This past Sunday it was another “fall back” Sunday when we set our clocks back to standard time. On March 9 we will have a “spring ahead” Sunday when we set our clocks ahead one hour.

The use of time zones and Standard Time began on Nov. 18, 1883, when United States and Canadian railroads instituted standard time in time zones in order to allow for uniform railroad timetables. Before then, time of day had been a local matter, and most cities, towns and hamlets used some form of local solar time based on “solar noon” or when the sun was directly overhead and was maintained on a town, church or jewelers clock.

In order to ensure compliance nationally, Standard time and time zones were established in U.S. law by passage of the Standard Time Act on March 19, 1918, at which time Daylight Savings Time (DST) was also instituted.

A form of daylight savings (DST) time was first proposed by New Zealand amateur entomologist George Hudson in 1895. Hudson collected insects in his spare time and saw that more evening daylight would give him more time to collect specimens after his day job. He presented a paper on a plan for daylight savings time to the Wellington Philosophical Society proposing a two-hour daylight saving shift. There was some interest, but it was never implemented.

Another idea for a form of daylight savings time was proposed by Englishman William Willet in 1907. An avid golfer, he disliked having to cut short early evening rounds of golf at dusk and in 1909 published his proposal for daylight savings. However, it’s time had not yet come.

On July 1, 1908, Port Arthur, Ontario, now Thunder Bay, was the first city in the world to enact daylight savings time, but it took a war before whole nations got around to adopting it. On April 30, 1916, the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary adopted Sommerzeit (DST) as a means of saving coal. Britain, and most of its allies followed and the United States adopted DST in 1918 after the passage of the Standard Time Act.

Following the end of the war most nations that had adopted DST abandoned it with only Great Britain, the US, Canada, France, and Ireland retaining it. During World War II the US adopted “War Time” which was year round DST and Great Britain adopted “Double Summertime” setting their clocks two hours ahead year round. After the war local jurisdictions in the US could choose if and when to observe DST until the 1966 Uniform Time Act standardized the beginning and end of DST in 1966.

During the energy crises of the early 70’s the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act enacted year-round DST in a two year experiment from January 6, 1974, to April 7, 1975. Unpopular with the public, it ended prematurely on October 27, 1974.

In 2018 a bill with the curious name of the Sunshine Protection Act first saw the light of day in congress when it was introduced by Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) with the intent of

establishing permanent Daylight Savings Time. While submitted on a yearly basis, to date the bill has gotten out of committee only once.

A poll taken in 2023 found that 50% of Americans preferred Permanent DST, 31% were in favor of permanent standard time, and 19% had no preference.

Those in favor of permanent DST point out that additional afternoon daylight would promote good health by motivating people to get out of the house. It would help the economy because people tend to do more after dinner shopping during DST. Studies show that DST contributes to highway safety and reduces pedestrian fatalities by 13% from Dawn to Dusk. The only downside to permanent DST is that during winter months with less morning sunlight children wait for their buses in darkness. A way around this would be to start school at 8:45 am or 9:00 am instead of 7:30.

Permanent standard time would mean that little league games would have to be played in the afternoon when parents are probably at work. Also, one can imagine the havoc this would cause softball leagues and for those who mow their lawn in the evening after work.

Eliminating the twice yearly clock resetting would save the nation money according to William Shughart III an economist at Utah State University who says that the act of changing clocks costs businesses $1.7 billion based on average hourly wages and is time that could be spent more productively on other tasks. At the same time car accidents, workplace injuries, heart attacks, depression, and suicides associated with the time changes would also be reduced.

I am for permanent DST. I enjoy those long afternoons and the soft light of evening that lingers till August in our area.

Finally, a Veterans Day salute to all my fellow veterans.

Thomas Kirkpatrick Sr. is a Silver Creek resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com