Seize the Daylight by David Prerau

Author:David Prerau [Prerau, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780786736959
Publisher: Basic Books

TWO-TIMED AND SNOWED UNDER

As the 1930s began and the Great Depression descended on the industrial countries of the world, the future of U.S. daylight saving time was still up in the air. The courts had ruled that local DST laws were legal, and each American locality was left to its own devices. Some areas followed permanent DST rules, some passed a new ordinance each year, and some used DST intermittently. The starting and ending dates for the daylight saving period varied from city to city and often from year to year in the same city. The most popular DST period was five months, from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in September, two months shorter than the seven-month period used during the war. Daylight saving time continued to be most popular in the North and East, but the utilization of DST gradually but steadily expanded, without any large-scale organized effort. The National Daylight Saving Association had become quiescent, its founder, Marcus Marks, explaining that “daylight saving is now able to speak for itself and to stand or fall on its own merits.”

In 1932, Raleigh, the capital city of North Carolina and one of the few southern cities to consider a DST measure, enjoyed a rather frantic experience with daylight saving time. In late April, the Junior Chamber of Commerce proposed that the city adopt daylight saving time, and Raleigh’s city commissioners held a public hearing to consider the proposal. DST supporters attended in force, while only a few opponents to the plan voiced their views. The chief argument in favor was that DST would provide more time for recreation. Also, one speaker noted, advanced time would move the popular radio program Amos ’n’ Andy to a more convenient hour. The Junior Chamber presented several petitions in favor of DST from merchants, bankers, and other businessmen, and the commissioners unanimously voted to institute DST in Raleigh from May 1 through September 1.

Raleigh’s daylight saving time began on Sunday, May 1, only two days after the hearing, making Raleigh the only locality south of Baltimore to use advanced time. The new time was put into effect by the city government and by most businesses and schools, but almost immediately the measure ran afoul of the largest single employer in Raleigh, the state government of North Carolina. The state government’s offices in Raleigh rejected DST outright, taking the position that “the State departments are not operated for the benefit of the City of Raleigh but for the people of North Carolina,” all the rest of whom followed standard time. Federal government offices remained on standard time, as did colleges, hotels, trains, airlines, and other enterprises catering largely to people from out of town. The Raleigh News and Observer expressed a growing sentiment when it declared that the city had been “two-timed” by the city commissioners.

Confusion mounted, as some Raleighites set their clocks forward while others retained the status quo. Chief of Police Clarence Barbour took no chances and carried two watches, one set on daylight saving time, one on standard.

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