La Junta tribune., 1907-07-06
DIVIDES THE WORLD,
The Line That Marks Where Day
Begins and Ends.
IT 1RAvERsEs THE PACIFIC.
The Wsy This Important Boundary
Came to Be Established - Spots
Where Today. Tomorrow and Ysstsr.
day Are Still . Confused tumble.

ooy SFo oVu = S0uruBV0 SoFUpIO.
II ls evident that the day must begin
somewhere. though II is confusing
thing TO undertake to determine Just
where. for one may go on and OF
around the world and never catch up
with II. On the other hand. II we are
not careful In reasoning we will reaca
the absurd conclusion that II In Mon
day noon and Tuesday noon ut the
same time In any given place.
A writer In the st. James Gazette
treats this peculiar phase OF the sub
ject in Il very definite way.
Seeing that as one moves westward
the time gets earlier and earlier. SO
that when II is Monday noon In Lon
don il Is some time on Monday morn
ing in America, it follows that, II this
principle were continued without limit
halfway round the world. ut the same
moment that II was, Monday noon in
hours lutcr--that Is. Tuesday noon-in
London. As this is reductio al absur
DUN. we have to look for the limit.
which does. in fact, exist. on the prln-
ciple that as one moves westward the
time gets earlier and as one moves
eastward 1t gets later.
Before the circumnavlgltion of the
globe there wns no difficulty. When
on Monday the sun stood over Lon
don 1t was Monday noon In London.
AS the sun moved ito use the popular
phrasc) westward and stood little
later over Dublin it became Monday
noon in Dublin. and so on until II
reached the western limit OF the
known world.
When the sun passed over that limit.
that was the end of noon for that Mon
day. ana nobody knew what the sun
was doing until he rcappenrcd on the
eastern limit of the known world.
bringing with him Tuesday morning.
II is evident. therefore. that while
the sun was In the unknown abyss be
tween west and east lie dropped the ut.
tribute of making the time at all places
directly under his rays Monday noon
ana took TO himself the attribute OF
making ii Tuesday noon.
As the confines of the world were
pushed farther eastward and west.
ward. respectively. the unknown abyss
Nh''' 'iiiS VI it.i'bti' h'ih ~
he made got narrower and narrower
until. when the globe was crcumnavi-
gated. the place of change became
simply Il line.
This line exists and Is the place
where the days begin. As the sun
crosses this remarkable spot the time
jumps twe1ty-four hours onward
from noon one day TO noon on the next
day. The situation of the line has been
located quite fortuitously- by
the circumstance whether any given
place was first reached by civilized
man journeyng from the east or from
the west.
The dlscoverer brought with him the
almanac from whence he came and II
he came from the west the time in the
new country would be later. and If he
came from the east it would be earlier
than the time in the country he came
from.
America was reached by civilized
man voyaging westward and China by
man travelling eastward. and the result
Is that the line that marks where the
days begin lies between these two IN
the Pacific ocean and. instead of being
a straight line. ZigZags about. dividing
islands which happened to be discover
ed from the east from those which
happened to he discovered from the
west.
There must still be many Islands IN
that otean where it Is not yet decided
to which side of the line they belong
and where. if one were put down, one
would not know whether 1t were to-
day, tomorrow or yesterday.
There must also be many Islands
there which, never having been per
mahently occupied by civilized people.
change their day from time to time. so
that ship calling there coming from
China might arrive on Tuesday. while
another ship calling at the same time
from America would arrive on Mon
day. There must be people living SO
near this line that by going few miles
they can leave today and get into to-
morrow or, 10y going back, can lind
yesterday.