Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-05-30
Let Daylight LdW Stand
tFrom the Phila. Press.1

A vicious attempt is being made in
the House of Representatives to put
an Immediate end to the Daylight
Saving law by attaching it's repeal as
a rider to the Agricultural Appro-
priation bill, We turned our clocks
on one hour less thar two months
ago and are feeling In these the long
est days of the year the full advant-
age of It, The agriculturists who are
aggrieved at this turning back of the
clock are not willing to let 1t COM
plete the'season but propose to undo
the attempt to give the people more
daylight, before the Summer has
fairly begun.
There was at least some sense,
though gross selfishness iT: the op-
position of the gas companies to day
light saving. They sell less gas when
the people cut an hour and of sleep
in the light of the morning and go
to bed an hour earlier in the evening.
1t Is the farmers or at least some of
them who are now objectiEg to day
light saving. Other farmers are in
different, while millions who are not
farmers heartily approve of 1t as an
addition to their money, their pleas
ure. and their health.
The farmers who have been ac-
customed to save all the daylight by
beating the sun up Summer and
Winter complain that they are COM
PEELED to rise ar hour earlier py the
moving ahead of the clock in order
to be in time for trains and SHOPS
and market opening while they cam
not we'll begin field work an hour
earlier than they have been accus-
toned to because of the morning
dew, Dairymer, and market garden
ers may be inconvenienced by the
trains they are accustomed to use
starting an hour earlier but this is
trivial compared with the great vol
ume of advantages to the credit Oh
daylight saving.
Farming generally is not affected
by this law. 1t does not fix the hour
of rising. Those who have been ac7
customed to rise as soon as 1t is
light do rot have to get up in the
darkness because the clock has been
moved on. 1t is the laggard in cities
and towns. millions of them have
been accustomed to lose the morning
daylight in slumber who have had
sixty minutes of daylight each DAY
added to their waking hours by the
, daylight saving law. Congress has
no busir.ess now to rob them or TINS
great advantage.
This law is war measure. II
saves coal, gas and time. 1t was
adopted and is still maintained with
out thought of repeal by Great Brit
ain. Germany, France Holland, Aus
tria. Turkey, Norway, Sweden, Den
mark, Italy, Switzerland, Spain and
Portugal. 1t is the best conservation
m measure that was inspired by the
needs of war time. Its blessings are
no less in peace and they should
be preserved. 1t starts men and
women to work in the cool of the
morning and releases them from the
strain of the last hours of work
in the heat of the afternoon. 1t gives
them a larger period of daylight
leisure after their work. 1t saves
about a million and quarter tons
of coal used in the manufacture OF
gas and electric current. 1t has
many other incidental advantages
which everyone realizes except per-
haps the members of the Agricultu-
raj Committee in the House of Rep
resentatives.
The Daylight Saving law is popu-
lar law. The people like the charge
and congressman will find they are
not winning favor by repeating it
The objections made to it are trivial
and affect a comparative few. The
advantages are very great and upi-
versal in their application. Corr
gress should let the law alone.