New Britain herald., 1923-06-02
THE TINE RIIL

many times upon the bin which Gov
ernor Tcmplet0n has now signed
making il an onenso to regulate By
any time other than standard, pub
lleiy displayed" clock, Such act Is alb
solutely unconstitutional and would b.
SO held by the highest court, Moreover
its passage displays n narrowncss thai
Is almost incomprehensible. But
there is little use In repeating the de-
nunciation. Sufficient II Is to 70 or
record again as opposed to such legis'
iation, entirely aside from the matter
OF merits or dement's OF daylight saw
ing time fof which we approved. and
to pass on TO consideration OF the
practical effect it has upon u5.
The plain. common sense as well as
legal Interpretation of the law is that
Il publicly displayed clock" means one
placed In a certain position In order to
inform that portion of the public
which it is intended should see it.
what time it is, or course clock IN
church steeple comes within this
classification. Any such clock. or any
clock on building which Is intended
to he seen by people In the street is
dard time or those responsible for II
will be held to break the law. A clock
placed outside store, in such posi-
ton that IT is intended primarily for
the convenience of the passing public,
comes within the law and must show
standard time. A clock placed inside
a public place for the benefit Of the
public, is such publicly displayed"
clock.
On the other hand a clock placed in
home or Office or privately owned
and operated building. may show day.
light saving time even though it is
possible for those passing in the street
to see it through the window. Some
fine points of intention" might come
up If test cases were brought. There
are many clocks in the windows of
some jewelers.. They are not, most of
them, placed there to tell the public
the time. Many of them are not
running at all. They are there to show
4, LII, -
for the purpose Of giving informa-
ton as to the time. They would not
have to be kept running at all, nor II
running, would they have to be on
standard time.
But in that same window there may
be clock always kept running, its
purpose being to tell the accurate time
for those who wish to regulate their
watches by it. This would be a
publicly displayed clock" and would
under the law, have to run on stan
dard time. The motive for displaying
the clock is the deciding question. If
that motive is to tell the general pub
lie the time then it must be regulated
by standard time. If it Is primarily for
the employees of the concern, or mem
bers Of the household, it may run on
daylight saving or any other time.
There are two points to be reinem-
bered in deciding this question and in
its effect upon us. Evidently the
powers that be" are determined TO
force standard time upon the people
The decision of any court which Is in
cined tosconsut the wishes of said
powers that be" would be apt to
hold clock publicly !. displayed
rather than the reverse. The second
point seems trivial, but should be
mentioned. In spite Of the outrageous
law no one need be afraid of having a
penalty imposed upon him If his clock
goes wrong because of no fault OF its
owner. If a man tries conscientiously
to have his clock toll the time as
the legislature has declared 1t TO be.
he need not worry If il happens, once, |
to be an hour ahead Of time. II is
his duty, Of course, TO correct the err
ror at once and TO see to it that tho
publicly displayed clock" keeps
standard time thereafter. Again the
int ntion' is the important point /
Evasion Of the law would not be tocr- /
ated.