The farmer and mechanic., 1915-06-29

expected to change time exactly mid
way between meridisns. They usually
select the termination of divisions Tor
that purpose AS a result the eastern
and western boundaries Of the area |
using central time from ZlgZag lines. |
This condition is productive OF
strange situations. Travelling from
Greensburg, Kansas, to Beverly, Ne
braSka-a distance of about 200 miles
due north-it becomes necessary for
the traveller, if he would have his
watch agree with the time used in the
different towns through which he
passes, to set it four times during his
journey. This is owing to his crossing
the zigzag boundary lines as laid out
by the railroads.
Whenever a change Of time is made
by a railway there must of necessity
be two kinds of time at that place
At Pittsburg there are eastern and
central. Trains going east use the for
mer, and those going west the latter.
Buffalo has the same condition in an
exaggerated form, for the reason that
all trains going east use eastern time,
while trains going west use both east
ern and central The Grand Trunk,
the Michigan Central and the Wabash
use eastern time, while all roads
! south Of Lake Erie use central. Trains
arrive and depart from FL Paso, Texas,
on four different kinds Of railway
| time: Central, mountain, Pacific and
Mexican. 1t is impossible to estimate
| the loss to the travelling public from
| mistakes caused by this confusing
| state of affairs but in stating that the
| monetary loss to the public from time
spent in efforts to decipher and un-
| ravel the complications in our rail-
| way timetables brought about by our
present confusing system is $4,000, 600
would not seem to be very far from
being correct. That this is not an ex-
| aggerated estimate may be seen when
We consider that American railways
carry 2,5O0,000 passengers daily. If
| the average loss of time in deciphering
| and studying time tables is one half
| cent per passenger the yearly aggre
gate would amount to $4,562, 500. In
addition to this our complicated sys.
tenn involves increased labor and ex-
/ pense to the railway companies in
making cut their timetables. Here,
theE, We have $5,O0O,000 year absc-
lute,y wasted. Enough to buill a
battle ship and this does lot take
into account the amount lost by mis-
takes arising from the same cause
Another fruitful source Of CONFUSION
AMI mistakes is the method Of divid-
ing the day and night into two perioa S
OF iE iioufs, numbered l to u, neces-
stating the use of those awkward
a ,6 -ncoEvenient af1ixes a. m. and p.
i The Egyptians were the first to di-
vide the day and night into q equal
parts They numbered the hours / to
"a II Romans began their day at
sunrise, numbering the hours to sun
, set l to II, and numbering them from
sunset to sunrise, also 1 to IL. Dur q
m. and p. m. is a part of the burden
scme legacy inherited from them. The
hours constituting their day and night
were of unequal and constantly vary
ing lengths. In course of time they
, , made change to our present system
and had they adopted the Egyptian
method they would have conferred ar
. . inestimab1e benefit upon mankind
The remedy for the evils we have
described lies: First in numbering
the hours as the Egyptians did. Be
G ming, as we do now at midnigh1
noon to 12; the hour we now designate
as ] p. m. would be 3, and SO on te
"a. Second, we should adopt ont
$ meridian for the entire United States
e which could be done without any Sc
: rious disturbance of affairs Ths
f change which was made in 1888 wa,
8 hardly noticed and proved a grea
q benefit without working hardship OF
h any one. The advantage secured b.
Il that change was insignificant as com
# pared to the advantage to be secured
l. by the use of one meridian and tn
IS 24hour system.
eI Canada has already adopted the "a
IS hour system on her railroads west Q
: Port Arthur, and China has adopte,
h one meridian for the entire empire
g which embraces SO degrees, the sam
&c amount as the United States. Shal
n we allow ourselves to be left behin
). by other nations
I'll Let us suppose that the 90th de
lgree-central meridian-should b
y adopted as the one from which tn
United States time should be reckon
- ed; what then would be the effect o
= business? The hour of a. m is no,
:. - pretty generally adopted for the com
se mencement of business. If we shoul
take our time from the central meri
= dian it would be 8 in New York, j
- Chicago. in Denver and 6 in Sa
- - Francisco; but what matters it wheI
- the hands of the clock point SO lon
as business commences the sam
% amounf of time after sunrise? ClocA
- and watches should be our servant