich. and since New York is five
hours from Greenwich Manila is thirteen
hours fourteen minutes and seven sec
onds distant from the city.
But it must be borne in mind that Ma
Mia is east Of New York. and that, there
fore the sun rises over that troubled land
where Dewey and Otis have put up such
"a brave fight thirteen hours before IL
lights up New York. Hence, when it is
high noon with us it is after one o'clock
at night of the next day in the Philip
pines Ii will he midnight with them
when 1t is midday with u.s.
Going east west around the world