THE ELECTRIC TIME BALL AT KANSAS CITY. 613 
enterprise of Kansas City, and its accomplishment would be of great material 
benefit to her. All that is necessary to accomplish this is to lead the different 
lines which already come into the same office into one relay, and it is accom- 
plished at an expense of almost nothing. The wires could be so arranged that by 
simply turning on a switch two or three minutes before the signals are to come 
through, the clock-beats would go out on each line, and any interruption on one 
would not affect the others. The immense benefit to the railroads themselves, as 
well as to all business men generally, which would result from the adoption of 
such a system over the roads tributary to Kansas City, is almost incalculable— 
while all amateur astronomers who are in need of accurate time would be placed 
under lasting obligations. To bring about this result it is simply necessary for 
the managers of the roads centering in Kansas City to come to some agreement 
about the matter. 
‘‘At the last meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science held in Boston in August, the question of a uniform time system was 
brought up anda committee of astronomers was appointed to work up the sub- 
ject for the ensuing year. Among the members of the committee were two of the 
astronomers of the Naval Observatory, the astronomers of the Cincinnati Ob- 
servatory, Alleghany Observatory, Harvard Observatory, Morrison Observatory, 
New Haven Observatory, and others. Nothing definite was agreed upon, but one 
of the most favorable plans proposed by different persons was that which recom- 
mends the adoption of three meridians for the whole country, the time of the 
first meridian being from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, that of the second from 
the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains, and of the third from the Rocky Moun- 
tains to the Pacific coast. 
‘* Whatever plan may be finally age it is quite sure that with the 
constantly increasing railroad traffic some such general plan must be adopted in 
the course of time—there is no place better suited than Kansas City for distrib- 
uting time to the whole of the Mississippi valley, and there seems to be no good 
reason why she should not inaugurate such a system as will make her permanently 
one of the great time centers of the country as she already has become one of its 
great business centers.”’ 
Since the adoption of the electric time ball signal at Kansas City, we observe 
that the people of St. Louis are moving in the same matter, and that at a recent 
meeting of citizens it was determined to raise $1,500 for the purpose. 
