Part 13

Now, I think that the subject of universal time is dealt with in a better manner in the proposition offered by Mr. RUTHERFURD than in the proposition which emanated from the Congress at Rome. This Conference cannot designate positively the manner in which local time may be best reckoned. We are concerned now only with universal time. It may, however, be proper that the resolution offered by Mr. RUTHERFURD in regard to the employment of universal time should be supplemented by something more specific--something, for instance, of this sort:

The Conference will not designate the system on which local time may best be reckoned so as to conform, as far as possible, to universal time; this should be determined by each nation to suit its convenience.

The arrangements for adopting universal time for the use of international telegraphs will be left for regulation by the telegraph international congress.

This last idea was expressed, I forget now by whom, but by one of the Delegates since the Conference met, and it appears to me that inasmuch as there is an international congress specially appointed to regulate all matters of international telegraphy, this subject can be left to them with the firm belief that it will be regulated satisfactorily.

The question was then put to the vote; and upon the amendment offered by the Delegate of Italy the following States voted in the affirmative:

Colombia, Paraguay, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden.

The following in the negative:

Brazil, Liberia, Chili, Mexico, Costa Rica, Russia, France, Salvador, Germany, San Domingo, Great Britain, Switzerland, Guatemala, Turkey, Hawaii, United States, Japan, Venezuela.

Austria-Hungary abstained from voting.

Ayes, 6; noes, 18; abstaining, 1.

So the amendment was lost.

The question then recurred upon the original resolution.

Mr. RUTHERFURD, Delegate of the United States. Mr. President, it has been represented to me that it may, perhaps, be found advantageous in different countries and different localities to use a time that would not be accurately described as local time. In one place the standard of time may be strictly local time; in another place it may be national time; in another place it may be railroad time.

In order to meet this condition of things, I propose to alter the phraseology of the original resolution in this way: by inserting the words "or other," so that it shall read "which shall not interfere with the use of local or _other_ time where desirable."

Professor ADAMS, Delegate of Great Britain. May it not be better to put it in this way: "Which shall not interfere with the use of local or other _standard_ time where desirable."

Mr. RUTHERFURD, Delegate of the United States. I accept the amendment offered by the Delegate of Great Britain.

Mr. JEAN VALERA, Delegate of Spain. As I consider that both the amendment which was just rejected and the present proposition really signify the same thing, I shall vote for the proposition, as I before did for the amendment.

The PRESIDENT. The question is now upon the resolution, as modified. It will be read.

The resolution was then read, as follows:

"_Resolved_, 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."

The following States voted 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,

There were no negative votes.

Germany and San Domingo abstained from voting.

Ayes, 23; noes, 0; abstaining, 2.

So the resolution was carried.

Mr. RUTHERFURD, Delegate of the United States. Mr. President, I now propose to offer the other portion of the resolution, or rather I propose to offer the other portion in the form of a distinct resolution. It will run as follows:

"_Resolved_, That this universal day is to be a mean solar day; is to begin for all the world at the moment of 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 is, in substance, the resolution adopted by the Conference at Rome, with the exception that the Conference at Rome proposed that the universal day should coincide with the astronomical day instead of the civil day, and begin at Greenwich noon, instead of Greenwich midnight.

Professor ADAMS, Delegate of Great Britain. I desire to make one remark merely. Would it not be a little more correct if we said "at the moment of mean midnight?" I think I have mentioned this before, but, to be clear, I think it should be made.

Mr. RUTHERFURD accepted Professor ADAMS'S suggestion.

Mr. JUAN VALERA, Delegate of Spain. Mr. President, I wish to call special attention to the proposition now before us, on which we are called upon to vote, as it is of very great importance.

As for me, I acknowledge that my mission is already fulfilled. The Government of Spain had directed me to admit the necessity or the usefulness of a common prime meridian, and also to accept the meridian of Greenwich as the universal meridian. I have attended to these directions.

We have now to deal with a scientific question on which I cannot well express an opinion, as I do not feel that I am competent in such matters; besides, I am not authorized to do so. This may be due to my ignorance in matters of this kind, but I fear that extraordinary difficulties may arise in the adoption of this proposition, and if we proceed with too great haste, we run the risk of placing ourselves in contradiction to common sense. All the popular ideas of men for thousands of years past will, perhaps, be overturned. It may happen that when the day begins at Greenwich it will be 23 hours later at Berlin. The east will be confounded with the west, and the west with the east. If we made the day begin at the anti-meridian these questions would be avoided, and we should at one be with the rest of the human race. I believe that it would be better to adjourn till to-morrow to give us time to reflect; in this way we shall not risk by our devotion to science drawing upon ourselves popular criticism.

