AND THE DEBATE GOES ON......
I write this still feeling sleep-deprived from having had to set the clock ahead an hour Saturday night, thus missing an hour of shuteye I fear I’ll not get back until fall.
Once again we are embroiled in the annual national debate about Daylight Savings Time...a controversy that has been going on more than a century. During WWII it was called “war time” instituted to preserve energy.
A New Zealand entomologist (one who studies insects) is credited with proposing DST in 1895 so he would have more daylight to collect bugs. The idea, not surprisingly, was slow to catch on, except with fellow bug collectors. In 1908, in England, William Willett, a wealthy business guy, endorsed the idea. Turns out he was also an avid golfer which gives you a clue to his true motivation.
Fast forward to this year. Senator Marco Rubio (as in the guy who once was on the cover of Time as the Republicans' New Young Hope and who now, when folks in his home state are asked if he should ever be president polls in single digits) leads a bi-partisan coalition of senators who back the “Sunshine Protection Act”, a bill to make DST year around, I think. A link to Rubio’s website is here in case you care:
I first got drawn into the DST Debate way back in 1966 when Iowa was going to go for it (and did). Passions ran high in Harlan, the Shelby County seat. It boiled down to a rural-urban split. The Main Street and country club folks were all for it, while the livestock producers and others in the county called it “silly time”.
So, a young editor of the Harlan News-Advertiser weighed in with an editorial reflecting on the solemnity of the decision to move clocks forward and the possible consequences. The dateline was May 3, 1966. The editor courageously put his initials on his scribblings reprinted below.
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IN THE BEGINNING…AND THEN D.S.T
(an editorial in the Harlan News-Advertiser, May 3, 1966)
In The Beginning, there was Darkness and Light. And Light came when the Sun appeared on the Horizon and Ended when the Sun went down.
And when the Sun had left the Heavens, there was Darkness. Man and the Beasts of the Fields and Fowls of the Air awoke when the Sun appeared and rested when Darkness came. Man worked his fields and tended his animals by the Sun. And All Was Good.
Then Man started working from 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. and there was still Daylight when his Work had ended. In the Winter Months, there was No Problem because the hours very nearly Coincided with the Rising and Setting of the Sun
But in the Summer, it was Different. Man learned of Golf and of Outdoor Barbecues and other kinds of Recreation. And he thought it would be Good if there were more Daylight to enjoy these activities.
So he Tampered with Central Standard Time! By moving the Clock Ahead One Hour, Man could save Daylight. And thus did he do. And he called this change Daylight Savings Time.
Verily, then began an Era of Confusion.
Crops Withered as the Sun beat down on them for one more hour each Day. The Balance of Nature was truly upset. Man became burned from exposure to the Sun’s Rays as he played his Round of Golf. Commerce suffered. Stores closed early and Customers beat loudly upon the locked doors of the Various Businesses because they could not get what they wanted after 4:30 P.M.
Farmers sold their Livestock at a Loss because they could no longer hear the Noon Markets from Omaha.
Young Children arose before Daybreak to board the Yellow School Bus, sleep still in their eyes. Their lessons suffered because they lacked Proper Rest. And they became Drop Outs!
Civic Clubs lost members and Attendance dropped at Important Meetings because people did not know what time they began.
There was much unrest and talk of Anarchy because the Government Had Tampered with the Accepted Time.
Transportation bogged down. It was now possible to arrive in Omaha at the Same Time as Man left Harlan and more People went there. But it now took Two Hours to get Home so many never returned and Western Iowa Lost Population. And even worse, Industry Left and the land was Empty. And there were no people to look at the Clock.
And It Was As It Was In The Beginning, only Darkness and Light. —R.G.
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[Editors note from Julie: As you can see, dear reader, Sh*t Richard says has been going on a long time]
Loved this AND your opinion piece way back. Very clever!
Laughed all the way through! Another plus for Arizona. They refuse to do it at all, so no confusion, except when it comes to having a zoom cocktail hour with Julie and Richard when they're in Florida there's a three hour difference.