The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-02-15
FREAKS OF TIME.
War Calls Attention to Difference In
Hours and Days.

When the Russian fleet off Port Ar
thur was aroused at 1870 o'clock Mon
day night, February 8, by an attack
from Japanese torpedo boats, late ris-
ers in Chicago were eating their Mon
day morning breakfast at 1925 O'Clock.
On the opposite side of the world the
crash of war had awakened sleepers in
the last hour of day that was only
beginning in Chicago. Thus, had tele-
graphic communication been immedi-
ate, the Chicago merchant at his. lunch
con on Monday might have read in the
noon paper an account Of a past en-
gagement that, according to the calen-
dar, happened nearly half a day later.
This seeming paradox is perhaps the
most confusing of the Asiatic situation
to the person not familiar with the
mathematical mysteries of absolute
and relative" time. At a certain mo-
ment of absolute" time Port Arthur
shuddered with the impact of Japanese
wrath made concrete. Taking as the
standard Greenwich Cor London). the
| accepted base for time calculation
throughout the civilized world. the lab
solute'' time was 1925 p. M Monday,
with the Monday morning sun just
above the horizon at San Francisco.
Following westward the relative"
time at points represented each hour
of the day was as follows:
| London, 1925 p. m, Monday.
| Naples, 4:22 D. M, Monday.
| st. Petersburg, SIS p. m. Monday.
| THIS, 6:25 p. M, Monday.
| Muskat. Arabia, 7:1S p M, Monday
Colombo. Ceylon, S:44 p. M, Monday.
| Calcutta, 9:28 p. m, Monday.
| Singapore, 1920 p. m, Monday.
| Manila, 1928 p. M, Monday.
| Port Arthur, 11:30 p. M, Monday.
| Toxic, :43 a. m, Tuesday.
| Sydney, 1:28 a. M, Tuesday.
| New Caledonia, 2:30 a. M, Tuedsay.
Fiji Islands, $3.50 a m, Tuesday.
Crossing the date line.'o
Honolulu, 1853 a. m, Monday.
| Aleutian Islands, $50 a. m, Monday.
| Sitlka, 6:23 a. m, Monday.
| San Francisco 7:25 a. M, Monday.
Salt Lake, S:25 a. m, Monday.
Chicago, 1925 a. m, Monday.
| New York, 1925 a. m, Monday.
| Halifax, 11:25 a. m, Monday.
| Pernambuco, 1:25 p M, Monday.
/ Pernambuco, 2:25 p. M. Monday.
Trinidad Island, 2:25 D. M, Monday.
| With the earth Whirling at the rate
Of more than a thousand miles an hour
toward the east, necessarily every point
east Of Greenwich would show later
/ day, and every point west would show
earlier day, of the same date, up to the
place on the earth's surface arbitrarily
selected as the date line or line
from which the reckoning Of each new
calendar day should begin. This line
has been drawn north and south in the
Pacific ocean, $50 degrees east and west
of Greenwich, where it causes the
least inconvenience.
If you cross the date line going west
you must add day to keep up with the
calendar. For the same reason you must
deduct a day If you cross it going east. To
illustrate this, imagine a person standing
on the date line at Midnight between
Sunday and Monday; a step to the west
would put him in Monday. or one day
ahead; step to the east would put him
in Sunday, or one day back.
| 1t can be seen easily how much neon
venience might be caused on land by two
days humping their edges together at a
| date line" For this reason the line was
drawn in midocean. However, owing to the
presence of islands In the only place
out striking vast tracts of land, the date
line is crooked. This irregularity causes
the odd condition in which three days are
lin progress on the earth for a short
period OF each twenty-four hours. When
lit is II o'clock in the morning in London,
[say Sunday. there is a small strip of