The Washington times., 1908-05-10
NAN WHO MADE
STANDARD TINE
introduced Harmony
and System in Our
Chronology.
Caused Great Change in
Habits Of North
Americans.

Practically every one knav-s rfa+
there are four different standards .f
time prevailing in the United States
Eastern, Central, Mouu tain. ana Pacific
ume-but there are few that know rbar
the adoption OF this method OF rerg1sr-
ing time was due almost entirely 10 rI.--
efforts Of one man, ard a. Scw YORK
man at that By general consent rf.-
credit Tor this work N bringing order
where chaos Teigned before IS sivsn rs
". F. Allen. Secretary aud Treasurer OF
the American Railway Association. ana
since 1872 editor o. tie OfdciaI Ea-fvys-
Guide ia recognition or uls aclIeva-
ment MI Allen IS often referred % as
Father Time, Oh the Father Of stand
ard Time.
His is the distinction oC having calse5
a greater change "a the habits -of the
people IA tie United States and Canada
than any o-her man now Twink AIr AL
len is the only u1au who ever H-ed thar
once caused Trinity clock 20 stop three
and hair minutes IN the mid Gle Of tina.
day, while thousands Of people stood
around the corner or Wall street and
Broadway watches in hand. waiting Tor
the stroke which W0UlC show that IL
was exactly - O'Clock in washington.
Baltimore. Philadelphia. Ne.- York
Boston. PORTLAND and Ifttsbure. n
O'Clock in Chicago. Ncv Orleans nd
Omaha. ~ o'clock il Laramie. Evvo
and Salt lake City. ana Q O'Clock IN
san Francisco. IL being o'clock irY
sitka, Alaska, 2 D. no fn san Juan.
Porto RICO in london, and d. m
the next day in Manila. 2 T.
Established in 1883.
The day on which this slnoet World
wide revolution IN measuring time took
PLACE was November is. 1850. There are
people who wIII recall what excitement
it caused az the time. There were those
who declare such q thing an outrageous
and impairment meddLnE with the az
fairs Of The Almighty. ard there was
one clergyman in Charleston s. c.. who
declared that this presumption on the
part Of pUuy humans would be followed
By some terrible visitation signifyfng
the anger Of thc heavenly powers The
Charleston earthquake did follow soon
after. and no doubt the worthy clergy
man considered that a special fuIdUment
Of his dire prophecy.
Previous 90 ISS3 the methods Of meas
uriHs time in the United States were
SO varied and so numerous as 10 be iudi-
crOus- There were hfty different stand
ards used in the United States from
coast 10 coast. and on one road between
New York and Boston whose actual
difference is twelve minutes. there were
three distinct standards OF time
Even small towns had Two different
standards. one known as town or
local time. and the other railroad
time. Naturally this condition of az
fairs caused endless c0mplica tiOus. and
railroad officials were harried 10 the
point OF despair IN their efforts 90 make
out time tables that could be understood
by the lay public
Ihere are many minds which WreSred
with The problem As early as 1888 Prof
Charles F. DOWd, the principal Of q
young ladies' seminary al SaratoEa- y
To-, worked out a theory By which he
proposed thar time should be registered
by merioianS Of one hour apart Several
scientists and mathematician also
worked out similar theories about The
same time. among them being Sir San
ford Fleming. Prof. Ben ianin Pierce.
ana d.. Thomas HII. president Of Ear-
ward University.