Left Pen: Pen used by President Woodrow Wilson in signing the Daylight Saving Bill.
Middle Pen: Pen used by Speaker Hon. Champ Clark in signing the Bill for the House of Representatives.
Right Pen: Pen used by Vice President Thos. G. Marshall in signing the Bill for the Senate.
Bottom Caption: Presented to Robert Garland for conspicuous service in obtaining the legislation when President of the Chamber of Commerce of Pittsburgh, and as chairman of the National Committee on Daylight Saving of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States. Daylight Saving Bill, effect by Act of Congress, March 31st, 1918, at 2 A.M.
Loaned by Robert Garland
Pittsburgh 1918.
[frontispiece]
[page 1]
For the past several years, at various intervals, the writer has been asked by school-boys and girls, mainly from the high schools, for information on the subject of Daylight Saving, and he always gladly furnished such data as he could collate at the time. In order that such requests may be more readily complied with and that a record may be made of this important change in time, the story is now written.
It is, of course, recognized that there are some who do not appreciate Daylight Saving, but perhaps they do not understand the subject in all its details. Many traveling men are opposed to it on the ground that it upsets their schedules; but when made effective in a city such as Pittsburgh, for example, it should be remembered that the percentage of traveling men is very small indeed,--perhaps not more than one per cent. of the population; and those who travel eastward, to Philadelphia, New York, or Boston, do not need to change their timepieces, as Daylight Saving prevails in those cities as well as in many other sections of the East.
Young America seems to be particularly well pleased with Daylight Saving as it encourages recreation and sports. The American family is not addicted to morning exercise through early rising. The extra evening hour is therefore desirable. Many thousands of men, women, and children attend summer base-ball games in the various districts of our city, where without Daylight Saving, there would probably be only a game on Saturday afternoons or a few innings on other evenings. The "tired business man", or woman, may have nine more holes of golf, the tennis lover will enjoy a few more sets of tennis, gardening may be indulged in, and young and old may engage in healthy, out-of-door recreation.
During the summer of 1916 the Chamber of Commerce of Pittsburgh, under the presidency of Robert Garland, by unanimous action, voted in favor of Daylight Saving, and was the first commercial body in the entire country to present the subject to the Chamber of Commerce of the United States for its consideration.
President R. G. Rhett of that body then appointed the following National Committee on Daylight Saving: Robert Garland, Chairman, Pittsburgh; Paul W. Brown, St. Louis; A. Lincoln Filene, Boston; J. P. Hardy, Fargo, N. D.; Eugene U. Kimbark, Chicago;
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T. C. Powell, Cincinnati; Edward D. Page, Oakland, N. J.; Harper Sibley, Rochester, N. Y. This committee met December 5, 1916, at the William Penn Hotel, Pittsburgh, and submitted a report strongly recommending the legislation, which was adopted at the annual meeting of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States held in Washington, D. C., January 31, February 1 and 2, 1917, the largest convention in the Chamber's history.
This action immediately placed over eight hundred chambers of commerce and boards of trade, representing a membership of over five hundred thousand business men, back of the movement.
Prominent in this movement was the National Daylight Saving Association of New York City, headed by its President, the Hon. Marcus M. Marks. (Robert Garland, First Vice-President.) Mr. Marks not only came to Pittsburgh and attended the meeting of the Daylight Saving Committee of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, but under his auspices was held a convention immediately thereafter at the Astor House, New York, which was addressed by Mayor Mitchell of New York, Congressman William P. Borland of Kansas City, the author of the House bill, John K. Tener, John Mitchell, Prof. Harold Jacoby of Columbia University, the President of the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, and others active in the movement.
Perhaps the most difficult thing to accomplish was getting the original daylight bill through the Senate. The House bill had been passed, but the Sub-Committee of the Interstate Commerce Committee (United States Senator Joseph Robinson, of Arkansas, Chairman), which had the subject in charge, was opposed to the legislation.
The writer's friend, former Congressman James Francis Burke, of Pittsburgh, gave him a strong letter of introduction to Senator Robinson, which acted like a charm in obtaining a very pleasant interview at the breakfast table in his hotel on the morning of May 3, 1917, the day when the small committee was to appear before the Interstate Commerce Committee. Senator Robinson was opposed, but after the writer had given him some of the reasons why the legislation should pass, dwelling particularly on war farm gardening, which was just at that time being indulged in to a large extent all over the country, and doing his utmost to overcome some of the other objections, he left for the meeting with a kindlier feeling than he had previously entertained. The delegation (the Hon. Marcus M. Marks, President of the National Daylight Saving Association of New York City, Harper Sibley, President of the Rochester (New York) Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Morrison, a high official of the American Federation of Labor, and the writer, Chairman of the United States Chamber of Commerce Committee) received a very courteous hearing. Senator Calder, of New York, the author of the Senate bill, although not a member of the committee, was present at the hearing.
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Suffice it to say that the hearing resulted in unanimous favorable action for the bill on the part of the committee. The bill was passed by the Senate, approved by President Woodrow Wilson, and became a law (March 31, 1918) making Daylight Saving effective during seven months of the year.
Through the kindness of Congressman Mahlon M. Garland (deceased), the writer was promised the pen used by Champ Clark, Speaker of the House; through the kindness of United States Senator P. C. Knox (deceased), he was promised the pen to be used by Vice President Marshall. Upon his return to Pittsburgh, his friend Joseph M. Guffey obtained through his friend Secretary Tumulty, the
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promise of the pen to be used by President Woodrow Wilson. These pens were duly received, and are shown in the frontispiece.
