Daylight saving time
Did you have difficulty adjusting when the clocks were changed from daylight saving time back to standard time? If you live in Arizona or Hawaii your clocks didn’t change in the spring and you didn’t have to mess with it, but 34 other states do. Although farmers and ranchers run more by the sun than the clock, any association with the world — school students, appointments, jobs in town — require the changes be observed.
It is especially challenging for dairy farmers. The cows have an internal clock and it doesn’t reset that easily. When we raised dairy cows on our Grade A dairy, it took several days to get the herd up and ready to go at a different time. There’s just no explaining it to cows, or to any animal that is fed following the time on a clock.
The Senate unanimously approved a measure in March 2022 that would allow states to pick either daylight saving time or standard time for the year, and the states couldn’t switch back and forth. The House of Representatives hasn’t acted on the legislation. If it doesn’t act under this congressional year, the process will have to start over. It’s not just the U.S. that uses this phenomenon; it is the law in some 70 countries around the world.
I’d prefer to stay on daylight saving time. When it is pitch dark at 5 p.m., it really takes a chunk out of the day. For me it’s also psychological. Simply put, I am solar powered and it’s apparent that many who live in this geographical area are also. Come on now, raise your hand if you turn into a sleepy head about an hour after it gets dark.
Benjamin Franklin didn’t invent the idea, but he promoted it in 1874 when he wrote a piece titled “An Economical Project,” in the Journal de Paris. He said that if people rose and went to bed with the sun, expensive candles and oil would be preserved. During World War I, it was observed for two years, 1918 and part of 1919. The law establishing daylight saving time was repealed on Aug. 20, 1919, when the war was well over. In 1942, the U.S. Congress again passed a law implementing daylight saving time during World War II.
From Chronicling America, “From its beginning, daylight saving time required both explanation and persuasion. A 1918 page from The Washington Times newspaper informs readers about the first implementation of the idea in the United States. In addition to explaining the change, it suggests that understanding daylight saving time should be easy, proclaiming that “There is no occasion for the slightest confusion in the matter of daylight saving.” The article offered insights into the legislation as a contribution to the war, shifting an additional hour of daylight to the end of the workday.”
This old proverb that has been often told sums it up. When told the reason for daylight saving time, the old Indian said, “Only the government would believe that you can cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom, and get a longer blanket.”
