Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-02-25
NO: THE LEGISLATURE ISN'T
SAVING EVEN THE DAYLIGHT!
Bills Like Those Intended TO tensthen
Summer Days in New York and Jersey
Are Dying at Harrisburg

THREE new daylight saving bills are
i sleeping what may be their last sleep
in the lethai chambers Of legislative COM
mittees at Harrisburg.
One, presented by Representative Daw-
son, of Lackawanna county, Is trick bill
Of a familiar type intended to do the reverse
Of the thing for which it appears to be in
tended. II would grant to all communities
a right to make their own daylight laws.
Doing that it would, Of course. make any
thing like state daylight saving law i'm
possible IL Is a bill clearly representative
of the purpose and sentiment of the farm
communities.
Senator George Woodward, Of this city,
has introduced a measure 10 establish day
Light saving and the longer day universally
throughout Pennsylvania. A bill with the
same purpose was presented in the House
by Franklin Spencer Edmonds. None Of
these bills was considered or debated All
three were promptly submitted to commit
tees and put in the places where they
likely to die for want Of the sort of light and
air that the Legislature hesitates to give to
the people.
The clan leaders. hindenburging about, and
their followers lost in the ecstasy Of re-
unions and reconcilations, haven't had time
to think Of them. There has been nothing
thus far TO show that the Pennsylvania
Legislature has for a moment seriously con-
sidered proposals which already are almost
as good as accepted in New York and New
Jersey.
II current signs are not misleading. New
York will continue firmly as @ daylight
saving state. despite the terrific pressure
which influential farmers Hobbies have been
exerting at Albany. The Senate has just
voted against n repeater passed in the House.
Afrv, g kl.. - b. ~
Dawson was in force last year in New Jer
sey. The rural districts lived by the con-
ventional time schedule, while the cities,
especially those in the northern parts Of the
state, tuned their clocks with those of New
York. You never could be certain Of the
time in Jersey.
This year there has been a determined
effort in the Legislature at Trenton for q
state daylight. saving law. 1t probably will
succeed. That would mean large daylight
saving block on the Atlantic coast and a
difference OF an hour in time between Phila-
delphia and all the important cities with
which it maintains the closest communica-
ton.
In Harrisburg and at Washington day
light saving bills have failed consistently
because OF the unrclpnting antagonsn Of the
farmers, and the farmers sustain their OBJ
lection with arguments that are in some
ways forceful and reasonable
The hours and conditions Of farm labor
are dictated largely by the sun and the dew
and the ancient and changeless habits Of
focks and herds The dew falls in its own
good time. despite anything that Congresses
and Legislatures may do or suggest, and
somebody has TO be up early and toiling late
il it isn't to be permitted to turn from a
force for good 10 a force for destruction
The farmer who feels that he must shelter
freshly gathered crops from the dew finds,
for example. that though he must work late
he would have to be up an hour earlier
under a state daylight law. The habits Of
his herds are fixed unaltersbly according to
the sun and dew time schedules. In turn,
the schedules of milk trains are fixed.
It is possible 20 understand the objection
Of the rural communities to system that
would Jolt the whole sensitive mechanism
OF their universe rather seriously. And yet
it is possible 10 believe that that same uni
verse might not suffer greatly or at all
that the Establishments would be relatively
painless and in no way damaging IL IL were
attempted nteliigenty, with little patience
and with tolerance for the other fellow
point OF view.
Farmers do not look with sympathy or
OnuPTStANulnb W INV luSlSltul ueHlTe OK tne
city man for an extra hour Of daylight leisure
in summer. They themselves have all tho
winds and open air and sunlight they want
and n great deal more. They arc not accus-
toned to regard life in the open air a. 4
thing Of luxury, Il thing to De c7avrd. That
sort Of thing has become q sort Of bore 10
people who have to tussle with the soil
through long hours nf midday heat.
The lift and the rest that city deskman
or a bank clerk or a factory worker can get
bv fight into tho opcn country on a sum
mpr afternoon farmer is likely to feel only
on tue rare instances when he can ret in.
doors. stretch his tired legs In a chair and
null down the blinds. Not knowing what the
accumulated gases in a foundry are like, or
the strains Of "a" city mans desk, or the
nche that millions Of town. bound peopIr
have sor an occasional Whit Of country air
or an Uuobstructcd look at open sky. the
farmer j. disposed 10 regard daylight saving
schemes as ncp fnds invented By people who
: lav" nothing better % think about,
So from the fnrm country Of the Middle
West M angry md impatient cry went up
when Congress was trying 70 decide whether
10 make the long summer day Il national in
stituton The agricultural counties have
fought daylight saving in every Legislature
They fought il bitterly in New York md
they lOs'. lher seem u Do losing even IN
New Jersey, The people in some of the
cities hav" simply refused to give up the
only good thing that they ever got fo.
nothing.
Asa consequence, the routine Of cxistcuc.
mas been badly confused by unexpected varia
tions Of time In neighborlng areas. 4 time
seems to b" coming when the farms will hive
20 prove at least that their working systems
cannot be changed or readjusted or that the
difficulties which the new time law involves
for them are really insurmoun'ahlo They
will have to show whether Il little ingenuity
on their part, little resourcefulnrss. little
Of the spirit Of charitable 90. operation and.
perhaps little extra expense, wouIdn't t
make it possible for them to 60 along with
the millions who ar" fighting for mir and
iigAt,
The trouble in Congress and IN many state
Legislatures is that the man who can muster
,he most votes and the most Influence" and
no, the man who can muster the most logic