After the close of the war came the repeal of the seven-months national Daylight Saving law, but New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh arranged to continue on a five-month basis. While Philadelphia gave it up one year, New York, Boston, and Pittsburgh are now in their tenth consecutive year.
The Pittsburgh Council did not unanimously favor the continuance of Daylight Saving, and there were frequent discussions of the question, in which however the proponents were always victorious. Opposition also occurred in Harrisburg, where the writer attended
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various meetings of committees at different sessions of the legislature. At these meetings Pittsburgh and Philadelphia always joined forces, with the result that nothing adverse resulted. The man who led the Philadelphia cohorts was that strong champion of Daylight Saving, William W. Roper, Esq. "Bill" Roper, as he is known in college athletics, has always been in the forefront in the many fights, both in Philadelphia and Harrisburg, for saving daylight.
State laws providing for local Daylight Saving since the repeal of the federal law have met with opposition on the ground that standard time having been established by act of Congress the states have no right to legislate on the matter. The New York Times, for November 24, 1926, reported that the Massachusetts Daylight Saving law had been sustained by the United States Supreme Court, Associate Justice Holmes offering the opinion that the state law to advance time one hour was not inconsistent with the statutes passed by Congress.
This is the tenth year of Daylight Saving practice in New York, Boston, and Pittsburgh. The Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce, in the June 1927 number of its Pennsylvania Progress lists the following other towns in the state as now running on Daylight Saving time:
Allentown East Liberty Perkasie
Ambridge Easton Philadelphia
Ardmore Edgewood Phoenixville
Bangor Ellwood City Quakertown
Beaver Erie Rochester
Beaver Falls Emaus Sewickley
Bethlehem Homestead Sharpsburg
Braddock Malvern Springdale
Butler McKeesport Swissvale
Cannonsburg McKees Rocks Turtle Creek
Carnegie Nazareth Washington
Clairton New Brighton West Chester
Downingtown New Castle Wilkinsburg
Duquesne Norristown Wind Gap
Palmerton
As before stated, this article and the accompanying reprints will, in the writer's opinion, give the required information to those seeking light on the subject.
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Daylight Saving, in a nutshell, is to put the hands of the clock forward one hour simultaneously throughout the country in the different time zones, this to be accomplished by act of Congress. Thus, while the working hours are, for example, from eight to five, under this principle one would still go to work at eight by the clock (seven o'clock sun time) and would quit at five by the clock (four o'clock sun time). Those who work until six P. M. would still quit at six by the clock, but at five by the sun, the advantage being that one more hour of daylight would be enjoyed.
To those who have not given the subject any study it looks very much like a fad, and those who recommend it might be accused of having brainstorms.
But it has passed the experimental stage, and the putting forward of the clock one hour has been adopted and has been found to operate successfully in conservative England, as well as in Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Sweden and Norway, Denmark, and Holland.
These countries have made it effective for the summer months only, and while the measure was first considered particularly from the economic standpoint, and because of the stress of war, it is now recognized as not only economical but recreational, based on wisdom and common sense, and something that should be continued during times of peace as well as of war. France has just recently, within the past ten days, passed legislation making it effective during the summer months for all time, instead of confining it to the one year period.
Now let me give you briefly some of the history of the past with relation to daylight saving. The following short sketch was contributed in part by Professor B. L. Ullman, of the University of Pittsburgh.
The ancient Romans divided their period of daylight into twelve divisions of equal length, which they called hours, and according to the time of year these hours varied from about forty-five to seventy-five minutes each. The various occupations of the day were arranged with reference to sun rise. The Romans welcomed the rising sun, and shut their doors and turned their backs on the setting sun. They were very early risers. A school-boy was often on his way to school, munching his breakfast roll, by the light of a lantern.
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Many men got up in the middle of the night to start the day's work.
The result was that the Romans accomplished a great deal of work in a long morning, leaving the afternoon for recreation, exercise, and care of the health.
In the afternoon, the prominent men of the day invariably took exercise. They usually played ball, something akin to our modern tennis. We read of one man who, at seventy-seven years of age, walked four miles daily and played a vigorous game of ball, afterwards taking a warm bath, a cold plunge, and a rub down. It is therefore no wonder that the ancient Romans could indulge in a good dinner, as according to all accounts they generally did.
In the Merry Wives of Windsor, we find Shakespeare saying, "We burn daylight". So far as we can find it recorded, it was Benjamin Franklin, however, who first in a practical manner called attention to the burning of daylight, our own Franklin, who wrote
"Early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man healthy and wealthy and wise".
When Franklin was United States minister to France, in 1784, he found the shops of Paris closed during the early hours of the morning, but not averse to keeping open during the evening hours at the expense of candlelight. He then contributed to the Journal de Paris what he called his Economical project for diminishing the cost of light, and in that article he proceeded to show the Parisians how they could save more than a million francs a year if the lazy shopkeepers would simply open up their shops more in keeping with the rising sun, which, strange as it might appear, gave light as soon as it rose. He says, "Every morning, as soon as the sun rises, let all the bells in every church be set ringing; and if that is not sufficient, let cannon be fired in every street, to wake the sluggards effectually, and make them open their eyes to see their real interest". If this were not sufficient, he then proposed a tax of a louis a window on every citizen who hindered the entrance of sunlight in the early morning.
It is a long step from Franklin to Willett, the Englishman, a builder by trade, who in 1907, published a pamphlet entitled The Waste of Daylight.
This and the agitation caused thereby brought about the worldwide movement for more daylight, and now ten great European countries have seen the light and have enacted legislation which makes them no longer slaves of the clock, at least as far as summer time is concerned.
