Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-04-29
ADDED HEALTH AND HAPPINESS
WITH A CHANGE OF THE CLOCK
Daylight Saving, Which Begins Tomor'
row Morning, Has Come to the
Cities to stay

cities to stay
FARMERS fought--and are still fighting,
l. for that matter-against the principle
represented in daylight saving ordinances
such as those which will become effective In
Philadelphia and other Eastern cities and
neighboring regions at Q O'Clock tomorrow
morning.
But the tired business man is really tired
a large part Of the time. So is the tired
business woman and the tired business
child. That is why every American city
of any considerable size has come to view
the longer summer day as nothing more or
less than another manifestation Of the pro-
gressive thinking which tends steadily
toward better general order Of community
existence.
Daylight saving ordinances are properly
regarded by the people in the cities as one
with better factory laws, better school laws
and laws devised to relieve all workers from
such economic stresses as appear destructive
to health and spirit.
In Philadelphia alone thousands of men
of all ages from Offices, shops and factories
will be deep in the new game Of twilight
baseball with the beginning Of next week.
The games of what have become known as
the Twilight Leagues suggest what Is. per-
haps, the most significant movement ever
begun in amateur sports.
1t was the longer summer day rather than
any foresight Of sports promoters in and out
of colleges that brought the crowds from
bleachers and sidelines and grandstands into
actual participation in baseball, tennis, golf
and other outdoor games. The criticism of
American systems of sports has been that no
one got any benefit from the most popular
games but the specialist and the profess
sional. Now, with the advent of the longer
days. the crowds which used to be content
with purely vocal exercise are being split up
into hundreds Of units--to play.
Yet they do not include the multitudes Of
men and women and children who find physi-
cal benefit and numbe less opportunities for
random recreation in an extra hour of light
and fresh air after the days work. The
longer summer day has been a blessing of
sorts to all cities.
To the farmer it is another and different
matter. Changing and conflicting time
schedules do work hardship to farmers. and
especially to dairymen.
The coming of daylight and the coming of
dew are signs by which the farmer must
regulate his labor routine. The animals will
not change their habits. The carth's proc
esses will not change and the farmer has to
reckon with them or lose. So the rule which
gives an added hour OF daylight to the cities
usually means an added hour of labor fol
Al,
according to the new time schedule though
it cannot end until the hour appointed when
crops first were sheltered for the night and
when animals learned to return To cover only
with the dusk and turn outward again with
dawn.
But the farmer always has the benefits OF
clean air and outdoor labor
These primal advantages he is disposed tC
view with the lack of appreciation which we
always have for long familiar things. He
does not know what existence can be like
for those who pass all their time indoors
and see the sky or breathe fresh air only
| now and then. If he did he would under.
stand why the cities always clamor for tn,
longer summer day.
consent to see daylight saving ended. Th.
tendency everywhere in heavily populated
areas is toward its establishment as a ma
tional institution. Thus the daylight. saving
! season has been heightened in Philadelphia
this year. 1t will be four months long
New York will have similar rule.
In the course of time. when way car
be found to adjust the system fairly to thu
farms or to reimburse the farmer for hi!
added trouble, the question of the long sum
mer day will be brought up again in Con
gress. But since Congress is always nervous
in the presence Of the farmer, a solution O.
the farmers difficulty must first be found
1t ought to be found, but only cxperienc,
will lead to it. In the meantime, we shall
have to be content with confusion in rail
road time schedules.