Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-05-18
CITIES ARE NATloNAlIZlNC
THE DAYLIGHT SAVING LAWS
Passage Of the "summer Time" ordI-
nance by Council Tomorrow VIII
Help a Countrywide Movement


TNHROUGH the cumulative effect Of moral
i pressure Of the sort reflected in the pas
sage of daylight saving ordinance by the
City Council tomorrow the new summer
time schedule will sooner or later become a
national institution.
The Federal Daylight Saving Law, like the
daylight bills introduced in the Legislature
at Harrisburg, suffered defeat because of the
prejudice rather than because of the logic
of the farmers. But a desire for the longer
summer day is fixed and growing in all the
cities of the country. The urban population
and particularly tho indoor workers. will
not be denied the benefits of this particular
reform. no matter what the docile, vote
counting politicians may do.
With daylight saving schedules Cstab-
lished in this city. in New York, in Boston
and many other cities, the farming regions
will ultimately have TO conform. IL will be
to their best interests to do this. The
change for them will involve no permanent
hardshps or disadvantages.
The readjustment of farming schedules
would be possible with little consistent
effort and n little patience The farmers
do not like change. But the cities arc their
customers, and in the course of time the
producer must learn to consider the needs
of the consumer
1t will be difficult for the railroads to
operate efficiently or economically on two
way timetables. In the end they will accept
the time schedules Of the great central com
munities from which they draw most of their
revenues.
Until now the daylight saving principle
was in the balance. But the determination
of virtually all cities to adhere TO it and
the force Of gathering sentiment in all the
centers Of population have saved 1t and
made its universal application virtually
certain.
All the North Jersey region has had its
own daylight laws. Camden is about to
establish the longer summer day. With
local daylight law operating in this city.
the seashore resorts will naturally adopt the
new schedule.
The farmers will continue TO insist that
the longer day disorganizes their work and
adds to the costs and difficulties Of farm
and dairy operation. There is some truth
in this general contention. But the incon
venience involved for the farmer in the day
light saving system does not compare in
character or extent with the benefits which
daylight saving brings to the people who live
and work in cities.
II is in the mills and factories that the
hardest work is done. All progressive
thinking, like a great deal of modern legis
lation. is directed to find means for the
mitigation of the nervous and physical
strains Of industrial labor.
Nothing that economists and sociologists
ever devised in the way of industrial re-
forms contributed so much to the general
well being of indoor workers of all sorts as
the additional hour of summer daylight pro
vided by the introduction Of special summer
time schedule.
For men and women and children who
work within walls, at desks, looms, lathes
and in the dust and noise Of great mills. the
daylight law opens a way to fresh air, to the
cheerful sights OF the country areas and to
wholesome recreation generally.
To all sorts of city people the daylight
law brings actually an additional hour OF
relaxation from the tension of the days
work.
What is presented in the controversy be-
tween city and agricultural areas is a con
trast between the merely practical objcc
tions Of farmers and the moral and physical
requirements of all business and industrial
areas.
1t ought to be easy to see where the rights
and wrongs of the matter lie.
The City Council ought to pass tho day
light. saving ordinance with a unanimous