NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SECURITIES DEALERS, INC., Hon. WARREN G. MAGNUSON, Chairman, Senate Commerce Committee, Washington, D.C. Washington D.C., April 25, 1963. DEAR SENATOR MAGNUSON: The board of governors of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc., representing more than 4,700 members throughout the United States, wishes to express its support for your bill, S. 1033, to establish a uniform system of time standards and measurements for the United States and to require the observance of such time standards for all purposes. The enactment of such legislation as outlined in S. 1033 would be extremely beneficial in the day-to-day administration of the securities business as well as aiding the investing public, which now numbers some 17 million individuals. The inconvenience and confusion arising out of various daylight saving time standards in different parts of the country would be eliminated by uniform switchover dates enforced by the Federal Government. By order of the board of governors: WALLACE H. FULTON, Executive Director. STATEMENT BY THOMAS P. PHELAN, PRESIDENT, PACIFIC COAST STOCK EXCHANGE The Pacific Coast States of California, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada, all have adopted or are expected to adopt, as a matter of policy, the compulsory observance of daylight saving time from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October so as to conform their observations with those of the major Eastern and Midwestern States, metropolitan areas, and business and financial centers. Such compulsory conformity in time throughout the year is vital to west coast business, agriculture, and industry. The west coast is one of the largest population areas in the Nation. Its markets are nationwide and thus its manufacturers, financial institutions, and its large farms and agricultural groups who compete with producers in other parts of the country need as many working hours in conformity with eastern and midwestern business centers as possible. Without conforming daylight time on the Pacific coast with that experienced by eastern and midwestern communities, west coast businesses would be out of step and under an unnecessary or unwarranted handicap by the loss of an additional business hour. Thus production could fall with a resultant curtailment of employment and reduction of gross receipts by west coast activities. California originally adopted compulsory daylight saving time from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in September in 1949. Last year it extended such compulsory observance to the last Sunday in October so as to conform with the eastern and midwestern areas observing such time. Nevada, by proclamations issued by its Governor, annually observes daylight saving time in conformity with California. In Washington, where compulsory daylight saving time has been observed for several years, ending the last Sunday in September, the State legislature this spring, at its session which recently adjourned, adopted legislation extending the compulsory observance in Washington to the last Sunday in October so that its observance would likewise be in conformity. In Oregon legislation is now being enacted to bring Oregon's observance into compulsory conformity. Last fall the people of Oregon at the general election approved a measure establishing daylight saving time throughout Oregon from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in September. Currently there is a bill before the Oregon State Legislature which, when enacted into law, will extend the compulsory observance in Oregon to the last Sunday in October. As of this date, the bill has been approved by the State senate, has been recommended by the State assembly's committee and is expected to be acted upon favorably by the assembly within the next few days. The story of—and the reasons for--California's adoption of daylight saving time and its extension to conform with other areas in the country is similar to that throughout the Pacific Coast States. California, by a vote of its people, adopted as a matter of policy daylight saving time on a statewide basis from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in September in 1949. Since then, its industry, its financial institutions, 98118-63-5 its agriculture, etc., have continued to expand and prosper. The advantages of daylight saving time have become universally accepted. The extension of the observance of daylight saving time from the last Sunday in September to the last Sunday in October in many Eastern and Midwestern States, metropolitan areas, business and financial centers caused confusion in California and along the west coast. The additional hour separating the west coast from other sections of the country during October (for instance, 4 hours rather than 3 hours between the west coast and the business centers in the eastern time zone) adversly affected business, employment and production, increased costs of operation, disrupted communications, confused radio, television and transportation schedules with resultant inconveniences to the people and added an unnecessary and unwanted burden on west coast agriculture, finance, industry and business in general, besides creating personal inconveniences and hardships for many of the people involved. Recognizing this situation, the California Legislature in 1961 passed a bill giving the people of California the opportunity to once again express their preference not only for compulsory statewide daylight saving time but also for the extension of its observance from the last Sunday in September to the last Sunday in October and thus to bring California's observance into conformity with the major Eastern and Midwestern States. This measure was approved in the State assembly by a vote of 48 to 25, in the State senate by a vote of 21 to 14, and thus was to be voted on by the people of California at their next general election scheduled for November 1962, a year and a half—that is, after two summers-later. In January 1962, at the