Willett did not live to see his measure, of which in England they call him the "inventor", put into practice, but the members of his family have the satisfaction of knowing that, although he was styled a crank and a faddist during his lifetime while pushing the movement, there is now under consideration the question of erecting in the city
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of London a statue or a *monument of some description to his memory. In fact the London Times, that great and conservative journal, commenting in a recent editorial upon the present great war, mentions daylight saving and the immense advantage derived therefrom as one of the three important accomplishments brought about by the stress of war. And while Germany put into effect the saving of the hour of daylight, largely as a matter of economy, England looked upon it also as a recreational measure.
What have been the results?
France estimates her saving in lighting and fuel to be not less than 50,000,000 francs, or $10,000,000 a year.
England, in saving of gas and electricity, about $12,000,000 a year.
Edinburgh saved 10,000 pounds sterling, or $50,000, in fuel alone.
Manchester experienced a decrease of 15 per cent. on electric light cost in the residential district, compared with that used in the previous year.
Nottingham 15 to 25 per cent.
These are simply a few of the cities from which reports have been received through the medium of the Association of Chambers of Commerce of the United Kingdom.
Every one of the chambers of commerce, and there were about forty of them, might be summarized as follows:
All report a considerable saving in use of electric light.
All report that the workers have taken advantage of the extra hour of daylight for various outdoor pursuits.
More garden plots were cultivated.
Public recreation grounds have been more frequented, and bowling greens were more popular.
Street-cars were better patronized in the evenings.
An appreciable decrease in the number of accidents was noted. Statistics show that more industrial accidents occur during hours when artificial light is used, God's sunlight giving a much better general light filling every nook and corner.
Daylight recreation has been declared beneficial to the health of the people.
So much for Great Britain.
The Berlin Chamber of Commerce issues the following report:
Positive views have been expressed as to the value of extending the afternoon hours and thereby providing for the
*A monument was erected in 1927 to William Willett, first advocate of summer time, as it is called in England, in an open space in a wood near Chiselhurst, Kent. The wood, consisting of forty-five acres of beautiful fir oak, and silver birch, was purchased by popular subscription and opened to the public.
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recreation and the benefit of being in the fresh air, resulting in improved conditions of health and in no way shortening the hours of sleep. Workmen go to bed one hour earlier. Consequently the probability of the summer period having a harmful influence on the industrial safety need not be discussed. The Chamber of Commerce recommends most earnestly the retention of the summer period, and holds that it is most important that in the future, instead of May, the period should be fixed in the early part of April.
Vienna, the capital city of Austria, through the Honorable Albert Halstead, United States consul-general at that place, gives out the following:
Daylight saving was a great success in Austria-Hungary last summer; proving most beneficial to the health of the residents of Vienna, because of the extra hour of sunlight in working hours, which did much to save lighting expense. It is calculated that in the city of Vienna alone during the four summer months the people consumed 158,000,000 cubic feet less of gas, thereby saving $142,000. The city of Vienna required 14,000,000 cubic feet less of gas for street lighting. The plan will be resumed in Austria-Hungary next April.
It will be seen that there are distinct benefits in economy, efficiency, and healthful recreation by moving forward the clock one hour and availing ourselves of one additional hour of daylight in the afternoon.
What about America?
Bills to adopt the plan are in both houses of Congress, and will undoubtedly pass the next session. Were it not for the present stress, they might have passed at the session just closed. President Wilson favors the movement.
The American Federation of Labor, through its Executive Council, of which President Samuel Gompers is chairman, adopted the following resolution:
Resolved, By the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor, that we urge the inauguration of a "Daylight saving" project for the conservation of time and opportunity for greater leisure and open air exercise for the masses of the people, and we insist that in order that the change may be beneficial, it must have its general application through the United States.
We will gratefully receive and actively give to any groups the fullest support in the attainment of the "Daylight saving" project, so long as it shall be utilized for the purposes herein declared.
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The National Lawn Tennis Association, through its president, Mr. Adee, has come out unanimously in favor.
John K. Tener, formerly governor of this state, and now president of the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, wrote me the following letter:
Your letter of the 2nd instant is received, advising me of the movement undertaken by the Chamber of Commerce of Pittsburgh to move the clocks of the nation one hour.
I am today, and always have been, in favor of this plan, in order that all the people might enjoy just that much more of daylight and God's sunshine. You may record not only my present advocacy of the plan, but the hearty cooperation which will be given you by the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs in bringing about the desired end.
The proposition should recommend itself to all who are interested in welfare work, as well as to those red-blooded Americans who are interested in outdoor sports, whether their pleasure be in witnessing contests on the field or participating in them, and who appreciate how necessary it is to the nation's moral worth that its leisure hours be spent in outdoor, healthful recreation.
Very truly yours,
(Signed) John K. Tener, President.
The railroads of the country are in favor of the project, although they are divided as to the period to be covered. A number of the important roads would like one change, effective during the entire year, and not only for the summer months.
The United States Chamber of Commerce, representing over eight hundred chambers of commerce and boards of trade throughout the country, appointed a committee of eight men, of which the speaker of to-day was chairman. The committee submitted its unanimous report in favor of the proposition, and the national body adopted the same on February 1, 1917, at its convention in Washington.
The resolution adopted by the United States Chamber of Commerce at its annual convention, which reflects the crystallized sentiment of over five hundred thousand business and professional men, reads as follows:
Resolved, That the Chamber of Commerce of the United States approves the report of the Committee on Daylight Saving and recommends that appropriate legislation be enacted by the Congress of the United States to move forward the clock one hour in each of the several time zones in the United States for not less than five months in each year.
