Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-12-01
One Thing That May Come With the
Twentieth Century.
WOULD SIMPLIFY MATTERS GREATLY
Need Of a Universal Day and Prime
Meridian.
Sol E E RLY METHODS
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star
The new century will bring about MANY
changes, but perhaps none of such every
day Importance the proposed new
method of timekeepng. One of the most
practical results will be that noon at Green
w!ch WI be II o'clock all over the world.
At present each day is spread over forty
eight land m some instances flfty-five)
hours in different Places. With the. new
system 1t will have it's beginning and en1
within 'wenty-four hours all over the globe
The hours on our watches and clocks too,
viii run from ono to twenty-four. 1t would
seem oGd for a while to order theater car
riages at half-past twenty-five in place OF
half-past ten.
The waggIsh reply "a quarter-past thir-
teen made by the policeman in the Bah
Ballads" Will become the correct way OF
indicating "a quarter past one But, after
all, this will only be an enlargement OF
VIII actually begun as far back as 1886
whel the time for all through trains on
the Canadian Pacific railroad was first
reckoned in hours running from one to
TWEEN yfour
Will Prevent Complications.
The fixing of a universe. prime meridian
will do away wit the ambiguity which, as
railways and te:egraphs become multiplied
lead to such confusing complications in
social and commercial affairs. to errors In
chronology, to litigation in connection with
SUCCESSION to property insurance matters
contracts, &c. The present variations OF
time are readily demonstrated by selecting
po1n.i In four regions about 80 degrees
aparf; for i--stance, Japan, Arabia New
foundland and Alaska. On Sunday at mid.
nigh. in Japan it is noon in Newfoundland
and n two distinct days. viz, Sunday and
Monday. To explain this apparently con
TRAJECTORY statement. note that Arabia be-
ing west of Japar, the time there lat mid
night IN JAPAN would be G pm. Sunday
while IN Alaska, being east of Japan, II
would be 6 am. on Monday. At 6 pm. on
Sunday in Arabia it must be Sunday moor
In Newfoundland, and at am. on Monday
in Alaska ii must be Monday noon 80 de-
grees further east de, in Newfoundland
also). Thus it will be seen by tracing time
both east and west from a given point 10
its antipodes, the clock on the one hand
becomes twelve hours slower, and on the
other hand twelve hours faster And
therefore. it follows, as already stated, tina;
when II is midnight on Sunday in Japan ~
precisely that same moment it is noon n
Newfoundland on two distinct days, name.
ly, Sunday and Monday.
Perpiexing Problems.
1t is only another Applicant of this COM
plicated method of time reckoning which
a
graphic message, dated "Simla, 1:55 am
Wednesday," was received in London al
II Al pm on Tuesday. The clerk very nat
ura.'y exclaimed: why, this message was
sent IF tomorrow" The same perp.exine
problem has been presented by imagining q
car suspended from the sun, and in the ca
a man who inquiries the day and time as
town roi.s eastward beneath him. The an
swer, '12 O'Clock noon, Monday" is given
RreSentlV Ant town
car. The man asks the same question and
receives the same rep.y, for, of course, il
must always be noon, the town being i'm
mediateiy beneath the SUM- Now comes the
question, when will the man in the car
first receive the answer 80 o'clock noon
Tuesday: The solution is found in The
fact that In travelling across the Pacific
from west TO east one day has to be re-
peated before reaching the American coast
If, for example, the correction be made on
Saturday, July 4, there will be two Satur
days II the same week and two days oI
the month dated July 4.
1t is tn S variation of time, too, which
FERNS the pivotal point of the story
Around the World in Eighty Days" in
which the traveller. who wagered at his
London club that he could go around the
world and be back at the club in eighty
days. so nearly lost his bet. He had for
gotten this difference of day, and though:
that he had completed his journey twenty
four hours too late.
Order Out OF Chaos.
Does any one ask, What is going to
straighten this out and bring about order
out of the existing chaos?" The answer is
by simply putting into operation the results
of the deliberations Of the international
meridian conference. which met in Wash
ington at the invitation of President Ar
thur in October. 1884, for the express rur-
pose of establishing a prime meridian and
a universal day. This matter was freely
discussed at the time by navigators and
astronomers, and the hope was everywhere
expressed that the change would be effect
ed on January 1, 1901. At any rate II does
not seem possible that the adoption of the
new system can be deferred very long af-
ter the commencement of the twentieth
century.
Crude Timekeepers.
Even with our present defective system of
time-reckoning. consider how many advan-
tages we enjoy over the ancients. In the
sixth century before Christ the sun dial,
which is supposed to have been invented