request of various business interests for an earlier opportunity to vote on this measure and thereby, if approved, to bring California's observance of daylight saving time into conformity with the major eastern and midwestern sections of the country, California's Governor called a special session of the State legislature to place the measure before the people at a special election in June 1962. The special session passed the necessary legislation authorizing a special election on this issue in June 1962. Last June (1962), the people of California approved the extension to the end of October by a vote of 2,826,050 votes to 1,087,408. In other words, over 72 percent of those that voted were in favor. Among those organizations which originally supported the adoption of compulsory daylight saving time throughout California were the following or their predecessors: American Marketing Association. Association of Stock Exchange Firms. Building Contractors Association of California. California Aviation Trades Association. California Broadcasters Association. California Manufacturers Association. California Metal Trades Association. California State Junior Chamber of Commerce. Insurance Brokers Exchange of California. Investment Bankers Association of America (California group). Pacific Coast Stock Exchange. Western Growers Association. Last year when the question of extending California's observance arose, several other statewide organizations, recognizing the value of daylight saving time for the west coast-organizations which previously had either taken a neutral position or had opposed daylight saving-advocated its compulsory extension in order to bring about conformity. These included California Bankers Association, California Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, California Railroad Association, and California State Chamber of Commerce. The extension proposal, in addition to being strongly advocated by business, received strong labor support not only from the California Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, but also from International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union and Teamsters Union. Republicans and Democrats backed the proposal and the California Democratic State Central Committee officially endorsed it. Newspapers throughout the State editorialized about its importance to California and the Pacific coast's growth and its relationship with other areas of the United States. So far as it is known, not one single newspaper opposed the compulsory extension. The enactment of legislation such as S. 1033, which would establish a compulsory uniform system of time standards for all purposes, in our opinion, is highly desirable. It will eliminate confusions that now exist and wasteful expenditures caused by nonconformity, contribute to the orderly economic growth of our country, and be in the best interests of the American people. The Pacific Coast States by action of their people and their elected representatives have demonstrated that they believe in and want uniform time changes throughout the United States and accordingly urge the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives to establish by appropriate legislation uniform time changes throughout the United States. Senator MCGEE. Are there any questions from Senators of the committee? Senator HART. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. LYON. Thank you, sir. Senator MCGEE. Next witness, Mr. D. L. Manion. STATEMENT OF D. L. MANION, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN SHORT LINE RAILROAD ASSOCIATION Mr. MANION. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is D. L. Manion. I am president of the American Short Line Railroad Association, with offices at 2000 Massachusetts Avenue NW., Washington 6, D.C. I have been an officer of this association since May 16, 1960, and president since August 16, 1961. Prior to coming with this association, I served in various operating maintenance supervisory capacities for 13 years with a common carrier railroad. On behalf of the member lines of this association, the majority of which are repersentative of "small business" interests in the railroad industry, I appreciate the opportunity to appear before this committee in support of uniform time within standard time zones. The American Short Line Railroad Association is a nonprofit, unincorporated association of 251 common carriers by rail representing an investment of over $1.8 billion and operating about 15,000 miles of first main track. During 1961, the last year for which statistics are available, the member lines of this association earned gross operating revenues of $527 million, employed about 42,500 persons who were paid $255 million in wages and paid taxes in excess of $70 million. No business activity is more affected by time than is that of conducting transportation. Inasmuch as the starting point and destination of travel and transport is frequently in separate jurisdictons, wherever standards of time differ, it is imperative that there be complete understanding between the customer, the carrier, and its employees as to the standards of time which prevail. In addition it is highly desirable, to avoid confusion and unnecessary expense, that there be as few standards as possible, that the zones be well defined and that there be no temporary or permanent tampering with these standards except for good and sufficient reason. For a number of years and most recently at the 49th annual meeting of association members in Dallas, Tex., on October 2, 1962, the representatives of these members adopted as a desirable legislative objective-and I quote amendment of standard time act so as to fully occupy the legislative field with respect to standards of time to be observed throughout the Nation. This legislative policy of the association has existed for over 15 years and was occasioned by reason of communities not conforming to the prescribed standard time zones, the nonuniformity with which daylight saving time was observed and the frequent