Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-12-28

Measurement OF the precise beginning
OF each year is a function which has
been gwen to Commander Pollock. w
midnight. New Year eve, while X ticks
out the old and in the new year. Tie
standard clock OF the national time scrV-
ice will DE heard in the remotest ends OF
the country. Through the courtesy e.
the telegraph companies. which win ion
their wires 10 Tie Naval Observators
circuit for the purpose. its sound viii be
dashed across the country to the Pa
cifc and gulf coasts. as well as 10 TIE
Canadian boundary. Five minutes be-
fore midn ght the signals will commence
the last tick announcing the death or
1913 and the birth OF 1914 throughout
our eastern time belt But from ;he
eastern time belt westward 10 the Pa
cifc this signal-although able to span
the word in less than ten seconds-wiU
be received everywhere ahead or local
standard time. When q passes through
Chicago the clocks there viii stand ~
IL pm: At Denver, 10 pm, and san
Francisco pm.
The average error of the SIGNAL on
leaving Washington is about three-hun-
dredths Of second.
BY exactly the same process each CAV
OF the new 1913 calendar VIII a noon b.
marked off az the national time Office.
Now lust where upon this old spinning
top of ours VIII the ear 1914 begin
Probably You have never heard that ~
and down the Pacific ocean, Ike an irreg
ular bolt of fork-nghtning. the tons a.
earth have drawn, in their official inaag-
nations a hypothetical boundary known
as the '.interna. ional date line"
The year 1911 viii be born upon this
line, which is supposed TO follow the me-
ridian of $50 degrees but really traces AZ
irregular course. Starting AT the lSlA
meridian inside the Arctic ocean X slants
down to about the 10th meridian 10 pass
through Bering strait. then southwest
about 20 degrees u make hitch around
the end OF the Aleutian Islands. south o
which il gets back or its right tracF n
til reaching near Morrcll Island 10 the
westward OF which il makes another
hitch. Having gotten back on the lsVth
meridian again, to the south il follows II
until approaching the Fiji Islands when
II swerves eastward. then southwestern.
not returning TO its place until pas~inh
the Chatham group
AT this line 1914 will come into being
when Commander Pollock's standard clock
registers am. on Wednesday next De
cember 81. and when clocks in our CEN
trail mountain and Pacific time belts are
respectively striking g, . and O'Clock
that same last morn of the present year.
The New Year will thus have been born
in the mid-Pacific seventeen hours before
the Naval observatorys time signal goes
out
New Year day. like each succeeding day
of the year 1914. will travel from this in
ternational date line westward. Eastward
OF this strange boundary the same date
is always one day earlier than IL is TO the
westward of it. Thus at the hour when
the Naval Observatory sounds the signal
ringing the old year out and the new
year in il will be pm. "Wednesday CNew
Year eveD on Midway island and IL viii
be 3 pm. Thursday tNew Year day. at
Guam, on the other side OF the line.
AS a result of this system ships cross
ing the Pacific from Asia to America must
set their clocks back a whole day on
reaching the international date line while
those crossing from America To Asia
must set their clocks ahead at that point
To spend two New Year days or no New
Year day at all in the one year IS thus
possible to those crossing the Pacific.
Thus suppose you Were on ship bound
from Manila to San Francisco. Reaching
the international date line next Thurs
DAY midnight the ca1tain would order
the clock set back to midnis ut Wednes-
day and you would spend on board two
THURSDAYS each New Year day. But II
YOU were TO cross the Pacific going to Ma
Mia and were TO reach this line just At
midnight Wednesday, the clock would u
set forward twenty-four hours or unal
Thursday midnight Friday. January =
would thus begin al once and on would
he cheated out of New Year day entirely.
Copyright, 1913 by John Elfreth watsinsl