International Conference Held at Washington Part 25

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 SCHaeFFER.

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.

j.a.pan: 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 ill.u.s.trious 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 princ.i.p.al 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 a.s.sent 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 pa.s.sed 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 a.s.sembled at the time and place designated; and, after careful and patient discussion, has pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sing 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: