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Fergus County Democrat. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-1919, July 01, 1915, Image 9

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Time System of the U. S.
Interesting Facts About it—Its Vagaries and Defection
Our present method of calculating;
and indicating time is a legacy from
D „____ „„ .__.______I
the ancient Romans. Having become;
accustomed to it through long years,
of use we fail to notice its shortcom-l
ings, inconsistencies and absurdities,
It is only when our attention is parti-.
cularly directed to some glaring in
consistency or some unbearable hard-j
ship that we wake up to the situation;
and take measures to relieve our-;
selves of some burden that it imposes^
upon us.
Such a condition forced itself upon|
the attention of the public in 1883.,
Previous to that year each city and
town reckoned its time from its meri
dian. This is to say, from the meri
dian passing through that particular
place. It was impracticable for rail
ways to arrange their time tables to
confom strictly with this condition.
Some attempts made to do so created,
considerable confusjon. It necessitated.
the engineer and other train hands
setting their watches at nearly every
important station. This proved a very
costly practice to the railroad com-]
panies and was the direct cause of
some disasters. There were upward
of 50 different kinds of railway time
in the United States, and it was a
usual thing for jewelry stores to pro
vide their regulators with two minute
hands, one for local time and one for
railway time. This caused to much
inconvenience to the public and be
• came such a source of trouble to rail
way managers that, in order to re
lieve the situation, an agreement was
entered into to adopt four meridians
from which time for the United States
should be taken.
The meridians adopted for this pur
pose were the seventy-fifth, from
which eastern time is taken; the nine
tieth, for central time! the one hun
dred and fifth, for mountain time, and
the one hundred and twentieth, for
Pacific time. These meridians of 15
degrees apart, making a difference in
time of exactly one hour between
each. All the railways throughout
the United States now arrange their
time tables approximately in con
formity with these meridians.
On November 18, 1883, this new
system went into effect and there was
a general resetting of clocks and
watches all over the country. Every
city and town now uses for its local
time one of th*ese meridians, the one
used being identical with that used by
the railways passing through or ter
minating at that place.
To fully comprehend the use of
these meridians it must be borne in
mind that longitude is universally
reckoned from Greenwich. Every sea
captain all over the world, regardless
of from what port he sails or to what
port he is bound, sets his chronometer
by Greenwich time. It must also be
borne in mind that the time occupied
by the earth in making a revolution
is 24 hours. Dividing 360 degrees by
24 hous gives 15 degrees; conse
quently 15 degrees has a time value
of one hour. This is to say, the ap
parent motion of the sun from east
to west is at the rate of 15 degrees
per hour.
The meridians, it will be under
stood, run north and south. The six
tieth, from which Atlantic time is
taken, passes through the eastern
parts of the province of Quebec and
New Brunswick, Canada. This meri
dian is used on some of the Canadian
railways, but is not used in the United
States. The seventy-fifth meridian,
from which • eastern time is reckoned,
passes through Herkimer, New York,
western New Jersey and eastern Penn
sylvania, about midway between Tren
ton and Philadelphia. The ninetieth
meridian, from which Central time is
reckoned, passes through the extreme
eastern edge of Minnesota, the west
ern part of Michigan, the center of
Wisconsin; through Illinois, 17 miles
west of its capital—Springfield—and
12 miles east of St. Louis, through the
extreme eastern parts of Missouri and
Arkansas, the western part of Tennes
see, three miles east of Memphis,
through Mississippi, two miles west of
Jackson, and through the eastern side
of Louisiana, five miles east of New
iJ£URS«7/i
FARES
7 /o \
EXPOSITIONS
TICKETS ON SALE
Daily from March 15 to Nov. 30, 1915, inclusive, at all "Milwaukee"
ticket offices in Montana, North Dakota and 8outh Dakota.
Return Limit three months from date of sale but not to exceed Dec. 31,
1915. Stopovers enroute. Choice variable routes by RAIL and OCEAN
combinations offering unsurpassed scenic attractions.
8ee 8POKANE and the beauty spota of the Inland Empire.
See 8EATTLE, TACOMA and the beautlea of Puget Sound.
Visit Wonderful Rainier National Park
For rates, further details and descriptive literature apply to the near
est ticket agent of the Chicago, Milwaukee ft St. Paul Railway or
G. E. MARTIN, Lewistown
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway
Orleans. The one hundred and fifth
meridian, from which mountain time
is reckoned, passes through eastern
Montana 40 mjleg eaat of Mlles city;
through eastern Wyoming, 10 miles
vvest of Cheyenne; through Denver,
and yq j^ues west of Colorado Springs,
through New Mexico, 50 miles east
0 f § a nta Fe, and through the extreme
west of Texas, 85 miles east of El
p as0i The one hundred and twentieth
meridian, from which Pacific time is
reckoned, passes centrally through the
j states of Washington and Oregon,
forms the dividing line between Ne
vada and California, to a point 12i
mllea weat of Carson City, thencei
through the center of California.
