Chapter 17

1st Meridian, France. 2d " Holland and Belgium. 3d " Switzerland. 4th " Norway, (and Western Germany.) 5th " Denmark, Germany, and Italy. 6th " Sweden and Austria. 7th " Eastern Germany. 8th " Hungary. 9th " Poland and Greece. 10th " Finland, Roumania, and Bulgaria, 11th " European Turkey. 12th " Western Russia.

WEST OF GREENWICH.

1st Meridian, Spain. 3d " Portugal.

It is, however, not at all necessary that each country should adopt a single civil time for the whole of its territory. If several normal times should be adopted, it is still possible to use the system, provided only the several times differ from Greenwich time by 10 minutes, 20 minutes, &c.; but it would be necessary that the clocks should indicate the times adopted with great precision, and that the difference did not amount to even a few seconds, because otherwise the advantages of the adoption of the system would be materially reduced.

This circumstance, that it is possible for each country to adopt the system, and at the same time to maintain a certain independence with regard to the adoption of the most convenient normal times, is of considerable importance with regard to the possibility of introducing a system of this kind. In fact, it is possible to arrive at the application of the system in such a way that the transition would hardly be observed by the great majority of the population. As regards railroads and telegraphs, the advantages would be the same as if the local times were everywhere identical, because it is easy to remember the multiple of 10 minutes which ought to be added to the time of a given country for translation into the time of another country. The difference of time between Sweden and Denmark would, for instance, be 10 minutes--a circumstance which everybody would soon learn to remember. A traveller leaving Sweden would then know that his watch, if correct, shows exactly 10 minutes more than the clocks of the Danish railroad stations, and if he continued his voyage to Paris, he would know that the clocks of Paris are exactly 50 minutes behind the clocks in Sweden.

I have tried to explain the advantages of this system for the countries in Europe. I am not able to judge if similar systems can be considered necessary in America and Asia. It is possible that North America could be satisfied with one single normal time, which, if America connects this time with the European system, ought to be fixed exactly 6 hours behind Greenwich. While starting from this normal meridian, it is possible to establish a more or less elaborate system of equidistant times analogous to the system which has been proposed for Europe. The same can be said of the civil times of Asia, which ought to be connected with a normal time 6 hours in advance of the time of Greenwich.

Africa ought to belong to the European system. The French civil time could be adopted for Algeria and Tunis; the time of Denmark, Germany, and Italy for Tripoli; for Egypt the time of Russia; the Spanish time for Morocco; at the mouth of the Congo where, no doubt, sooner or later, an important centre of civilization will rise, the meridian of Sweden and Austria could be used; the meridian of Hungary could be adopted for the Cape of Good Hope.

It will not be possible to connect South America and Australia with any of the four cardinal times mentioned, but some other combination, into which it is not necessary to enter on this occasion, can easily be found.

The PRESIDENT. If the Chair hears no objection, the pamphlet referred by the Delegate of Sweden will be printed as proposed.

Mr. LEFAIVRE, Delegate of France. Mr. President, I move that the Conference adjourn until Wednesday, at one o'clock p. m.

The motion was put and agreed to, and the Conference thereupon adjourned at 4:30 p. m. until Wednesday, the 22d inst., at one o'clock p. m.

VII.

SESSION OF OCTOBER 22, 1884.

The Conference met pursuant to adjournment in the Diplomatic Hall of the Department of State, at one o'clock p. m.

Present:

Austria-Hungary: Baron IGNATZ VON SCHÆFFER. Brazil: Dr. LUIZ CRULS. Chili: Mr. F. Y. GORMAS and Mr. A. B. TUPPER. Colombia: Commodore S. E. FRANKLIN. Costa Rica: Mr. JUAN FRANCISCO ECHEVERRIA. France: Mr. A. LEFAIVRE, Mr. JANSSEN. Germany: Baron H. VON ALVENSLEBEN, Mr. HINCKELDEYN. Great Britain: Sir F. J. O. EVANS, Prof. J. C. ADAMS, Lieut.-General STRACHEY, Mr. SANDFORD FLEMING. Guatemala: Mr. MILES BOOK. Hawaii: Hon. W. D. ALEXANDER, Hon. LUTHER AHOLO. Italy: Count ALBERT DE FORESTA. Japan: Professor KIKUCHI. Liberia: Mr. WM. COPPINGER. Mexico: Mr. LEANDRO FERNANDEZ, Mr. ANGEL ANGUIANO. Netherlands: Mr. G. DE WECKHERLIN. Paraguay: Capt. JOHN STEWART. Russia: Mr. C. DE STRUVE, Major-General STEBNITZKI, Mr. J. DE KOLOGRIVOFF. San Domingo: Mr. DE J. GALVAN. Spain: Mr. JUAN VALERA, Mr. EMILIO RUIZ DEL ARBOL, and Mr. JUAN PASTORIN. Sweden: Count CARL LEWENHAUPT. Switzerland: Col. EMILE FREY. Turkey: RUSTEM EFFENDI. United States: Rear-Admiral C. R. P. RODGERS, Mr. LEWIS M. RUTHERFURD, Mr. W. F. ALLEN, Commander W. T. SAMPSON, Professor CLEVELAND ABBE. Venezuela: Dr. A. M. SOTELDO.

