Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1903-01-16
AscoHFUsIoN OF DATES.
dow AIa.ka and the Philippines
Keep Their Calendars with
the World.

the place. "ucEc Inc O<tS Hldy DS GIL
;ioered to begin,' and where tie |
date" consequently has to he |
hanged?
A day of course, is a reality-lt |
s the time occupied by the earth in |
making one rotation on its axis But as |
80 denned every meridian on the !
-arth's surface has a .'oay" ca its own. |
But it would be impossible to regu-
ate human affairs upon the basis CT
each meridian havag its own day;
at is matter of necessity to reckon |
According to the day of some selected
station, says the Glasgow Evening
Zines Formerly eachs4ation was wont
to reckon time from a station of its
0wn-whence came much confusion,
affecting maay questions. Nowadays,
however, practically the whole world
mas agreed to ake9Greenwich as the
selected station-Jo make it the SIS
eral first meridian" whence time and
geographical longitude aSe alike reck-
oned. Well, $50 degrees east and $50
desaees. west are identical meri0ians.
1t will be seen at once that it entirely
depends upon whethcr you have
reached it by proeeedaag 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 Sunoay5
morning that which those who were
coming toward you from the west were
2lling Saturday morning; while the
loft of hoy hod od
degrees meridian din the course of the
continuance of their journey would.
did they likewise maintain unchanged
their mode of reckoning. be calling
Friday night that which youdhad just
called Saturday night.
9 Thuss thSn, the Greenwich .'daJ" be-
gins at the $50 degrees east meridian.
The date" therefore, must change
there, or otherwise intolerable contu-
sion would result. Compromise, thsre-
fore, has as a necessary complement
to the general agreement adopted the
Greenwich ssday," the using Of the $50
degrees east meridian as the #asis of
the ''dat&line" or line of boundary at
whichothe date is changed. On travel
ing eastward the date is rectified by
iadoubling the day, i. e., calling two sue
cessive days by the same name, while
in travelling westward it is rectified by
dropping a day out, i~e., passing at
once say from Saturday to Monday
| in both cases the change beng made
at the $50 degrees meridian. In actual
| practice he Arrangement is not quite
so simple; practical requirements
| necessi1ate another compromise.
| Though it mostl5 traverses ocean, the
$50 degrees meridian crosses Gand at
a few paints; and in orGer to avoid the
| coAfusion inevitable with change of
date on land, the actual date line is
allowed t. deviate somewhat from the
| true meridian line at certain points
| Ih9 chief deviation is in the Boring
| straits, the date line being maTe to
:un along the center of the waterway
instead of being taken across the Kam-
schatkas as it would do did it follow
the actual meridian
The date lines recognized by the ad-
nz1ralty and by the United States navy
| are aiIlsost the same.
The meridian crosses an island of
tbs Fiji group, and in consequence.
we're it not for a convenient deviation.
/ its inhabitants might, if they chose, en-
joy the puz1lement of passing from to-
Gay into to-morrowS and returning
/ from tomorrow into yesterday, anu
othe@ experiences suitable to comic
opera.
AS matter of fact, some queer
thinSa resulted in Alaska when it s. as
Russian territory. For the Russians.
having come by way of Siberia, had
brought their own calendar with them
tr-hi 10
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
neighbors. In one town, with mixed
population, state of @ffairs existed
involving possibilities thus described:
"A Russian can at any time cross Tie
border ana 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 ole
year with his family Alaska, OF
course, now uses the American date. 3
In the Philippines the difficulty also
made itself felt at one time, inasmuch
as, while within the sphere of the
Asiatic cate, they used the American
one, the Spaniards having first reached
! them from the American side. 1t thus
4 happened chat Luzeon and Celebes
though on the same meridian, EN-
ployed opposite modes Of reckoning
But in 1914 the archbishop of Manila
eI4ied the confusion by suppressing
the 31st of December of tnaSyear. thus
adopting the Asiatic dating from 1915