I propose, therefore, that the vote on this question be put off till to-morrow.

M. LEFAIVRE, Delegate of France. Not to-morrow.

Count LEWENHAUPT, Delegate of Sweden. I beg to propose as an amendment the sixth resolution adopted by the Conference at Rome, which is as follows:

The Conference recommends as initial point for the universal hour and the cosmic day the mean midday of Greenwich, coinciding with the moment of midnight or the beginning of the civic day at the meridian 12 hours or 180° from Greenwich.

The universal hours are to be counted from 0 up to 24 hours.

The PRESIDENT. The Chair quite concurs with the Delegate of Spain in thinking that it would be very proper for us to take some time to consider this matter.

A motion to adjourn would be in order, but before that motion is made, the Chair would like to read a communication which he has just received from the Assistant Secretary of State. It is this:

"The President of the United States will receive the members of the Conference on Thursday, the 16th instant, at 12 o'clock, at the White House."

The Assistant Secretary of State proposes that we shall meet here at a quarter before 12, and go to the White House from this hall.

The PRESIDENT. If the Delegate of Spain will withdraw his motion to adjourn for one moment, the Delegate of Sweden desires to offer a resolution.

Count LEWENHAUPT, Delegate of Sweden, then read the following proposal:

Hereafter the reports of the speeches, whether in English or French, will be sent as soon as possible to the Delegates who made them, and the proofs should be corrected and returned by them without delay to the Secretary. No correction will be allowed afterward, except such as are considered necessary by the Secretaries, who will meet as soon as possible after the first corrections shall have been printed to prepare the protocols for the approval of the Conference.

The motion being put to a vote by the President, was unanimously carried.

The PRESIDENT. The Chair would very informally state that he has received to-day a letter from Sir William Thomson, the distinguished scientist who addressed the Conference yesterday, expressing his regret that he did not then say something which he had in his mind and which he wished to say, namely, that the meridian of Greenwich passes directly through the great commercial port of Havre.

Mr. JANSSEN, Delegate of France. Since the Chairman refers to this subject, I may state to my colleagues that I have received a telegram from Sir William Thomson, in which he makes certain propositions of the nature described.

Yet it is not possible to make out precisely, by this telegram, what are Sir William Thomson's ideas. All that I can say is, that whatever proceeds from such an eminent man should be treated with great consideration, and that is a reason for asking Sir W. Thomson to be good enough to explain to me his ideas more fully. If we could adjourn to Monday, I think that it would be better. The preparation of the protocols is very much behind-hand, and it is desirable that the members of the Conference be kept fully acquainted with all the discussions. I would, therefore, suggest that we adjourn till Monday.

The PRESIDENT. There are several propositions to adjourn to different days. The Chair will take them up in order and will first put the question upon the motion to adjourn until Monday.

The motion was carried, and at four o'clock the Conference adjourned until Monday, the 20th instant, at one o'clock p. m.

VI.

SESSION OF OCTOBER 20, 1884.

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

Present:

Austro-Hungary: Baron IGNATZ VON SCHÆFFER. Brazil: Dr. LUIZ CRULS. Chili: Mr. F. V. GORMAS and Mr. A. B. TUPPER. Colombia: Commodore S. R. 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. Gautemala: Mr. MILES ROCK. Hawaii: Hon. W. D. ALEXANDER. 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. EMILO RUIZ DEL ARBOL, 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. Hawaii: Hon. LUTHER AHOLO. Salvador: Mr. ANTONIO BATRES.

The PRESIDENT. Some days ago a Committee was appointed to report on communications addressed to the Conference through the Chair. All communications that have been received from time to time, and they have been numerous, have been referred to this committee, of which the Delegate from England, Prof. ADAMS, is the chairman. He now informs the Chair that he is prepared to make a report.

The Delegate of England, Prof. ADAMS, then read the following report:

_Letter from the President of the Conference._

INTERNATIONAL MERIDIAN CONFERENCE, DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, _Oct. 14, 1884_.