At the National Daylight Saving Convention in New York City at which were present delegates from all parts of the country,
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Professor Harold Jacoby, the noted head of the Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, said:
Briefly stated, the essence of the new plan is to take such steps as will induce the public to begin their waking and working day an hour earlier in summer than they do in winter. It is not intended that the working day shall be longer under the new system than it now is under the present system. But if it can be made to begin an hour earlier in summer, it will also end an hour earlier, and thus increase by one hour that part of the afternoon daylight which remains for rest or recreation after the working day is ended. And in all cases where overtime work is essential, there will be available an additional afternoon daylight hour, thus decreasing by so much the strain resulting from artificial light and the cost of the artificial light itself.
The time tables will remain practically untouched; a change will be made in the clocks only. Your eight o'clock train will still leave at eight by the clock; but you will have a fine long afternoon of daylight before you reach your destination .
On the Sunday nearest the first of a month to be agreed upon, shortly after midnight, all official clocks would be set ahead one hour, so that they would indicate seven o'clock next morning at the moment when they would have indicated six under the old system. Thus the factory whistles would still be heard at seven by the clock, but they would really be sounded an hour earlier than before. The end of the day's work would, of course, occur at the usual hour by the clock, but it would be advanced one hour further from sunset. There would be an additional hour after work, and before sunset.
At the same convention a representative of one of the great institutions for the blind made a plea for an additional hour of daylight for those whose eyesight is affected, God's sunlight being so much more beneficial than artificial light. In this connection we have one example of the simple life to which reference should be made, for in those primeval days one may assume that men got up with the sun and retired at dusk, and there was no artificial light to impair the eyesight. You will remember that it is written of Moses, "And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated".
May we not conclude, however, that what has already proved to be highly beneficial and of great advantage in European countries is a safe and sane proposition for us to adopt? We are not exactly a nation of shopkeepers, but we are distinctly a commercial people. Do your men enjoy sufficient healthful recreation under present conditions? Those who went with the National Guard to Texas several
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months ago returned in much better condition physically and much more able to endure hardships than when they started out. They needed the exercise. Aren't we to some extent becoming a nation of shopkeepers in our incessant chase after the almighty dollar?
What does Goldsmith say?
"Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay:
Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade;
A breath can make them, as a breath has made;
But a bold peasantry, their country's pride,
When once destroyed, can never be supplied."
One of the most effective steps that can be taken toward "Preparedness" which is the order of the day and which must not be ignored, is to take back one additional hour of daylight that we have foolishly given away for many years past by being "slaves of the clock". An additional hour before sunset for outdoor pursuits would unquestionably improve the health of the people and stimulate their interest in civic affairs.
This is a great humanitarian enterprise. Uniform action throughout the five different time zones of the country as contemplated means the greatest good to the greatest number. We cannot afford to be behind the great countries of Europe. We have exalted the lamp too long, and have been extravagantly wasteful of God's sunlight. We hear a great deal of "Conservation", and it has many applications, but our greatest effort along that line would, in my opinion, be in the proper conservation of our priceless inheritance of God's sunshine.
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Herewith are enclosed the Resolutions adopted on May 23, 1917, at a special meeting of The American Philosophical Society called to consider the Subject of "Daylight Saving."
It is a matter of great and urgent importance that this measure now before Congress in House Bill No. 2609 and Senate Bill No. 1854 should be passed without delay. The result would be to save a million tons of coal a year, promote public health and efficiency and add incalculably to agricultural productivity. "Daylight Saving" ranks high as a war measure, and it has accordingly been adopted and continued by all the belligerent nations of Europe, except Russia, and also by such neutral nations as Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Holland. By following the same course the United States would cooperate more closely with its Allies, and increase its power to aid in bringing the war to a successful conclusion.
The Pennsylvania Legislature has already memorialized Congress in favor of these bills. The Legislatures or the Governors of other States should be urged to do likewise. It is also important to urge commercial, financial, agricultural and engineering associations in your locality to memorialize Congress for the early enactment of these bills. Your prompt cooperation in the ways suggested above will be a patriotic service.
Respectfully submitted by order of the Society.
I. Minis Hays
Arthur W. Goodspeed
Amos P. Brown
Harry F. Keller
Secretaries
Philadelphia
Independence Square
May 31, 1917
Resolutions in Reference to Daylight Saving Adopted by The American Philosophical Society
Resolved, That The American Philosophical Society, convened in special meeting for this purpose, memorialize the Congress of the
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United States urging the early enactment of the identical Bills, House No. 2609 and Senate No. 1854, entitled respectively "A Bill to save daylight and to provide standard time for the United States."
Resolved, That the Members of the American Philosophical Society urge their respective Senators and Representatives to take early and affirmative action on these Bills, and that the Society address The President, asking his approval of them.
Resolved, That the Members of The American Philosophical Society urge their respective State Legislatures to pass resolutions favoring these Bills, as the Pennsylvania Legislature has recently done, and that they further urge commercial, financial, agricultural and engineering associations in their respective localities to memorialize Congress for the early enactment of these Bills.
The Following Argument Was Presented in Favor of Adoption of the Above Resolution
In his Autobiography, Benjamin Franklin wrote:
"In walking through the Strand and Fleet Street one morning at seven o'clock I observed there was not one shop open, though it had been daylight and the sun up above three hours; the inhabitants of London chusing voluntarily to live much by candle light, and sleep by sunlight, and yet often complain, a little absurdly, of the duty on candles and the high price of tallow." (Bigelow edition, Philadelphia, 1868, pp. 291-2.)
