The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1903-10-15
A CONFUSION OF DATES.
Bow Alaska and the PHILIPPINES
Keep Their alendars with
the World.

Whereabouts-if there be where
abouts at all-on the earth's surface is
the place where the ''dhy'' may be con-
sidered to begin," and where the
"date" consequently has to be
changed?
A "day," of course, is a reaHty-lt
is the time occupied by the earth in
making one rotation on its axis. But as
so defined every meridian on the
earth's surface has day of its own.
But it would be impossible to regu-
late human affairs upon the basis OF
each meridian having its own day;
it is matter of necessity to reckon,
according to the day of some selected
station, says the Glasgow Evening
Times. Formerly each nation was won't
to reckon time from station OF It's
own-whence came much confusion,
affecting many questions. Nowadays,
however, practically the whole world
has agreed to take Greenwich as the
selected station-to make it the gen
eral first meridian" whence time and
geographical longitude are alike reck-
oned Well, $50 degrees east and $50
degrees west are identical meridians.
1t will be seen at once that it entirely
depends upon whether you have
reached it by proceeding eastward or
by proceeding westward whether you
reckon on the day on this meridian
Saturday or Friday.
And further, if coming eastward you
continued your reckoning after you
crossed the $50 degrees meridian, you
would find yourself calling Sunday
morning that which those who were
coming toward you from the west were
calling Saturday morning; while the
latter, after they had crossed the $50
degrees meridian in the course of the
continuance of their journey would,
did they likewise maintain unchanged
their mode of reckoning, be calling
Friday night that which you had just
called Saturday night.
Thus, then, the Greenwich day" be-
gins at the $50 degrees east meridian.
The "date,' therefore, must change
there, or otherwise intolerable confu-
sion would result. Compromise, there
fore, has as necessary complement
to the general agreement adopted the
Greenwich ''day," the using of the $50
degrees east meridian as the basis of
the "date line" or line of boundary at
which the date is changed. In travel
ing eastward the date is rectified by
doubling the day, i. e., calling two sue
cessive days by the same name, while
in travelling westward it is rectified by
dropping day out, i.e., passing at
once, say from Saturday to Monday
in both cases the change being made
at the $50 degrees meridian. In actual
practice the arrangement is not quite
SO simple; practical requirements
necessitate another compromise.
Though it mostly traverses ocean, the
$50 degrees meridian crosses land at
a few points; and in order to avoid the
confusion inevitable with a change of
date on land, the actual date line is
allowed to deviate somewhat from the
true meridian line at certain points.
The chief deviation is in the Boring
straits, the date line being made to
run along the center of the waterway,
instead of being taken across the Kam-
sehatka, as it would do did it follow
the actual meridian.
The date lines recognized by the adj
miralty and by the United States navy
are almost the same.
The meridian crosses an island of
the FIJI group, and in consequence,
were it not for convenient deviation,
its Inhabitants might, if theychose, en-
JOY the puzzlement of passing from to-
day into tomorrow, and returning
from tomorrow into yesterday, and
other experiences suitable to comic
opera.
AS matter of fact, some queer
things resulted in Alaska when it was
Russian territory. For the Russians.
having come by way of Siberia, had
brought their own calendar with them:
while the Canadians, who had come
westward, had brought theirs. So on
the frontier line it might be Sunday
and church time for the Russians and
Saturday and market day for their
nelghbOrs. In one town, with mixed
population, a state of affairs existed
involving possibilities thus described:
y Russian can at any time cross tie
border and spend yesterday with his
friends, or an American can enter Rus
STA (where he will find it tomorrow
and enjoy the New Years dinner with
his Russian neighbors, and return
home in ample time to spend the old
year with his family" Alaska, Of
course, now uses the American date.
In the Philippines the difficulty also
made itself felt at one time, inasmuch
as, while within the sphere of the
Asiatic date, they used the American
one, the Spaniards having first reached
them from the American side. It thus
happened that Luzon and Celebes-
though on the same meridian, en-
ployed opposite modes of reckoning.
But in 1914 the archbishop Of Manila
ended the confusion by suppressing
the 31st of December of that year, thus
adopting the Asiatic dating from 1s45.
Town Kept the Trees.
rrrovo IF