The ninetieth meridian furnishes.
time for a larger area than any other.
As a matter of fact it supplies time
to 55 per cent, of the population of
the nited States. It requires three
meridians to supply the remaining 45
p er cent. There are, however, confus
j n g irregularities caused bv the loca
i tions selected by the railway corn
j pa nies for changing their time
schedules. This is unavoidable. Rail
[ways cannot be expected to change
time exactly midway between meri
dians. They usually select the ter
mination of divisions for that purpose.
As a result the eastern and western
boundaries of the area using central
time form zigzag lines. This condi
tion is productive of strange situa
tions. Traveling from Greensburg,
Kansas, to Beverly, Nebraska—a dis
tance of about 200 miles due north—
it becomes necessary for the traveler,
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 rail
roads.
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
former, and those going west the lat
ter. Buffalo has the same condition
in an exaggerated form, for the rea
son that all trains going east use
eastern time, while trains going west
"se both eastern 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 El Paso, Texas, on four different
kinds of railway time: central, moun
tain, Pacific and Mexican. It is ini'
possible to estimate the loss to the;
traveling 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 unravel the compli
cations in our railway time-tables
brought about by our present confus
ing system is $5,000,000 would not
seem to be very far from being cor
rect. That this is not an exaggerated
estimate may be seen when we con
sider that American railways carry
2,500,000 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
tem involves increased labor and ex
pense to the railway companies in
making out their time-tables. Here,
then, we have $5,000,000 a year abso
lutely wasted. Enough to build a bat
tleship, and this does not take into
account the amount lost by mistakes
arising from the same cause.
Another fruitful source of confusion
and mistakes is the method of divid
ing the day and night into two periods
of 12 hours, numbered 1 to 12, neces
sitating the use of those awkward and
inconvenient affixes a. m. and p. m.
The Egyptians were the first to
divide the day and night into 24 equal
parts. They numbered the hours, 1
to 24. The Romans began their day
at sunrise, numbering the hours from
sunset 1 to 12, and numbering them
from sunset to sunrise also 1 to 12.
Our a. m. and p. m. is a part of the
burdensome legacy inherited from
them. The hours constituting their
day and night were of unequal and
constantly varying lengths. In course
of time they made a chance to our
present system, and had they adopted
the Egyptian method they would have
conferred an inestimable benefit upon
mankind.
The remedy for the evils we have
described lies: First, in numbering
the hours as the Egyptians did. Be
ginning, as we do now at midnight,
we would number the hours up to
noon, 1 to 12; the hour we now desig
nate as 1 p. m. would be 13, and so on
to 24. Second, we should adopt one
meridian for the entire United States,
which could be done without any seri
ous disturbance of affairs. The change
which was made in 1883 was hardly
noticed and proved a great benefit
without working hardship on anyone.
w _____
The advantage secured by that change
was insignificant as compared to the
advantage to be secured by the use of.
one meridian and the 24-hour system.
Canada has already adopted the 24-!
hour system on her railroads west of,
j Port Arthur, and China has adopted
oa ® meridian for the entire empire,j
1 which embraces 60 degrees, the same;
amount as the ^United States.
we allow ourselves to be left behind
by other nations?
Let us suppose that the 90th de-l
gree—central meridian—should
adopted as the one from which the
United States time should be reckon
ed; what then would be the effect on
business? The hour of 8 a. m. is now
pretty generally adopted for the com
mencement of business. If we should
take our time from the central meri
dian it would be 9 in New York, 8
in Chicago, 7 in Denver and 6 in San
Francisco; but what matters it where
the hands of the clock point so long
as business commences the same
amount of time after sunrise? Clocks
and watches should be our servants,
not we theirs.
On April 15 the sun rises at Phila
delphia at 5 o'clock as we now reckon
time. This is to say, the Philadel
delphians commence business three
hours after sunrise. The only differ
ence that the change would produce is
that the hands of their clock would
point at 9 instead of 8.