The Founder of this Society was the first to present the idea of Daylight Saving, but his suggestion has been neglected for one hundred and fifty years. Men cannot and will not individually alter their habits of rising and going to bed, but collectively they can do so with no inconvenience. Travelling eastward or westward we alter our watches one hour at certain places and immediately forget the change and adapt ourselves to the new time. By Federal legislation we can do the same and as easily throughout the entire country.
The advantages of Daylight Saving are manifold and great. Daylight is free, artificial light costly. According to the United States Census, issued in 1915, there were 83 1/2 million incandescent lamps of 50-Watt equivalent in the United States in 1912. The growth in the 5-year period since 1907 had been at the rate of 84 per cent. Allowing for only a growth of 50 per cent. in the 5-year period from 1912 to 1917 there are conservatively 130 million such lamps in the United States to-day. To illuminate this number of lamps one hour requires 6126 tons of coal, according to the best station practice in large units. To illuminate them for one hour per day from the end of April to the end of September requires 937,000 tons of coal. This, then, would be the economy in coal alone by the
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"Daylight Saving" plan. To this should be added the cost of transporting and delivering this million tons of coal, carting away ashes, etc. It has been impossible to ascertain how many of these lamps are illuminated with hydro-electric current, but it would be conservative to offset them against the oil and gas lamps in the country, and to conclude that the net economy in coal, oil and gas to be effected by "Daylight Saving" would be equivalent to about one million tons of coal a year.
From the labor standpoint, if we take 8 hours as the standard workday, divided into two equal periods from 8 to 12 o'clock and 1 to 5, with rest and dinner from 12 to 1, there is one hour of daylight more from sunrise to 12 o'clock than from 1 P.M. to sunset, and this disparity increases to 1 hour and 19 minutes at the last Sunday in September. In other words, from 2 to 3 1/2 hours of daylight are now allowed to pass before work begins, and only from 3/4 to 2 1/2 hours of daylight remain after work ends. It would obviously be better if these differences were more nearly equated, or even reversed, so that work would begin in a cooler hour and end sooner after the "heat meridian" (2 P.M.), when labor is more exhausting. The recreative period of the day would then have more sunlight, and the people would spend more time in fresh air, with resulting physical benefit. Eye-strain would be lessened by the substitution of an additional hour of natural for artificial light. As public health affects public efficiency, the productiveness of the nation would be increased. Daylight Saving, after long discussion during peace, was adopted as a war measure for efficiency and economy by the belligerent nations of Europe, excepting Russia, and the same reasons apply with even greater force to the United States, which does not have as long days and short nights as Europe in summer.
Agricultural productiveness would also be stimulated by the enactment of Daylight Saving. Farmers would have an extra evening hour of light, and those in other occupations who wish to raise food plants would have the same extra hour after the close of their working day. Thus this change of time would aid immensely in accomplishing the Government's expressed desire for increased food production.
As previously stated, all the belligerent European nations, except Russia, have adopted Daylight Saving as a war measure for efficiency and economy, and adjacent neutral nations, such as Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Holland, have done likewise. These European nations now follow time standards 6 and 7 hours ahead of ours, and therefore their business day is practically over before ours begins. Stock exchanges in London and Paris now close one hour before our exchanges open, and the Continental European stock exchanges close two hours before our opening. Stock exchange transactions within the same day would be facilitated by our advancing our time, and the same would be true of ordinary commercial and financial transactions across the ocean.
Among the reasons adduced in favor of Daylight Saving by the
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Parliamentary Committee reporting on the proposal in 1908 were the following:
Greater use of daylight for recreation
Lessened use of houses licensed for the sale of intoxicating liquors
Benefit to physique, general health and welfare of all classes
Reduction of industrial, commercial and domestic expenses in artificial light
Alteration of Clocks One Hour in April and Restoration in September Is the Best Mode of Attaining the Object of the Bill
In America, Cleveland and Detroit advanced their clocks one hour in 1914. Officials and commercial agencies there testified that the change was made without difficulty and met with universal favor. This testimony was reported on May 3 by a delegation of manufacturers and business men before the Senate Interstate Commerce Committee.
Daylight Saving has been endorsed by many bodies. Among them are:
The Chamber of Commerce of the United States, representing many constituent bodies
The Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce
The New York Chamber of Commerce
The Rochester, N. Y., Chamber of Commerce
The National Association of Cotton Manufacturers
The Pennsylvania State Chamber of Commerce
The Pennsylvania Legislature
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In order that the full benefits of Daylight Saving may be enjoyed in the section of the country where it is almost universally favored, Daylight Saving should be extended throughout New England and the other states of the Eastern Standard Time Zone.
This should be done by federal statute applying to the Eastern Standard Time Zone as soon as it can be obtained, and in the meantime by acts of state legislatures and cities and towns within this territory.
Three states and many cities, including practically all cities in Rhode Island and Connecticut, several in New Hampshire and Maine, many in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago, and other cities in that section, observed Daylight Saving last year.
The continuance of these laws and ordinances is essential to the successful extension of Daylight Saving throughout the East.
Application of Daylight Saving to the Eastern Standard Time Zone will do away with the changing of railway schedules and time adjustments between the states, and permit the fullest enjoyment of its benefits.
The Benefits of Daylight Saving
Daylight Saving Promotes the Health and Welfare of the People
Several Thousand Physician Favor Plan
This is testified to by 2,019 Massachusetts physicians, while only 280 were opposed to Daylight Saving, and most of them for reasons not concerning the health and welfare of the people. An investigation in which more than 200,000 recorded themselves shows that more than 80% of the citizens of Massachusetts believed that Daylight Saving was for their health.