SIR: I have the honor to submit to the Committee of which you are the Chairman the following communications:

No. 1. Letters from Mr. Roumanet du Cailland, through Mr. Hunter, Ass't Sec. of State.

No. 2. Letter and communication from Mr. C. M. Raffensparger.

No. 3. Letter from Mr. A. S. de Chancourtois, accompanying books from Paris.

No. 4. Letter from Mr. A. W. Spofford, enclosing letter of Mr. J. W. Stolting, of Dobbs' Ferry.

No. 5. Letter from Mr. B. Aycrigg, Passaic, N. J.

No. 6. Letter from J. T. Field, St. Louis, Mo.

No. 7. Letter and two enclosures from Mr. Theodor Pæsche.

No. 8. Description of the Universal Time-Piece of Dr. A. M. Cory.

No. 9. Letter and enclosure from Mr. E. R. Knorr.

No. 10. Letter from Mr. J. E. Hilgard, of the U. S. Coast Survey and Geodetic Survey.

No. 11. Arguments by Committee of New York and New Jersey branch, and other papers relating to weights and measures.

No. 12. Letter from Lt. C. A. S. Totten, U.S.A., in relation to a Standard Meridian.

No. 13. Letter from Mr. J. P. Merritt, in relation to the Metric System.

No. 14. Postal card from W. H. Yates, in relation to the Mercator Projection.

No. 15. A New System of Mensuration, by Lawrence S. Benson.

No. 16. Letter of T. C. Octman, of Hope Mills, N. C., calling attention to the fact that the meridian of Greenwich passes through Havre.

No. 17. Letter from Dr. H. K. Whitner, explaining his notation of 24 hours.

I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,

C. R. P. RODGERS, _President International Meridian Conference_.

Prof. J. C. ADAMS.

_Report of the Committee._

The Committee on communications respectfully reports as follows:

We have carefully examined all of the communications referred to us, as enumerated in the letter of President Rodgers, with the following results:

No. 1 recommends that the meridian of Bethlehem be adopted as the initial meridian. This question has been already disposed of by the Conference; therefore further consideration of the proposition is unnecessary.

No. 2 refers to an invention, the author of which states that "a patent has been applied for," consequently your Committee does not feel called upon to express any opinion upon it.

No. 3 is a letter from M. de Chancourtois, accompanying a work by him which contains an elaborate program of a system of geography based on decimal measures, both of time and of angles, and on the adoption of an international meridian.

The work also contains copious historical notices on the metric system and on the initial meridian.

A copy of this work was presented to each of the Delegates prior to the discussions of the Conference with regard to the choice of an initial meridian, and therefore no special report of the author's views on this subject appears to your committee to be necessary. These views are nearly identical with those which were so ably laid before the Conference by Professor Janssen, but which failed to meet with their approval.

The author further proposes to supersede the present mode of measuring both angles and time by a system in which the entire circumference and the length of the day should each be first divided into four equal parts, and then each of these parts should be subdivided decimally.

However deserving of consideration these proposals may be, in the abstract, your Committee are clearly of the opinion that they do not fall within the limits indicated by the instructions which we have received from our respective governments, and that, therefore, any discussion of them would only be of a purely academical character, and could lead to no practical result. Such a discussion would be sure to elicit great differences of opinion, and would, therefore, occupy a considerable time.

Hence, your Committee think that it would be very undesirable for the Conference to enter upon it.

No. 4 is a letter from Mr. Spofford, Librarian of Congress, including a communication of Mr. J. W. Stolting, Dobbs' Ferry, N. Y. The author recommends the adoption of the meridian 162° W. from Greenwich as the prime meridian; he proposes further, not to say east or west, but first or second half, and also recommends the adoption of a universal time, not to interfere with local or other standard time, and to reckon from "1 to 24." He expresses no opinion as to whether the day should begin at noon or midnight. There seems to be nothing in the communication to influence the decisions of the Conference.

No. 5. See report as to letter No. 1.

No. 6 suggests that the prime meridian should be 180° from Greenwich, and that longitude should be reckoned from 0° to 360°. This proposition has been already considered and rejected by the Conference.

No. 7. This communication proposes "to adopt as the prime meridian the frontier line between Russia and the United States, as defined in the treaty of March 30, 1867." As the initial meridian has already been agreed to by the Conference, this proposition needs no further notice.

No. 8. This communication refers to an invention which has no bearing on the question before the Conference. The committee therefore abstain from expressing an opinion as to its merits.

