Daylight Saving Time

 It is time to return to Daylight Saving Time again!

Contrary to popular belief, Ben Franklin did not invent Daylight Savings Time! In his writings while in Paris, he opined that Parisians should change their sleeping habits to preserve the precious resource of oil and candles! They largely ignored his suggestion and so did the roosters.

Seen as an outdated practice by some, it has been part of Fall and Spring in parts of the United States for over 100 years. Originally expressed in writing by Englishman William Willett in his 1907 pamphlet The Waste of Daylight where he remarked on the lack of daylight hours left for leisure at the end of the day. The idea was eventually implemented in Germany May of 1916, Britain the same year, and in the US March of 1918. The official reasoning was fuel conservation during WWI, but in the US at least, it seems there was a large push from the business sector as well. Consumers with more daylit leisure are more likely to shop or go out and spend money. Not everyone liked Daylight Saving Time, and it was the Farm Lobby that forced its national repeal in the US with the closing of WWI.

During the years between the World Wars, New York City kept Daylight Saving Time in place since it benefitted the metropolitan lifestyle. Other metropolitan areas began to follow NYC’s lead. What resulted was confusion and chaos. Rural areas continued to use Standard Time so that going from a city out into the countryside or coming back, one was never sure what time it was. Daylight Saving returned nationally in 1942 shortly after the US entered WWII, and again dropped with war’s end.

The time confusion continued until 1966 when Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Uniform Time Act, the first peacetime Daylight Saving’s law, allotting six months Daylight Saving Time and six months Standard Time. The law required states to either adopt Daylight Saving Time entirely or not; there would not be time differences from town to town or city to town anymore. As of 2005 Daylight Saving Time has increased to eight months per year.

Love it or hate it, it’s probably here to stay. Sure we are losing a hour and that is ALWAYS painful, but think of the longer days!