Two hundred ninety-one eye specialists and many physicians have testified that Daylight Saving benefits the worker through relieving the eye strain.
The Massachusetts Tuberculosis League is authority for the statement that Daylight Saving is "an aid in preserving the general
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health of the country, and particularly a great help in the prevention of tuberculosis."
The American Medical Association is authority for the statement that Daylight Saving "has added materially to the sum total of health and vigor by the increased recreational opportunity."
A study of Daylight Saving during the present year through the months of July, August and September indicates that the hour of work added in the morning averages ten degrees cooler than the hour taken off in the afternoon, which is an unquestioned aid in the promotion of health and the prevention of accidents.
Massachusetts Labor in Favor
At the convention of the Massachusetts Branch, American Federation of Labor, held August 2, 1920, a resolution was passed favoring Daylight Saving and urging its extension to other states. This represents the opinion of a great majority of both indoor and outdoor workers of the state.
Industrial Accidents Are Reduced
The Travelers Insurance Company has recently stated that improper artificial lighting is responsible for 15% of the country's accidents, which cost more than $300,000,000 a year, which is more than the total industrial lighting cost of the country. Daylight Saving greatly reduces the necessity for artificial lighting during the working hours throughout at least five of the seven Daylight Saving months.
Children are Greatly Benefited
Miss I. C. Smith, Superintendent of the Children's Hospital of Boston, states:
"I cannot understand how the added hour of daylight affects in any way the sleep of the children in this hospital. In fact, I can see where it greatly benefits them."
A prominent playground superintendent in Greater Boston states:
"I am very strongly in favor of Daylight Saving. I doubt that there is anything that could be done in the line of evening recreation, physical training or other means which would improve the vital health of our people in a more effective way than daylight saving has done for young people.
"This age is the most important one from the point of view of racial vitality. This factor, that the young people of this age are engaged in sedentary occupations at an ever-increasing rate, has been the cause of the lowering of the average age of our people. Daylight Saving spontaneously brings about wholesome forms of physical recreation."
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Daylight Saving Has Great Economic
Advantages
Over Million Dollars in Lighting
Saved
Every family benefits from the material reduction in cost of lighting through the practice of Daylight Saving. It is estimated that during the Daylight Saving months a saving of $1,500,000 in electric-lighting bills and a corresponding saving in other means of illumination were effected in Massachusetts.
There is a large saving in fuel by many industries through Daylight Saving. The U. S. Fuel Administration estimated that the fuel saved in 1918 in the United States under National Daylight Saving was 1,250,000 tons.
Personal Efficiency Materially Increased
The efficiency of the worker is materially increased through the substitution of natural light for artificial light. The special Research Board appointed in England by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Medical Research Council, as a result of their study of industrial fatigue among silk weavers, make the following observations:
"Under artificial illumination production falls, even if electric light of sufficient intensity is provided. The magnitude of this fall is of the order of 10% of the daylight value of the rate of output. Every unnecessary hour under artificial light means a direct loss of production and makes the task of the worker more difficult than it need be."
Output is also increased by the substitution of a cool morning hour for a hot afternoon hour.
Home Gardening Encouraged
The opportunity to develop home gardens has substantial economic as well as physical benefits for many individuals. One hundred eighty-two hours are saved for home gardening, by Daylight Saving, for each person.
Leading Nations of Europe have Plan in Successful Operation
Daylight Saving has been in operation for several years in Great Britain, France, and other European countries, and is giving complete satisfaction. Great Britain recently extended the period during which the Summer-Time Act is in effect.
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Daylight Saving with its Benefits Costs Nothing And Injures Nobody
A careful study of the effect of Daylight Saving on all lines of industry, including agriculture, demonstrates that it involves no real injury to anybody. Such loss of time or additional expense as any farmer has suffered from Daylight Saving is shown to be unnecessary by the fact that many farmers have adjusted their work to Daylight Saving conditions without the slightest injury or inconvenience.
It is important to encourage New England agriculture. There has been no evidence of unavoidable loss to the farmer through Daylight Saving. The claims of the farmers before the Legislature last year have not been borne out by experience under Daylight Saving.
There is no evidence of smaller production or higher prices of foodstuffs due to Daylight Saving.
Many farmers worked on truck, hay and other crops in the early morning hours last year, without loss of time or injury to the crop. Last year, the claim was made before the Legislature that string beans are damaged by cultivation while damp. One Massachusetts farmer this year deliberately cultivated one acre of string beans during the damp hours of the early morning, with complete success--the beans were awarded first prize at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society Exhibit.
A large dairy farmer in this state is so well pleased with the results of Daylight Saving that he is continuing the practice throughout the winter. The hour of grazing lost in the evening is made up in the morning.
Poultry farming is aided by Daylight Saving, as the mortality of young chickens is cut down by care earlier in the morning.
Study of the farm labor problem indicates that the difficulty of securing and holding labor is caused largely by the lower rate of wages paid on farms as compared with industrial wages, and is in no way due to Daylight Saving.
The claim that the working day on the farm is reduced because the clock is changed one hour by Daylight Saving is subject to serious doubt. The only loss of time chargeable to Daylight Saving is where the hired worker, engaged for definite hours, is allowed to loaf unnecessarily for the first hour in the morning and to stop work on time in the afternoon. Many farmers have adjusted farm work so that this is no loss. Other farmers can do the same.
