Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-05-18
WHAT TIME IS 1T?
By Frederic J. HaSkin
wy ASHINGTON, D. c., May 10
M The answer is that scarcely
w anyone knows just what time
really


or how it is determined.
This is emphasized by the great
confusion which attended the day
light saving experiment, and by the
still greater confusion which has
been caused in some states which
after the rest of the nation has drop
ped it.
The daylight saving law saved us
a little daylight, caused a great
many arguments, and then persisted.
But it also visited boon upon this
country of which very little is
known. The law provided that the
United States should be divided into
five standard time zones. and that
the limits of these zones should be
commerce commission. and that all
interstate common carriers should
conform to those zones.
The Time Line
The interstate commerce commits
sion is still at it. That is, the linn
ago, but various localities are not
satisfied with the time they have
been given, and are petitioning the
commission to change the lines. The
state of Idaho. for example, is cut
in half by one of the zone lines. 1t
is half in Pacific time and half in
mountain time. 1t wants. the line
changed so that the whole state will
be in mountain time and the cas- els
still pending. Other such objections
to the time zones are brewing. 1t will
be some months Or possibly years
before everyone is satisfied, but ali
are agreed that the new time zones
are vastly better than the old ones,
which sometimes made local time diff
fer by more than an hour from sun
time.
In order to understand this bust
ness it is necessary to go back a lit
tie. In the first place, you must real
ize that the need for accurate time,
and for definite and fixed relation
between the local times Of different
places came only with the develop
! ment of rapid transportation. Back
in the early part of the last century
it did not matter much what time it
was. There were scarcely any
watches, and only few clocks, most
of which were made of wood. They
were not wonderfully accurate.
Now the correct time. or sun time,
at any place, is based upon the fact
that it is noon at that place when
the sun is due south. Hence. in the
o'clock when the sun was at its
highest, or what the people thought
was highest. Each locality had it's
own time, and there being little trav-
Ell between localities, everybody was
happy.
The History of It
But when the sun is at the high
est point in Ohio, it is still an hour
from noon somewhere out in the Da-
kotas. With the spread of railroads
these differences Of time had to be
adjusted somehow. Accordingly along
in 1884, when both railroads and
watches had become common, and
Dur own continent had just been
spanned by rails, twenty-six of the
principal nations of the world met
Greenwich. England, as the prime
meridian and to calculate all time
by that. Now the sun moves Cap
parently) toward it citing at the
rate of fifteen deg rs of longitude
in an hour. Therefore, by marking
/ the world off in meridians of fifteen
degrees each, zones were established
in each of which the time should
differ by an hour from that in the
next zone. Five of these lines cut
the United States, those of rs, 80,
1O5, 100 and 1876, degrees of longitude
west of Greenwich. They divide the
United States into four main time
zones, known as the Eastern. Cen
trail, Mountain and Pacific zones. The
naval observatory in Washington de-
termines the correct time. and fash
es it to the various zones. Thus
there is both national and world
agreement as to what time it is.
But this does not provide each
town with the correct time, by any
means. The railroads are at once
the determining and the disturbing
factor. They made accurate time
| necessary, and to their convenience
the changes of time must be adjust
ed.
1t is self-evident that they cannot
run on constantly changing time.
Your time ought to change gradually
| as you travel east or west. A town
| five degrees of longitude farther
| west than certain other town ought
| to have time twenty minutes slower
! IN order to have exact sun time.
Too Many Times
If each town actually had sun time,
| the local time would not correspond
/ to the railroad time, for the railroads
| are bound to agree on certain points
| at which they will change time. They
realize that in crossing the continent
| they have got to gain or. lose Ger
! tain amount of time, and their only
object is to make these time changes
| with least possible inconvenience to
| themselves.
| In the past the railroads determin-
| ed each for itself at what point it
should change it's time They disre-
| garded almost completely the stand
| ard time divisions based on the prime
| meridian at Greenwich. What they
| did regard were their own operating
| divisions. 1t was bad, they said, to
| have the train crews changing their
| watches in the middle of a run.
Someone might forget to do so and
| cause trouble. So the time breaking
| points" were always at the ends OF
! operating divisions.
This resulted in confusion in two
| ways. In the first place, different
| railroads ran into the same towns on
different times. In the second place,
because the railroads disregarded the
| standard time divisions, railroad time
was nowhere near sun time.
The first confusion was very Sc
| rious sometimes in the early days of
| railroads. Some towns in this coun-
| try have as much as five different
| times at once. But such confusions
as that were eliminated as the rail-
roads learned to cooperate better.
The conflict between railroad time
and sun time, however, remained a
/ serious matter until the recent defi-
milton of the zone limits by the COM
| mission. Ell Paso was one of the
| most unfortunate cities in this re-
| Spect. Certain roads found it, con-
venient to carry central time as fa1
west as Ell Paso. 1t was possible to
| go from Savannah to Ell Paso with
out changing time, and when you
| got to FL Paso you would have to
change your watch two hours.
Ell Paso Happy
Roads going west from FL Paso
did not operate on the same time as
some reaching it from the east. Thus
there were several railroad times in
the town. and none Of them conform
ed to sun time. If the local inhabi-
tants had chosen to live by central
time, in order to conform to GER
tain railroad schedules from the east
they would have been nearly two
hours off sun time
The people of Ell PaSo found this
even more confusing than you do, if
arrangement which places El Paso
definitely in it's proper time zone and
compels interstate carriers to "bTeal
time" before they rea CHI there.
Certain other towns have also been
made happy Cleveland used to have
| irnnn 1,ailrnod Il O