Absent:

Denmark: Mr. C. S. A. DE BILLE. Salvador: Mr. ANTONIO BATRES.

The PRESIDENT. The first business before the Conference to-day is the resolutions offered by the Delegate of Great Britain, General STRACHEY; but before we proceed the Delegate of San Domingo, Mr. GALVAN, asks permission, as a matter of privilege, to read a communication to the Conference.

Mr. GALVAN, the Delegate of San Domingo. Before the sessions of the Conference come to a close, I feel compelled to make a declaration which will be a tribute to the illustrious scientists who have directed the decisions of the majority of the Conference, and at the same time a reservation of future freedom of action to the country which I have the honor to represent.

The negative vote of San Domingo on the principal question was entirely in consequence of the proposal by the Delegates of France of a neutral International Meridian, which was rejected by the Conference.

San Domingo, which had no part in the various important interests connected with the meridian of Greenwich, was bound to regard equity alone on the occurrence of the disagreement produced by the proposal of the Delegates of France, a nation renowned for being one of the first in intellectual progress.

At the last session I was glad that another proposal of the Delegates of France was accepted almost unanimously by the Conference. That fact should be considered as a good omen of a more complete and unanimous agreement at some future time in behalf of the general interest of science.

That day will be saluted with a cordial _hosanna_ by the Republic of San Domingo, which is always ready freely to give its assent to the progress of civilization.

The PRESIDENT. The resolutions offered by the Delegate of Great Britain, General STRACHEY, are now before the Conference, and will be read.

The resolutions were then read, as follows:

"1. The Conference adopts the opinion that, for the purposes of civil life, it will be convenient to reckon time according to the local civil time at successive meridians distributed round the earth, at time-intervals of either ten minutes, or some integral multiple of ten minutes, from the prime meridian; but that the application of this principle be left to the various nations or communities concerned by it."

"2. The arrangements for the use of the universal day in international telegraphy should be left for the consideration of the International Telegraph Congress."

General STRACHEY, Delegate of Great Britain. In consequence of the opinions I have heard expressed regarding the resolutions which I brought forward at our last meeting, I feel constrained to say that I am not disposed to ask the Congress to proceed to a vote upon them. I find that, although I had reason to think that those resolutions, in substance, that is in their main features, would be acceptable, still there is extreme difficulty in finding precise expressions that shall meet the views of everybody, and there are divisions of opinion as to the exact manner in which these resolutions should be modified.

My object in bringing forward the resolutions was mainly to obtain a decided expression of opinion on the part of the Congress, that the method of counting local time, so as to harmonize as far as possible with universal time, should be left for settlement locally; and that, at the utmost, all the Congress could do would be to suggest some general principle such as that embodied in my resolution. There was, of course, never any intention of employing the universal day so as to interfere with the use of local standard time; and as I shall, no doubt, elicit a further clear expression of opinion on the part of the delegates, that there is no intention of bringing about this interference, I will now, with the permission of the Conference, withdraw the resolutions.

Mr. RUTHERFURD, Delegate of the United States. Mr. President, I think that all of us appreciate the desire which moved the Delegate of Great Britain to present these resolutions. There is a wish on his part that we should not seem, in any way, by our action here, to interfere with the convenience of the world in the use of its present civil time, or any other time which it may be found convenient to adopt, while he recognizes that some of the proposals made as to local time are such as could not be objected to. Still, I cannot refrain from expressing my satisfaction that he has come to the conclusion that these resolutions are not necessary.

I think the whole question is covered by the resolutions already adopted by this Congress; that our universal day is for those purposes only for which it may be found convenient, and that it is not to interfere in any way with the use of civil or other standard time where that may be found convenient. This seems to me to be so fully embodied in our resolutions that it is unnecessary to enunciate again in a negative form the same idea, and I therefore express my satisfaction that the resolutions are withdrawn.

Mr. SANDFORD FLEMING, Delegate of Great Britain. Mr. President, I have a few words bearing on the subject before the Conference which I wish to express before any action is taken.

The PRESIDENT. There will be no subject before the Congress if the resolutions of General STRACHEY are withdrawn, and the Chair understands that the object of General STRACHEY in withdrawing these resolutions was to avoid a discussion upon a subject that could hardly lead to any satisfactory conclusion.

