The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-11-18
and 1t has cost the Turkish Sultan his
most valuable possessions.
STANDARD TIMES
BIRTHDAY

Standard time-which might be
called the modern scientific and eu-
genie offspring Of the venerable but
slipshod old Father Time-was born
81 years ago today, Nov. Is, 1888. The
birthplace of standard time was in the
United States and Canada, but the ex-
ample Of these countries has since
been followed in all other civilized
countries.
Daddy Time is rather old indi-
vidual. In fact, nobody can, imagine
time when Time was not. Up to the
latter part of the nineteenth century,
however, he was about the. most un-
reliable of creatures, and absolutely
Indispensable. People got along very
well with him, for all that. until they
began to catch trains. This business
of catching trains is one in which
nearly everybody is more or less en-
gagged. and SO it became necessary to
have some standard Of time SO that a
traveller could feel assured that his
time and that of the railroad con-
ductors were substantially the same.
| Up to 1883 there were about hum
bred, more or less, Of time standards
in use in the United States and Can
ada. For instance, there were three
distinct time standards in use along
one railway line between New York
and Boston. Conditions in other Sec
| tons were much the same. Even in
the same community tastes in time
differed widely, some favoring trail
road time" others what they pleased
to call town time," and still others
"sun time.'' A stranger in such a
town couldn't depend on his own
watch, no matter how accurate, if he
wanted to catch a train, and he
couldn't be sure that any citizen he
approached could supply him with the
brand Of time favored by the railroad.
He had to go to the station and get
his time from the railway agent-and
even then he couldn't feel certain that
the agent and the conductor had the
same brand of time on tap. N
To remedy this unfortunate state
Of affairs several systems of standard
time were suggested. One of the
pioneers in this reform was Sir San
ford Fleming, the noted Canadian
engineer, whose system was based on
the "a hour notation. Prof. Charles
F. Dowd, Of Saratoga, NJ. y, also
| worked out plan for the regulation
of time as early as 1869. The system
finally adopted; on sthe initiative of
the American Railway Association,
was worked out by w F. Allen of
New York, secretary and treasurer of
that organization.
| Standard time went into effect on
Nov. 18, 1883, at noon, and there was
<rf O1o y
| watches all over the United States. In
the more remote sections the old sys-
TENS were retained, but among pro-
gressive people in the cities and towns
| standard time was universally adopted
| on the day of it's birth. The old con-
servatives who refused to accept the
'newfangled time are now about all
dead, although there are still to be
found few Of these mossbacked
relics who insist that the time is out
of joint.
The standard time divisions of the
North American continent are the
Goth, 18th, Goth, 105th and 120th
meridians west from Greenwich. The
difference in time between adjoining
sections is one hour. When it is noon
in New York, eastern time, it is II
q. M, central time, in Chicago; 10
a. M. mountain time, in Denver, and
8 a. M, Pacific time, in San Francisco
The true local time OF any place is
slower or faster than the standard
time as the place is east or west OF
the time meridian. Standard time is
given out daily at noon from the
Washington observatory, which is now
distributing time with errors Of only
lone-thousandth part of a second
Which is a. vedy minute section OF
time.