Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1919-04-09
USING THE SUNLIGHT. :

AS a matter of fact, Of course, the
mere subterfuge of setting the hands
of the clock ahead one hour on the last
Sunday of March, and setting them
back to what is accepted as their
normal position on tie last Sunday
in October, in the United States, rep
resents simply a harmless form of
jugglery. A large proportion Of the
people in the United States, and wher-
ever the so-called daylight saving
law has been enacted, excepting the
commuter, whose train schedule must
be adapted to the clock rather than
to the sun, could achieve the same
benefits without the law that they re-
ceive under its operation But it is
true, nevertheless, that those people
who make their own laws, and who
believe that they have the right to
alter or repeal them at will, seem to
prefer to be governed, even in some
of the smaller matters of everyday
life, by salutary rules and self-im-
posed restrictions. And so it is that,
with the exception of small minor
ity, the inhabitants of the United
States have seen fit to approve an
enactment which 1egislates them up
an hour earlier in the morning during
the seven so-called summer months,
and, by the same rule, permits them
to leave the Office, shop, or other
place of employment an hour earlier
in the afternoon
There has been some opposition to
the continuance of this rule, adopted
a year or more ago in the United
States as a wartime measure. This
opposition, never altogether clearly
defined, purported to come from the
farming sections, particularly those
of the middle western portions of the
country. 1t has been said, also, that
some opposition to the law has come
from those interested in the business
OF artificial lighting, which has been
considerably curtailed by the observe
ance of the daylight-saving regula-
tons. Anyone who has ever. from
choice or otherwise. adapted himself
to the somewhat arbitrary workaday
schedules of the farm can readily I'M
derstand why the farmer feels little
need of legislation along this line.
The clock is really the last thing that
concerns him, from the time the soil
| is in workable condition in the spring
seeding season. In the field and out.
darkness at morn and at the end of
day fixes the only limits he knows
upon the length of his period of la
hor But in the daily routine of mil
lions of others the daylight saving
rule makes an appreciate difference
Perhaps in no single instance was the
result more beneficial in large Wav.
in tho AY Of -,
nnctiOn with +bo .,,c~ooe~I n--,>7->or
Bows and girls, home early from
school, and Office and shopmen. home
early from their work, added very
0reat'v tn fl" food eupn1v of the ma
ton by reason of the extended dav-
light. Then there was an estimated
saving of 2a ner cent in gas and e1nc-
t~is light bills for the seven months.
and tho conservation of approximate
ly 10000 tons Of coal.
But with all the admitted advan-
tages of this method of saving the sun
light and conserving artificial light,
advocated by Benjamin Franklin for
the benefit of the people of Paris
more than century ago, it cannot be
said that it has been finally adopted
AS a fixed standard in the United
States. Canada, after what was sup
posed to have been a successful ex-
pertinent along the same line, has
failed to re-enact it's daylight-saving
law, Parliament having recently de-
feated bill for it's continuance by
vote of los against it to 81 in its fav-
or. In the United States, however,
the measure remains upon the stat
ute books without the necessity of
affirmative action by Congress, and
it seems safe to say that with each
succeeding season in which it's con-
ditions are observed and it's benefits
are made apparent, the less insistent
demand will be that of the minority
for its repeal Christian Science
Monitor.