If, however, Mr. FLEMING desires to address the Conference, he will be at liberty to do so.

Mr. FLEMING, Delegate of Great Britain. I do not wish to intrude any new matter upon the Conference. What I had to say had a bearing upon the subject, but, if the resolutions are withdrawn and the Conference desires to end the matter, I shall not insist upon speaking.

No objection being made, the resolutions offered by General STRACHEY at the last session of the Conference were then withdrawn.

Count LEWENHAUPT, Delegate for Sweden, then proposed that the resolutions passed by the Conference should be formally recorded in a Final Act, stating the votes on each resolution that was adopted.

The Conference took a recess, in order to allow the Delegates to examine the draft of the Final Act.

After the recess the Final Act was unanimously adopted, as follows:

FINAL ACT.

The President of the United States of America, in pursuance of a special provision of Congress, having extended to the Governments of all nations in diplomatic relations with his own, an invitation to send Delegates to meet Delegates from the United States in the city of Washington on the first of October, 1884, for the purpose of discussing, and, if possible, fixing upon a meridian proper to be employed as a common zero of longitude and standard of time-reckoning throughout the whole world, this International Meridian Conference assembled at the time and place designated; and, after careful and patient discussion, has passed the following resolutions:

I.

"That it is the opinion of this Congress that it is desirable to adopt a single prime meridian for all nations, in place of the multiplicity of initial meridians which now exist."

This resolution was unanimously adopted.

II.

"That the Conference proposes to the Governments here represented the adoption of the meridian passing through the centre of the transit instrument at the Observatory of Greenwich as the initial meridian for longitude."

The above resolution was adopted by the following vote:

In the affirmative:

Austria-Hungary, Mexico, Chili, Netherlands, Colombia, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Russia, Germany, Salvador, Great Britain, Spain, Guatemala, Sweden, Hawaii, Switzerland, Italy, Turkey, Japan, United States, Liberia, Venezuela.

In the negative:

San Domingo.

Abstaining from voting:

Brazil, France.

Ayes, 22; noes, 1; abstaining, 2.

III.

"That from this meridian longitude shall be counted in two directions up to 180 degrees, east longitude being plus and west longitude minus."

This resolution was adopted by the following vote:

In the affirmative:

Chili, Liberia, Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Great Britain, Russia, Guatemala, Salvador, Hawaii, United States, Japan, Venezuela.

In the negative:

Italy, Sweden, Netherlands, Switzerland. Spain,

Abstaining from voting:

Austria-Hungary, Germany, Brazil, San Domingo, France, Turkey.

Ayes, 14; noes, 5; abstaining, 6.

IV.

"That the Conference proposes the adoption of a universal day for all purposes for which it may be found convenient, and which shall not interfere with the use of local or other standard time where desirable."

This resolution was adopted by the following vote:

In the affirmative:

Austria-Hungary, Mexico, Brazil, Netherlands, Chili, Paraguay, Colombia, Russia, Costa Rica, Salvador, France, Spain, Great Britain, Sweden, Guatemala, Switzerland, Hawaii, Turkey, Italy, United States, Japan, Venezuela. Liberia,

Abstaining from voting:

Germany, San Domingo.

Ayes, 23; abstaining, 2.

V.

"That this universal day is to be a mean solar day; is to begin for all the world at the moment of mean midnight of the initial meridian, coinciding with the beginning of the civil day and date of that meridian; and is to be counted from zero up to twenty-four hours."

This resolution was adopted by the following vote:

In the affirmative:

Brazil, Liberia, Chili, Mexico, Colombia, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Russia, Great Britain, Turkey, Guatemala, United States, Hawaii, Venezuela. Japan,

In the negative:

Austria-Hungary, Spain.

Abstaining from voting:

France, San Domingo, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland. Netherlands,

Ayes, 15; noes, 2; abstaining, 7.

VI.

"That the Conference expresses the hope that as soon as may be practicable the astronomical and nautical days will be arranged everywhere to begin at mean midnight."

This resolution was carried without division.

VII.

"That the Conference expresses the hope that the technical studies designed to regulate and extend the application of the decimal system to the division of angular space and of time shall be resumed, so as to permit the extension of this application to all cases in which it presents real advantages."

The motion was adopted by the following vote:

In the affirmative:

Austria-Hungary, Mexico Brazil, Netherlands, Chili, Paraguay, Colombia, Russia, Costa Rica, San Domingo, France, Spain, Great Britain, Turkey, Hawaii, United States, Italy, Venezuela. Japan,

Abstaining from voting:

Germany, Sweden. Guatemala,

Ayes, 21; abstaining, 3.

Done at Washington, the 22d of October, 1884.

