Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-07-29
What Daylight Saving
Has Accomplished
(By John Arson Ford in the August
Popular Mechanics Magazine.)

IN a single DAY the personal nap
it's of 100,000,O0 people were rad
ically changed by the passing of
the daylight saving law, and that
change has greatly benefited the
nations health, promoted garden
ing on an unprecedented scale, and
has conserved great quantities OF
fuel through the use of less aTti-
fetal light. Householders have
been among those who have enjoy
ed the most marked reduction in
lighting bills.
An Illinois county seat in which
are S91 meters, installed in homes
and small stores, furnishes figures
which probably can be taken as
| typical of thousands of American
communities. In April. 1917, the
current used was 23,606 kilowatt
| hours, and in April, 1918, 21.942
| kilowatt hours. making saving Of
/ ,664 B4lowatt hours. The consump-
ton for May last year and this year
was y ,672 kilowatt hours and 49,
1874 rkilowatt hours, respectively,
making a slightly larger decrease
/ than for April. while in June, pre-
| liminary estimates showed, the saw
| ing in lighting current would be
very much greater In the plant
supplying this town approximately
312 pounds of Illinois coal is con-
sumed in making one kilowatt hour
| of electricity Estimating the aY
erage monthly saving of the com
munity at 1900 hilowatt hours, an
added hour of daylight for seven
months theoretically will effect a
| saving of more than % tons of coal
/ If, as seems altogether probable,
! thousands of other communities
have made a similar record, the
total saving is enormous.
In large office buildings the saw
| ing has been, and will be, small
during the period of changed time
! be cause practically all the offices
are empty before the hour of dark
ness arrives. On the other hand,
! clubs, hotels, etc, have experience
ed a saving in artificial light esti-
mated at or per cent. In ane
nationally known hotel the daily
average of current used during
April, 1917. was 3,451 kilowatt
| hours as compared with 3,067 kilO-
watt hours in April. 1918, while the
daily averages for May of last year
and this were $3.50 kilowatt hours
/ and 1920 kiloWatt hours, respect
lively. AS in other plants during
these war times, a considerable
part of the saving is not due to the
change of time alone, but to greater
care in using lights and to the in
stallation of smaller lamps, etc.
( T1I al thnCp . r.
! the daily saving in this hotel on
account of the change of time will
average as much as 40 kilowatt
hours. In the seven-month period
| theoretically this hotel will save II
tons of coal, approximately four
pounds of fuel being required to
produce one kilowatt hour of cur
| rent.
| The chief executive of a large
group of public utility companies
which normally spend $50,000,O00 a
. year on extensions and improve
ments, estimates that the new time
| schedule has caused 3 or 4 per
| cent reduction in the amount of
! lighting current supplied by his
companies. What this would actu-
| ally amount to in terms of coal was
not stated Early in the spring this
/ public utility expert advocated the
adoption of the new time schedule
/ for the entire year, believing that it
would be public benefit. The
| fuel administration has also argued
| for the extension of the plan to in
clude the winter months. But more
! recently the expert referred to has
IL ~
! figures obtained from his engineers
show such discrepancies that he is
uncertain as to what benefit, if any.
would result from a winter daylight
| saving schedule.
I The change of time has been a
/ big factor in increasing gardening
/ in towns and cities. Thousands of
| factory employees in industrial CEN
| tiers are able to raise produce for
! the first time. The bathing beaches,
parks and other outdoor recreation
| centers have had big increases in
! patronage. The head of the Chi
cago health department says that
! the present season shows big de-
crease in disease in that city. and
| he attributes much of the improve
ment to daylight saving.
The consensus seems to be that
as a fuel-saving measure, as we'll as
| from the standpoint of health and
increased food production, the day
! light saving plan has been highly
successful Estimates given out by
the fuel administration state that
the plan will effect a saving in this
country Of 100000 to 100000
| tons of coal.