We would soon become accustomed
to the proposed change and the great
benefit and saving resulting therefrom
would repay us many times over for
any slight inconvenience that might at
first be felt. With this system in
force there would be no setting and
resetting of traveler's or railroad em
ploye's watches. One might travel
from coast to coast without disturbing
his watch. The reading of railway
time tables would be so simplified that
there would be no excuse for making
mistakes. The absurdities that now
exist in the matter of time would be
eliminated
eliminated
By our present system of reckoning
time it would have been possible for
an event to have occured in New York
on January 1, 1911, at 1 a. m„ and for
that event to have been known in
San FTancisco at 10 p. m., December
31, 1910. It is now possible to leave
El Paso for the west one hour and
50 minutes before you arrive from the
east, according to railway time-tables.
The writer recently saw the apparent
anomaly of two trains standing side
by side in the station at Buffalo, both
headed for the west, yet the engineers'
and conductors' watches on one train
were just one hour ahead of the other.
This sort of incongruity would be im
possible with the proposed new sys
tem.
Half a century ago there was not a
watch in existence capable of meeting
the requirements of American railway
time service today. Railway time in
spection has set the limit of variation
from true time, for its employe's
watches, at 30 seconds a week. This
means that the balance wheel shall
not vary in its motion to the extent of
one vibration out of every 20,000. Tak
ing into consideration the various
causes of disturbance to which a rail
way engineer's watch is subjected, the
jolts and jars, the changes of temper
ature and the magnetic influencce in
cidental to the proximity of large
masses of iron and steel, this per
formance is truly remarkable. That it
is possible to secure such accuracy in
such a tiny piece of mechanism sub
jected to those adverse influences is
little short of marvelous, and Justifies
the claim that the watch of today is
the most wonderful piece of mechan
ism that the ingeunity of man has
ever produced.
The requirement for accuracy in
railway watches in particular, and for
others as well, is becoming more
exacting every day. Horologists are
at their wits' end to meet them. The
time is surely coming when a purely
mechanical device will no longer suf
fice to produce sufficient accuracy,
What then? Some other force of na
ture must be enlisted. What will it
be? What else but that mysterious
force, electricity? That wonderful
power which is being harnessed to
lighten man's burdens and minister
to his wants and pleasures. Yes; wire
less electricity is destined to solve the
problem.
The time is now sent out from the
observatory at Washington from an
astronomical clock, so protected
against all disturbing influences that
it runs with Infinitesimal variation,
and is corrected by nightly stellar ob
servations. Centrally located clocks
contolled from this master clock at
Washington will be used to send out
aerial electric waves. These clocks
will control a radius of, perhaps, 100
miles. The watch and the clock of
the future, like their precursors, the
sun-dial and the clepsydra, will be rele
gated to the shelves of our museums,
their places taken by electric recelv
ers' contrived to indicate time re
ceived from these central clocks. —
Scientific American.
An English inventor's aeroplane can
be converted into a tent wherever its
pilot may happen to stop by the addi
tion of curtains between Its planes.
According to a Paris physician pre
mature baldness is due to some trou-1
ble with the teeth.
CB
s of Our Neig
bbors
Items of Interest to Our Readers
Clipped From Our Contemporaries
MOCCASIN.
E. O. Hedrick lias purchased the ma
terial for the construction of a small
residence on his ranch northeast of
tow n.
Fred Rector and Robert Branding,
living on Louse creek, will co-op. rate
with each other in an effort to clock
the creek which flows through their
ranches with fish.
Max Ferry, who recently arrived
1 j! roni I°' va and the purchased of the
. ^ cres owne< * by 'V- E. Blaekmun
,,, nK nort * 1 al ]d west of the llert
material the f.TndnTm ^
f Rrni residence 28x28 feet "
' T1 Geors „ o ° ' rin ., t , nf
aeres lvlng j„ st east of the Corneill
rano i, no rwest of town, was sold on
Saturday last by the Brown Land com
Shall'pany, to parties from Seymour, Wis.,
but whose names we could not learn!
The price paid was $65 per acre
Under date of Sunday, June 20. the
be'publishers of the Lewistown Daily
Democrat and the Evening News an
nounced that on July 1 the two papers
will beconsolidated as one and publish
ed under joint management ns the
Democrat-News company. This win
-Ive central Montana " daily paper
that will rank with the highest in the
state.—Dispatch.
WIN NETT.
W. J. Winnett started shearing
sheep at Tils shearing plant five miles
north of town last Friday. They have
about 9,000 to shear.
Mrs. Trotter of Boulder, Mont., ar
rived Thursday to visit her daughter,
Mrs. Holmes.
Mrs. H. J. Kelly and son, Harry, who
have been visiting Mrs. Kelly's broth
er, George See, the past two weeks, re
turned to their home in Lewistown
Monday.