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Given at a public hearing before the State Assembly at Albany, February 2, 1921
Dr. Copeland's argument for Daylight Saving in full was as follows:
"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee: This problem that is presented here today impresses me as being a public health problem. If I were to deal with it in any other way I think I would be falling short of the real issue at stake. I can deal with it as a farmer for I own and operate a farm in Rockland County. I know the objections that are raised by my farmer about the dew being on the grass; he doesn't like to go out and get his feet wet. I know all about that. But, gentlemen, I want to discuss this from the public health problem point of view because there are various dangers menacing this country that, as members of this responsible body, you ought to know about not only in dealing with this problem, but with other problems which have to do with the public health.
Danger Never So Great
"I want to say to you gentlemen that there never was a time, there never was a time in the history of the United States, when the lives of our people were so greatly in danger as at this moment, and if you think I go far afield in beginning this discussion, I want you to hold your judgment in abeyance until you get the full application.
"I visited the battlefields on the other side to see the direct effects of the war. I found water supplies contaminated and sewage systems obliterated, and sanitary provisions wiped out in France and Belgium, in Northern Italy, and in the Balkan States and Eastern Europe.
"We have all the makings of disease, and not only the makings of disease, but, gentlemen, at this very moment on this day of February, 1921, there are hundreds of cases of typhus in Russia and Lithuania and Galicia and Poland and Rumania and Hungary, and so bad is the disease that half the doctors in Russia have died of typhus within
*Now, 1927, United States Senator from New York.
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the last few months, and in the Balkan States there are not seventy-five physicians left. In the Balkan States there is one doctor left for one hundred and fifty thousand of the population, and in the sparsely settled country there are many persons living one hundred miles from the nearest doctor. And in Poland so bad is the disease that a train will start from its source on a run of five or six hours and when it reaches its destination, there will be a dozen dead persons on that train who have died from typhus.
Typhus Already Here
"Now gentlemen, there is typhus in New York City today. We found two cases of typhus in Brooklyn day before yesterday. In the very nature of things, with millions of cases of this disease in Europe, we are going to have the disease in America. And it isn't alone typhus, but cholera is ravaging large sections of that country. I haven't been disturbed about cholera until last week I had a telegram from Waco, Texas, from the Commissioner there saying that they had three cases of cholera in Waco. And bubonic plague is found in every Southern Mediterranean port from Europe to Tunis. You know what bubonic plague is. It is the most deadly disease known to man. Out of every hundred cases of bubonic plague, ninety-eight patients die. You have one chance in fifty of getting well, if you get the disease. That disease is carried by the flea of the rat. That is why I am so keen on getting the rats out of New York. The New York 'World' said the Health Commissioner said there were six million rats in New York, but he didn't mention any names. (Laughter.)
Small-Pox and Tuberculosis
"Besides these diseases, there is small-pox in Italy, Greece and Scotland, and everywhere in Europe tuberculosis is practically epidemic. Now, gentlemen, all these diseases are diseases of filth and diseases of over-crowding.
"Now, what is the situation in New York as regards overcrowding? We have in New York City one hundred thousand more families than we have houses. Now, just think what that means! One hundred thousand families take in that other hundred thousand families, and the degree of overcrowding is amazing beyond description. I can take you to hundreds of so-called homes in New York where twelve persons live in three rooms; where four sleep in a kitchen every night. And in scores of these so-called homes there is one window in one of the three rooms and no windows in the other rooms. I spoke in a colored church in Brooklyn a few Sundays ago and, after I got through, the minister said that dozens of his parishioners live in inside rooms without any windows or any ventilation.
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Crowding and Tuberculosis
"The nurses of the Department of Health know I am interested in this problem and they place cards on my desk every day, and I want to read three or four of these cards to show you the actual health conditions in New York. 'In four rooms live ten persons; they have tuberculosis in that household.' 'Four rooms, and eleven persons; tuberculosis.' 'One room and five persons; tuberculosis present.' 'Three rooms and nine persons; tuberculosis.' 'Three rooms and ten persons; tuberculosis.' 'Two rooms and eight persons; tuberculosis.'
"And the worst case that has come to my attention--you can explain it as well as I can--I know of a place in Brooklyn where four married couples and a baby live in three rooms, in the richest and finest city in the world. It is a crime and a disgrace. It ought not to be permitted.
Powerless to Correct Conditions
"Delegations come to my house. A delegation of women came the other day to speak about the tenement in which they lived, where the plumbing is broken and the windows are broken, and the roof was broken so that the rain comes three floors below the roof, and they came to see what the Health Commissioner can do about it. You will ask, 'Why doesn't the Health Commissioner do something about it?' The extreme thing I can do, with the great police power given me, is to put a lock on the door and say to the owner of the tenement, 'You cannot use this as a place of human habitation.' But, gentlemen, what is the use of dispossessing a family living under even such conditions as this when there isn't any other place to which they can go? You can pick up a daily newspaper and find a list this long (indicating) of apartments that can be rented in New York City, and you can rent apartments in New York City; you can get a very good one anywhere from five to twelve thousand a year. But you cannot get any for twenty-five, thirty or forty a month. They are not there.
