In a satirical essay of 1784, Benjamin Franklin proposed that Parisians change their sleep schedules — an early type of Daylight Saving Time — in order to save money on candles and lamp oil. It wasn’t a serious suggestion, and people didn’t seriously consider it until the early 20th century.
Germany was first to institute daylight-saving legislation, in 1916. In the middle of the Great War, the German government shifted the clock as an energy-saving measure. We tried it in the United States in 1918 — again, to conserve energy, not to help farmers, which is a common misconception — but it wasn’t widely popular and was abandoned the following year.
The U.S. government instituted Daylight Saving Time again in 1942, during World War II. Though this version persisted, the exact timing of the switch between Daylight and Standard times (as well was participation at all) was left to individual states, a chaotic state of affairs at best, especially for scheduling interstate airline and train travel.
Not until 1966 did Congress pass the Uniform Time Act, which established when those states that observed would change to and from DST. (Today, only Arizona and Hawaii don’t make the switch.)
With the 1970s came an energy crisis. In an attempt to save a little bit of energy, Congress in 1974 tried using Daylight Saving Time year-round. But after that first dark winter, popular support for the measure dropped away.
In more recent times, the last decade has seen a renewed interest in establishing a single, year-round time. The Sunshine Protection Act — which would make Daylight Saving Time permanent — has made a few appearances in Congress but has yet to become law. And though there seems to be widespread support for establishing a single, year-round time, there is disagreement about which clock we should stick with. Those in Congress seem to have coalesced behind Daylight Saving Time, but some argue that Standard Time is the safer choice both psychologically and physically. (One argument: Children waiting in the dark for their school bus to arrive down an icy road is a recipe for disaster.)
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Comments
Standard time all the time! There are x number of daylight hours no matter what you call it!!!
Enough with the lunacy. We really need to make Daylight Saving Time a permanent fixture. It’s so annoying changing clocks all the time! Everyone I know, especially me, HATES Standard Time and having those dark, gloomy, EARLY winter nights. The longer a day is filled with wonderful as the day progresses, the happier and healthier a person will be.
Let’s keep daylight savings all year round! Longer, lighter evenings = less crime, less SAD and other mental health issues. Children can cope with waiting for a bus in dim light in the mornings!
I feel the US should have Standard Time year round. No more Daylight Savings Time!
When I was growing up, Daylight Savings Time didn’t start until April and ended in September. Much better.
We should keep doing it. Not for much other reason than because we can. The loudest clamorers for its expiration today would be among the first nostalgizing for it after it’s gone.
Please restore permanent standard time. It’s natural and the healtiest and days get longer and shorter by nature.
Get in line with the rest of the world. I personally don’t care. Just leave the time set with the majority of the planet. The intelligent people will say thank you. It takes America to make something simple so complicated. We will all be better off if you just set it and forget it.
We should keep Standard Time year-round. If Daylight Savings (directly or indirectly) wasn’t causing so many problems over the decades, there wouldn’t be the on-going push to finally end it once and for all.
Perhaps we should just switch to Zulu/Greenwich Mean Time. No changes, no time zones…but the TV channels wouldn’t like that…