Tom Graham of Dawson county,
Carl Morsner and Frank Milsap of
Flatwillow were here on business Mn
day.
Mrs. Julia Van Iderstine will arrive
tday from Lewistown with a complete
line of samples of ladies ready-to-wear
garments, which she will have on dis
play at Jarrett's hotel.—Times.
STANFORD.
Lucille Sherman left the latter part
of the week for Lewistown, where she
will spend two weeks visiting her
friend, Mrs. Van Iderstein.
Everyone is beginning to acquire the
harvest rush already. Repairing of ma
chinery and laying in supplies at this
time will save much time and worry
v i'Pii the real cutting begin?.
Mr. J. H. Weingart left Wednesday
morning for Silver Star, Mont, to at
tend the funeral of B. '' einpart, an
•V , "'ini died on last Monday e:c
ning. Mr. Weingart was a real pio
neer of Montana, having come to the
state in 1862.
A drive through the country be
tween here and Denton gives one a
pood idea of the wheat prospects.
Many of the fields passed on tills drive
are well headed and the process of
filling is going on while others are
a little short. This trip will also con
vince one of the value of a well pre
pared seed bed.—World.
MOORE.
Everything Is in readiness for the In
dependence day ceelbratlon, which wH
be held in Moore on Saturday, July
3. No pains have been spared to make
this the biggest and best event that
the Judith Basin and Moore have ever
experienced. Every detail has been
carefully looked after and from all In
dications there will be a record-break
ing crowd In the city on that day, a
number of nearby towns as well as
farmers from this vicinity signifying
their intentions of being present,
this occasion to participate In the fun
In store for them. There'll be some
thing doing every minute, as the pro
gram indicates, and with fair weatner
the day will be a grand success.
V. E. Gamble, who has been local
manager of the Montana 3tate Tele
phone and Telegraph company for the
past two years, resigned his position
last Friday and departed on Tuesday
for his former home in Springfield,
Minn.
Mrs. A. D. Scott returned on Friday
afternoon after an absence of several
months spent In Florida and later at
Fargo, N. D„ with her parents.—In
land Empire.
GRASS RANGE.
Secretary Barnes of the Chember of
Commerce has been successful In get
ting the train to stay over on the night
of the third until 10:30 and further
more there will be no freight cars at
tached to the train.
John Eschliman had a valuable
brood mare killed by lightning a few
days since. Her colt, which was
standing a little distance away, escap
ed unharmed. The mare was standing
in the middle of a field when the bolt
struck her.
Norman Superenant was out f
T/ewistown last week and spent a day
or two at Roaring camp. Mr. Stir
prenant says this is going to be a great
vear for Roaring camp as it Is grow
ing to be an ideal summer resort more
and more every year.—Review.
WINIFRED.
will be erected for the ae :ommodu
tlon of the people, here band music
Preparations are nearly completed
for the big Independence day celebra
tion to be held in Winifred Saturday,
July 3. The committee having charge
of the arrangements, J. M. Stafford,
Mike Mason and N. E. Ferrell, have
been working faithfully and report
that when the big day arrives every
thing will be in complete readiness.
There will be a special train from
Lewistown, that will arrive here at 10
o'clock In the morning and will not
leave until 8 In the evening. This
will insure a big turnout from the
towns along the way. A big pavilion
When in Need of
PULLEYS
Line Shafting, Hangers,
Set Collars
or Anything in Iron or Steel
We Carry the Largest Stock in the
Northwest
Great Falls Iron Works
Established 1890
GREAT FALLS, MONTANA
and the speaking will take place and
later it will be used for danelng. Th
committee were fortunate in getting!
Judge Avers to deliver Hie oration
He is classed with the loading orators
of the state and has hundreds of
friends in this vicinity.
The riding and roping contest
should be good. There are some go k 1
riders in this region and the rivalry
among them will make the contests
exciting. Tile ball game between Uc.y
and Winifred will be wortli coming
miles to see. These teams had some
close games last year and both con
tain good talent. The horse races will
also be classy nffairs and the smaller
sports and contests should prove high
ly amusing. The Winifred band will
keep the crowd in good humor bv the
frequency and excellency of their play
ing. There will he a grand display of
fireworks in the evening. Pome to
Winifred to celebrate and von will not
regret It.
Gerhard, eight miles east, of Wini
fred, is now an established postoffice.
The supplies for the office were re
ceived from the department this week
and it Is now being conducted by the
postmistress. Mrs. N. J. Gerhard.
Times.