"And our people are crowded into such quarters as I have named to you. I had in my office the other day a group of fifty gentlemen, Presidents of banks and Presidents of trust companies, and Directors of insurance companies,--all great lenders of money. I had them there for two reasons. In the first place, because on the farm where I was born and in the village which adjoined it, there wasn't enough money altogether to make it a subject of conversation. I thought I would like to be in the presence of multi-millionaires for once, and I told them this story about the housing conditions. They were much interested and talked for three hours about three and one-half, four, five and six per cent., and collateral security and mortgage money, and when they got through I said, 'I want to make a real speech. Do you know how many babies were born in New York last year? One hundred and thirty-three thousand! One hundred and thirty-three thousand babies born in New York! You put these little shavers
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shoulder to shoulder and they would reach twenty-two miles. Some babies! Were they born on Fifth Avenue and Riverside drive and Central Park West and the Park Slope in Brooklyn? They were not! Over one hundred thousand of these babies were born in the tenements of New York, under conditions such as I have named to you. That is where they were born. You multiply that by ten years and you have a million.
The Tides of Immigration
" 'And then you have immigration coming in. One day last week there were fifteen thousand immigrants on ships in New York harbor waiting to be received by this country. I spoke myself last Sunday down at Ellis Island to three thousand of them. Are they going upon Fifth Avenue? They are going into the tenements.' So I said to these gentlemen, 'Do you know what will happen in ten years? You will be out-voted and out-numbered. You will be submerged, and if you don't lose all your money I will be surprised.' And one of these men, a president of a bank, said, 'I thought I had a very important engagement to take me away, but I am going to stay.' And another man, whose name is known from coast to coast, said, 'Dr. Copeland, what you say is a very serious matter. Why haven't you warned us of this?' I said: 'Don't you blame me. For fifteen months I have spoken from every platform and have had more space in the newspapers than the Board of Estimate, and God knows that is too much (laughter), and talked about housing, and you have no business to adjourn,' I said to these men, 'until you have appointed a committee to solve this problem, ' and they have the committees at work.
Plague Diseases Coming
"But, gentlemen, don't you see what we have to deal with? I described to you the health conditions in Europe. Just as sure as you sit in these seats, unless you stop commerce; unless you stop immigration; unless you stop travel, just as sure as fate we are going to have typhus and bubonic plague and cholera and small-pox and epidemic tuberculosis, and epidemic dysentery in this country.
"And I want to say to you, gentlemen, that no matter what might have been the conditions when any political platform was printed--and so far as I am concerned, I want you to understand I don't care a continental cuss about anybody's political platform. I am not holding a political office. I am in an office I never wanted and don't want now. It has cost me thousands of dollars of loss to hold my office. I didn't know the Mayor and didn't vote for him. The 'Medical Record,' when I was appointed said that the Mayor received the resignation of the Health Commissioner and when he received it, he went out on the street and the first doctor he met he appointed to the office, and that is literally true, and the 'Record' said it was fortunate he didn't meet old Dr. Grindle! (Laughter.)
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"But, gentlemen, no matter what your platform might have said on Daylight Saving, I want to say to you that the conditions have changed in the past six months. You cannot afford, representing, as most of you do, the agricultural districts; you cannot afford to look your constituents in the face after you have learned the health conditions of the world and the menace to your own State of New York; you cannot afford to look your constituents in the face and say: 'I voted for a repeal of a measure which has in it such a large degree of health precaution as this law has.' (Applause.)
Tuberculosis and Housing
"We have made a great fight in this State against tuberculosis. The State Commissioner of Health, Dr. Briggs, was Health Commissioner of New York City, and started the fight down there. And the death rate from tuberculosis has decreased since 1886 from thirty-seven per ten thousand to eleven last year. But you let such housing conditions continue and we will have tuberculosis in five years worse than we ever had it before.
"And you take it in the matter of baby lives. Last fall the Mayor asked me to represent the City in connection with the gift of the Nathan Straus milk stations laboratory, and I was glad he did ask me to do so, because if there is any man who deserves a monument at the hands of the State of New York for the wonderful work he has done it is Nathan Straus. He deserves the finest monument that can be built. I looked up the record on the occasion of this acceptance in order that I might see what has happened since he started his work, and I started with 1891.
The Infant Death Rate
"At that time the death rate of babies under one year of age was two hundred and forty-one out of every thousand born; practically one-fourth of the babies died. Think of the change! Year before last only eighty out of every thousand born died. But last year it had come up to eighty-five, and this year it will be up to ninety-five because of the housing conditions.
"And I wouldn't want to take the responsibility of walking up the Great White Throne some day and being asked: 'Did you do anything which resulted in infant deaths in New York?' And if you repeal this measure and prevent these mothers from taking these babies out for an extra hour of sunshine, you are going to increase the death rate in New York City, and the responsibility will be yours, and I don't propose to carry it.
"We have here in this hour of sunlight one of the best possible means of raising the resistance for the human body and of killing the germs of tuberculosis and preventing these ravaging diseases which I have spoken of, so prevalent on the other side."
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The Chairman (interrupting): "You have three minutes."
Dr. Copeland: "Thank you, sir. I don't need more than that because you are all impressed with the importance of keeping that statute on the books. (Applause.)
"No matter what may have been the pledge of any legislator, I know, because I know the heart of the country people just as well as you do; I was born on a farm. I expect to die on a farm. I know how they feel. And when they realize that the health of the children and of the mothers and of the boys and girls of New York City depends upon having all the sunlight and fresh air they can get, so to be taken out of these miserable tenements where they live without light or ventilation, I know they will excuse you if you change the platform you were elected upon. And I appeal to you, gentlemen. I appeal to you, not alone for the people in my City, but for all the city people, and if the city people in my city become infected with these diseases, the rural districts will get the brunt of it, because always the country is more seriously affected by epidemics than the cities, because of the distance of the country people from the doctors. So, gentlemen, in the name of humanity, and in the name of the public health, I appeal to you to keep this statute on the books." (Applause.)
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