The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-05-22
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN, Director.
Washington, D, G.
WHAT TIME is 1T?

answer is that scarcely any one
knows just what time it really Is.
1t is curious fact that in this coun-
try. where nearly everybody carries a
watch. very few know the time or how
it is determined.
This is emphasized by the great con-
fusion which attended the daylight
saving experiment, and by the still
caused in some states which have tried
to keep daylight saving after the rest
of the nation had dropped 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 defined by an order
of the interstate commerce commits
sion, 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 limits
of the zones were fixed some time
ago, but various localities are not sat
isfied with the time they have been
given. and are petitioning the commits
sion 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 Noun
tain Time. and the case is still pend
ing other such objections to the
time zones are brewing. 1t will be
some months or possibly years oefore
every one is satisfied, but all are
agreed that the new time zones are
vastly better than the old ones, which
sometimes made local time differ by
more than an hour from sun time.
In order to understand this business
it is necessary to go back little. In
the first place, you must realize that
the need for accurate time, and for
definite ard fixed relation between the
local times of different places came
only with the development 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 old
days, clocks were set for IL o'clock
when the sun, was at its highest, or
what the people thought was highest.
Each locality had it's own time, and
tiles. everybody was happy.
The History of 1t.
But when the sun is at the highest
point in Ohio, it is still an hour from
noon somewhere out in the Dakotas.
With the spread of railroads these diff
ferences OF time had to be adjusted
somehow. Accordingly along in 1884.
when both railroads and watches had
become common, and our own CONT
nent had just been spanned by rails,
twenty-six of the principal nations of
the world met and agreed to take the
meridian at Greenwich, England, as
the prime meridian and to calculate all
time by that Now the sun moves zap
parently) toward its setting at the rate
of fifteen degrees of longitude in an
hour Therefore by marking the world
off in meridians of fifteen degrees
each, zones were esta blished 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, los. 120 and 1876 de-
grees of longitude west of Greenwich
They divide the United States into four
main time zones, known as the East
ern, Central, Mountain and Pacific
zones. The naval observatory in
washington determines the correct
time. and flashes 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 deter
mining and the disturbing factor.
They made accurate time necessary,
and to their convenience the change
or time must be adjusted
II 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 de-
srees of longitude farther west than
a certain other town ought to have
ume 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
reallze that in crossing the continent
they nave got to gain or lose a 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 determined
each for itself'at what point it should
change its time They disregarded al
most completely the standard 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 for
get to do so and cause trouble. So
tho time breaking points were al
ways at the ends of operating divi-
sions
This resulted in confusion in two
ways In the first place, different
railroads ran into the same towns on
dlfferent 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 serious
sometimes in the early days of rail-
roads. Some towns in this country
have had as much as five different
times at once. But such confusions
as that We're eliminated as the rail