No. 9. Two letters from Mr. E. R. Knorr, of Washington, D.C., advocating the advisability of reckoning longitude "westward from 0° to 359°," and marking them on charts by time instead of by degrees. The Conference has already taken action on the question involved.

No. 10. A letter from Prof. Hilgard, enclosing a pamphlet by Lt. C. A. S. Totten on the metrology of the great pyramid, a subject which does not fall within the scope of the subjects presented for the consideration of this Conference. In the enclosing letter Prof. Hilgard says: "I am purely and squarely for Greenwich midnight as the beginning of the universal day, and an east and west count of longitude; that is, 180° each way."

No. 11 advocates the preservation of the Anglo-Saxon system of weights and measures. This subject being foreign to the questions under consideration by this Conference, the Committee deems further comment unnecessary.

No. 12. A letter from Lieut. C. A. S. Totten, U.S.A., advocating a prime meridian through the great pyramid. The proposition involved has already been decided by the Conference.

No. 13 recommends redistribution of time according to the decimal system. As already remarked under No. 3, this proposition is clearly not within the limits indicated by the instructions which we have received from our respective governments.

No. 14 states that the author has a plan by which "chronometers will record the longitude equably." This proposition is foreign to the subjects under consideration by the Conference.

No. 15 proposes a new system of mensuration; and, therefore, this does not fall within the subjects for consideration by the Conference.

No. 16. This communication suggests that as the prime meridian passes through Havre, it should be allowable to call it by that name. This Committee recommends that the prime meridian be not named after the localities through which it passes, but be called simply "The Prime Meridian."

No. 17 is the subject of a patent. The Committee does not feel called upon to express an opinion respecting it.

This report is respectfully submitted to the Conference.

J. C. ADAMS, _Chairman Committee on Communications._

WASHINGTON, _Oct. 18th, 1884_.

The PRESIDENT. The report of the Committee is before the Conference.

Mr. RUTHERFURD, the Delegate of the United States. I move that the report be accepted, and its conclusions adopted.

There being no objection, the report was adopted.

The PRESIDENT. In the regular order of business to-day, the first subject before the Conference is the resolution offered on Saturday by the Delegate of the United States, Mr. RUTHERFURD, with the amendment offered by the Delegate of Sweden, Count LEWENHAUPT.

The resolution is as follows:

"_Resolved_, 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."

The amendment offered is as follows:

"The Conference recommends as initial point for the universal hour and the cosmic day the mean mid-day of Greenwich, coinciding with the moment of midnight or the beginning of the civil day at the meridian 12 hours or 180° from Greenwich.

"The universal hours are to be counted from 0 up to 24 hours."

Mr. VALERA, the Delegate of Spain, said that he thought that the amendment of the Delegate of Sweden should be first discussed.

Mr. JANSSEN, the Delegate of France. At the last session I informed the Congress that I had received a telegram from Sir William Thomson upon the question of the meridian. Since then, that illustrious foreign member of the Institute of France has written me a very kind letter upon the subject, in which he expresses his complete appreciation of the disinterested attitude taken by France in this Congress. I thank Sir William Thomson for his sentiments towards France, and I am persuaded that, with such excellent feelings, we should arrive at an understanding, upon scientific bases, in which the moral and material interests of all would be equitably adjusted, as we have always understood them.

But the question is not open now, and this Congress would, doubtless, not be disposed to reopen it. Sir William Thomson will understand, therefore, that in the present condition of affairs we have only to maintain the attitude which we have taken and the votes which we have given.

The PRESIDENT. The Chair will simply say to the Conference that he very informally alluded to the letter that he had received from Sir William Thomson, and the Chair would also say in answer to the Spanish Minister that the rule in this Conference, a simple one, is to discuss the last amendment offered and dispose of it, instead, as suggested by the Delegate of Spain, of taking up the one most important in its character. It would be somewhat difficult for the Chair to decide on all occasions which amendment is the most important. I think, therefore, as Chairman, that I will pursue the rule in force in this country, and, unless the Conference order otherwise, shall present the amendment which is the last offered.

Mr. RUIZ DEL ARBOL, Delegate of Spain. Mr. Chairman, the Spanish Minister has not referred to the most important amendment, but to the most radical. For instance, here there are several propositions to select a meridian; one of them must be considered, and it seems to me that my amendment, which is the most radical, is the one to be first presented to the Conference.