----O------
----O------
HOBSON.
P. W. Korell was a business caller
in the city on Wednesday from the
Utica section. Mr. Korell, who Is the
keeper of the weather records at the
Utica station, Informs us that, the rain
fa" for thus far In June Is over four
Inches.
It looks as If the rainy season for
the month is passed, as we have ac
tually had a few days of sunshine and
warm weather. As a result the crops
are fairly jumping from the grov
and everybody has that optimistic
feeling that this section will produce
a bumper wheat crop.
Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Jewell arrived
in the city last Saturday from Roches
ter, Minn. Mr. Jewell, who underwent
an operation at the Mayo hospital,
states that he Is feeling fine and will
soon be enjoying his old time vigor
ous health, which will he good news
to hs many friends.—Star.
a
WINDHAM.
General Manager James Pearson and
family are now living at Lehigh,
where Mr. Pearson has built a flno
spae'nus bone.
Miss Nina Kirk came down from
l ewistown the latter part of last week
ti spend ber vacation v,Ira her father
on hi" ranch. Miss Nina lias been cm
ployed lo tench the Mirlowton school
the coming season. II will be her sec
ond t< "ni.
Tommie Lyons and W. L. Eckley
have leased two sections of state land
adjoining Windham, which they will
use as a cattle ranch. They propose
to put It all under fence and then stock
it with the kind of cattle that are best
suited for this country.—Leader.
to
CONTRARY PROCE8S.
They are taking queer wayB
smooth out prison life.''
"How do you mean?"
hEVe Bt0pped
ironing the convicts
O
A device for removing tires from
wagon wheels has been invented that
exerts a pull exceeding a ton yet
weighs less than 25 pounds.
8CHOONER EDITH SUNK.
LONDON, June 27 (10:42 p. m.).—A
German submarine has sunk the:
schooner Edith, of Barrow, off Youg
hal, Ireland. The crew was saved.
BUTTER
STAMPS
W E can furnish you with butter
stamps with your name, ad
dress and the weight, at a minimum
cost. Place your order now.
FERGUS COUNTY DEMOCRAT, Inc.
Supply Department
|
j
j
j
i
FIERCE
BATTLE
k 1
of
to
PARIS. June 27. (2:35 p. m.)- A
terrific battle, in which both com
batants resorted to the use of hand
grenades, was fought l>y the French
and Germans last night in the vicin
ity of Quennevierres and near th-a re
cently captured German position call
ed "tlie labyrinth," according to the
official statement, issued by the
French war department this after
noon. The report adds that a Ger
man surprise attack oil Arracourt,
near the ixirraine border, failed and
that twenty bombs were dropped by
French aviators on the Douai and
neighboring railway stations.
BE SUCCESSFUL
NEW YORK. June 25.—The success
of the second Austro-Hungarian war
loan is assured, according to wireless
messages received here from Vienna
and announced tonight by Alexander
Von Nuber, consule general for Aus
tria-Hungary. In a statement the con
sul general says that the subscriptions
for the second loan already amount to
4,500,000,000 crowns ($900,000,000).
which be says provides financial
means for the continuation of the war
for at least 10 months.
"Subscriptions continue to come In,"
the statement says, "and there Is a
fair prospect tliAt the loan total
amount will pass the billion dollar
mark. Subscription for the first war
loans total $600,000,000 and therefore
the sums contributed by the popula
tion of the dual monarchy amount at
present to $1,500,000,000.
"The total indebtedness of Austria
Hungary, which previous to the war
amounted to $3,800,000,000, lias thus
been raised to $5,300,000,000. In this
connection it Is pointed out that the
total wealth of Austria-Hungary is es
timated at $25,000,000,000; the in
crease of Indebtedness, therefore,
amounts to only 6 per cent, of the na
tional wealth.
ithanThe most sanguine expectations
when we first ventured on the expert
ment."
WOMEN CONDUCTORS.
NEWCASTLE, June 26.—As street
car conductors women have done so
well here that many people believe
they will be retained after the war, or
at least that they will he regarded as
equally eligible with men for Huch
positions. At the last meeting of the
tramways committee the general man
ager reported that forty-eight women
conductors had been trained and half
that number were now In full charge
of cars. "The employment of wom
en," he said, "has been an unqualified
success. They have done far better
The committee decided to era
| p) 0 y more women conductors and an
announcement was made that applica
tions for service in that capacity
would be welcomed.
German experts have found that arc
|lights totalling 1,000,000 candle-power
the: in a lighthouse penetrate a fog less
than a single oil lamp of 10,000 candle
power.

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