difference in dates at the beginning and ending of daylight saving time periods. All of this resulted in the inabilty of the railroads to render the best possible public service for which they have been subjected to criticism. These difficulties and problems were impossible of solution by reason of the nonuniformity of the time being observed in two or more areas concerned. This legislative plank has been continued by the association members in view of the continuing nonuniformity of time. The fact that the problem is still with us indicates the need for Federal legislation. I am acquainted with the statement of Mr. Park M. Roeper, who has appeared at this hearing as a witness for the Association of American Railroads. On behalf of the member lines of the American Short Line Railroad Association, I concur in the statement of Mr. Roeper and draw your attention to the similarity of the action taken March 1, 1963, by the AAR board of directors favoring uniformity of time and the legislative policy of the Short Line Association. Most member roads of the Short Line Association are exclusively freight carriers, but these members that are passenger-carrying railroads are faced with the same problems, with regard to the operation of passenger trains, as described by the previous railroad witness. While the examples of inconvenience and confusion are more colorful and descriptive as they relate to passenger service, the problems that exist in rail freight operations may in total be more serious due to the much greater portion of railroad operation involved in freight handling. Many of the short line railroads are faced with a situation at the beginning and end of the daylight saving time period when the changeover in time is not uniform across their territory. For example, they start train operations on daylight saving time and move into an area operating on standard time with the result that their usual schedules are not satisfactory for the customers as the train is arriving at too early an hour. You will readily see how the reverse is the case at certain times and under certain circumstances with the train arriving at too late an hour. Such circumstances lead to complaints from customers. To alleviate some of the difficulty, it is sometimes necessary for railroad forces, as it is with the other industries, to start certain of their employees to work an hour earlier to coordinate with adjacent communities which have daylight saving time, or which start daylight saving time at an earlier or later date. These situations are confusing, oftentimes inefficient and, though established to meet the convenience of the customer, frequently result in confusion to the shipper and receiver. At the present time it is difficult and expensive to find out the standard time that prevails in any but the larger communities, and much time is wasted in attempting to contact people by telephone, to schedule meetings and appointments so as to conform to local custom and still make travel possible without undue waste of time and energy. On behalf of the 251 member roads of this association, I want to again state our support of uniformity in time, whether it be standard or daylight. It is the hope of this segment of the rail carrier industry that Congress may properly conclude that uniform time is wanted by the majority and provide therefor. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Senator MCGEE. Thank you very much, Mr. Manion. Are there questions from the members of the committee? Senator SCOTT. No. Senator HART. No. Senator MCGEE. Thank you, then, for your statement. Since the making up of the original list of witnesses, two or three others have made a request to testify or at least to submit statements and we'll call upon them at this time. First, Mr. Joe Adams. General, will you come to the mike? STATEMENT OF JOSEPH P. ADAMS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE ASSOCIATION OF LOCAL TRANSPORT AIRLINES Mr. ADAMS. Chairman McGee, Senators Hart and Scott, my name is Joseph P. Adams. I appear before you as an executive director of the Association of Local Transport Airlines. This association represents short-haul airlines operating in the 50 States. In 1962, these local carriers served 577 cities, having a population of more than 116 million or 90 percent of urban U.S. total. Now some 341 or almost two-thirds of these cities received their only air service from the local carriers. That acquaints you and the record with the nature of the operations of these carriers. Their services are primarily short haul, averaging somewhat between 80 and 90 miles per passenger flight. On behalf of the association, we wish to support the legislative intent that is encompassed in both S. 1033 and S. 1195. We appreciate the fact that the Senate is concerned with the public interest, that is, with the passengers in all these forms of transportation and I do not need to belabor the subcommittee that the passengers are confused during these times of change in the time. I would like particularly to call your attention to the additional confusion that arises by reason of the fact that in the 28 States that have adopted a switchover date, only 11 of them have a conformity or a uniformity for the time that they go on and off of daylight saving time. This is one of the aspects of the legislation that I would urge the committee give great consideration to, because possibly everything can't be accomplished at this session or in one piece of legislation, but I would certainly hope that we might make some gain in the matter of greater uniformity in the States that do go on and off daylight saving time. I would like to explain or remind the committee how perishable a reserved airline seat is. Of course, it is no different than à reserved seat in a railroad, but once that door is closed and the passenger has missed the flight and the plane takes off, why, you have lost any potential revenue from that seat and if it is a reserved seat, it results in a no-show. No-shows have a habit of increasing during these times |