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Our Surroundings 



Under this system the area of the United States is divided into 

 four time belts known as Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific 

 belts. Throughout any one of these belts, standard time is the 

 same, and each belt varies in time from a neighboring belt by 

 one hour. Each 'belt uses the solar time of a specified meridian 

 within its borders. These belt meridians are 15 apart. Only 

 when a traveler passes from one time belt to the next, does he 

 need to change the time of his watch. If he is going west, he 



STANDARD TIME BELTS OF THE UNITED STATES 



Why must we set our watches back as we travel westward across the country? 



finds that his watch is one hour fast when compared with the time 

 of the belt he has entered. If he is traveling east, he finds, as 

 he passes from one belt to the next, that his watch is one hour 

 slow. Accordingly, he must set his watch back one hour, or for- 

 ward one hour, in order to conform to the standard time of the 

 belt he has entered. 



Each day at noon, eastern standard time, the exact time is 

 telegraphed from Washington, D. C., to thousands of places in 

 various parts of the country, for the regulation of clocks. 



