47-1 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



wrong by city time sliould he keep it true to the local time of the town 

 where he lives. But he fails to notice this fact because none of the 

 clocks in his town show the local time. Suburban clocks are made to 

 agree with those of the city, and the city clocks often show the time of 

 some larger city. F'or example, there is hardly an inland city in New 

 England which uses its own local time. Clock time, therefore, is arbi- 

 trary and conventional in nearly every respect. It is an invention 

 which has been modified from time to time to suit practical conven- 

 ience. Even in legal matters no one would think of appealing to the 

 true solar time, but in the absence of statute would rely upon whatever 

 standard is used by common consent. 



The greater importance of precise time to us than to our ancestors 

 is due to our increased facilities'for dealing with those who live at a 

 distance, — to the railroad, the telegraph, the telephone, and the fast 

 mail. The same causes make it the more necessary to be punctual in 

 appointments with neighbors. It is difficult to realize how much more 

 important an exact knowledge of the time is for purposes of this sort 

 than for all others. Few persons really appreciate the number and 

 variety of interests which depend in one way or another upon the 

 arrival and departure of trains. This is especially true of a city sur- 

 rounded by well-developed suburbs. A large amount of the business 

 of Boston, for example, is done by people who enter and leave the 

 city daily by railroad, and the number of these increases every 

 year. 



The consideration which induces a community to allow its time to 

 differ from the local time, is the existence of a railroad which uses the 

 time proper to some other longitude. There are no instants marked 

 out by nature as the times for men to perform their daily recurring 

 acts. Hours for meals vary widely ; and people show the latitude 

 which exists in the choice of times for beginning work or amusements, 

 by taking even hours and half-hours in preference to the intermediate 

 quarters or smaller divisions. Whatever be the standard of time, 

 men's daily affairs can be appointed according to convenience ; and, if 

 it be desired to use even hours and half-hours by the clock, the rail- 

 way standard offers as many chances for convenient arrangements as 

 does local time. The best plan is, then, for all the time-pieces, public 

 and private, to conform to that standard. As each railroad carries one 

 standard to two termini, this plan is inconsistent with the general use 

 of local time. 



Heretofore there have been over fifty different standards in use at 

 once upon the railroads of the United States and Canada. In many 