C. R. P. RODGERS, _President_.

R. STRACHEY, J. JANSSEN, L. CRULS, _Secretaries._

The following resolution was then adopted unanimously:

"That a copy of the resolutions passed by this Conference shall be communicated to the Government of the United States of America, at whose instance and within whose territory the Conference has been convened."

Mr. RUTHERFURD, Delegate of the United States, then presented the following resolution:

"_Resolved_, That the Conference adjourn, to meet upon the call of the President, for the purpose of verifying the protocols."

This resolution was then unanimously carried, and the Conference adjourned at half past three, to meet upon the call of the President.

VIII.

SESSION OF NOVEMBER 1, 1884.

The Conference met at the call of the President for the approval of the protocols, as arranged at the last meeting, in the Diplomatic Hall of the Department of State, at 1 o'clock p. m.

The PRESIDENT having called the Conference to order, said: The protocols in French and English, having been examined by the Secretaries of the Conference, have been submitted to all of the delegates for perusal. If any delegate should desire to make any observation on them the opportunity is now given for his doing so.

RUSTEM EFFENDI, Delegate of Turkey, stated that he desired to change his vote on the fifth resolution of the Final Act, providing for the commencement of the universal day, from the affirmative to the negative.

No objection being made, the change was ordered to be made.

The PRESIDENT then said: No further observations having been made on the protocols, they will now be signed by the Secretaries and the President.

Mr. DE STRUVE, Delegate of Russia. Before the Conference terminates, I beg to express, in the name of my colleagues, our sincere gratitude for the hospitality extended to the Conference by the Government of the United States, and I beg to express our heartiest thanks to you, Mr. President, for the able and impartial manner in which you have presided over our deliberations. When we elected you, we unanimously elected the first Delegate of the United States. If we had to begin again, the personal feelings of all the delegates would supply powerful additional reasons for making the election equally unanimous.

Mr. DE STRUVE'S observation met with the unanimous approval of the Delegates.

The PRESIDENT. Gentlemen, I am greatly honored by the kind expression of your good feeling towards me as the President of this Conference, and I thank you very heartily for it. The duty assigned to us all has not been free from difficulty, but our meetings and discussions have been characterized by great courtesy and kindness, and by a conciliatory spirit.

With patience and devotion the Delegates to this Congress have sought to discharge the trust committed to them, and, as your Chairman, I beg you to receive my most cordial thanks for the courteous consideration I have received at your hands. The President of the United States and the Secretary of State desire me to renew to you their thanks for your presence here, and their best wishes for your safe and happy return each to his own home.

I shall esteem myself very happy hereafter whenever I shall have the good fortune to meet any of my colleagues of the International Meridian Conference.

Mr. RUTHERFURD, the Delegate of the United States. Mr. President and gentlemen, I am sure that you will all unite with me in passing the resolution which I now propose to read:

"_Resolved_, That the thanks of the Conference be presented to the Secretaries for the able manner in which they have discharged their arduous duties."

The resolution was unanimously adopted.

General STRACHEY, Delegate of Great Britain. I wish, sir, as one of the Secretaries, to express my thanks for the manner in which my labors have been esteemed by the delegates present. All that I can say on the subject is, that however troublesome the duties of the Secretaries have been, I have not the least doubt that anybody else named instead of myself would equally have bestowed his best attention on the discharge of those duties.

Mr. JANSSEN, Delegate of France, then said: Before the dissolution of the Conference, Mr. CRULS and I desire specially to thank our colleagues for the honor they have done us by entrusting to us the revision of the French version of the protocols. In order that we might fully respond to that honor, we have examined with all possible care the French translations of the remarks of our colleagues. Our only regret is that, in consequence of the desire of several of them to quit Washington, we have been obliged to leave portions of the translations, particularly of the last protocols, much in the state in which we received them from the official translators, not having had the time to correct these translations as we would have desired.

Upon motion of Mr. JANSSEN, Delegate of France, the Conference passed a vote of thanks to the delegate of Turkey for the aid he has rendered the Secretaries in the revision of the protocols.

The PRESIDENT then said: Before our final adjournment I desire to express a very high appreciation of the ability, fidelity, and zeal with which Mr. W. F. PEDDRICK, the Secretary attached by the Department of State to this Conference, has performed his difficult duties, and to thank him for his services.

The Conference expressed its cordial assent to these observations.

The PRESIDENT then declared that the business of the Conference having been concluded, it would adjourn _sine die_.

C. R. P. RODGERS, _President._

R. STRACHEY, J. JANSSEN, L. CRULS, _Secretaries._

ANNEX I.

AN ACT to authorize the President of the United States to call an International Conference to fix on and recommend for universal adoption a common prime meridian, to be used in the reckoning of longitude and in the regulation of time throughout the world.