The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-05-12
NEW DAYLIGHT
SAVING BEGUN
IN WASHINGTON
Won't MoUe Clock
Hands; Merely Get
Up Earlier.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
(Copyright, 1872. by The Argus.

SoPyA iShl, 1ozH, Dy Inc ArguS.1
Washington, D. c., May 12.-The
national capital is about to try a
unique experiment Perhaps it viii
| show the faIiacy OF moving the
clock forward in daylight saving
and perhaps it will not. President
Harding is the author of the
scheme and if it succeeds in Wash
| 1ngton, it may solve the confusing
! problem of daylight saving else
where.
The city of Washington, being
governed directly by congress, has
had no means of getting a daylight
saving ordinance adopted except by
act of the senate and house. To
vote in favor of daylight saving
mere is but to place oneself on rec
ord on the subject as a whole.
Members of congress who know the
sentiment of the rural communi-
ties against daylight saving have
been unwilling to vote for day
light saving anywhere. Mr.. Hard
ing, who has had the farm bloc 20
deal with on matters much more
important than daylight saving,
has not wished to antagonize the
agriculturalists by favoring either
a national statute or a law for the
district But the people of Wash
ington who suffered no inconyen-
ience when daylight saving was
adopted during the war have lean
ed favorably toward the same idea.
Government clerks wanted the ad
vantage of the later afternoon
hours for exercise. Merchants IA
vored it, so did the banks and bus
mess concerns generally. There
seemed no way of getting a bill
through congress because of the
objections interviewer with the sit
uation in many rural districts
from which SO many members of
congress hail.
Plan Is Harding's.
The president, however. has Of
fered a novel solution. Believing
that to move the hands of the
clock forward is a piece of self
deception, he has insisted that the
same object can be attained by
asking everybody to get up an
hour earlier and having places of
business and schools function one
hour sooner. An order to the gov.
ernment departments makes it
necessary for them to open at s
O'Clock next Monday morning in
stead of 8. Banks will open an
hour sooner. Some institutions
will compromise by opening a half
hour earlier but generally speaking
stores and other places of business
will regard 8 o'clock as o'clock in
the normal routine of the day. This
means that the day will end at 5
instead of and in the government
departments desks will be cleared
at $3.50 in the afternoon instead OF
4:30 as heretofore.
Congressman Wonder.
This process will be carried
throughout the life of the city.
Members of congress are wondering
how to adapt themselves to the
new schedule. The hour of meet
ing for the senate and house is ar
bitrary anyway and is fixed from
day to day, but if the government
departments are to be opened at
o'clock, senators and representa-
tiyes who are in the habit of vis-
iting these departments on matters
of interest to their constituents
will have to call earlier. Clerks
in congress will want to get out
doors as early as their colleagues
in the executive branch of the gov
ernment. Mr.. Harding's fat on
daylight saving without moving
the hands of the clock forward Will
therefore become city wide. One
business compels action by another
with which it is interlaced. One
group of employees wants the ad-
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