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CITY OF ST. PAUL, OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK

COUNCIL RESOLUTION-GENERAL FORM

Whereas there is no Federal law establishing a uniform date for initiating and terminating daylight saving time; and

Whereas the lack of such Federal law resulted in the use of various dates for initiating daylight saving time in various cities and communities; and Whereas these discrepancies in the dates for initiating daylight saving time create inconvenience, confusion, and economic loss: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the City Council of St. Paul, Minn., urges our Senators and Representatives in the Congress of the United States to work for the passage of a Federal daylight saving law which would establish universal dates for initiating and terminating daylight saving time annually.

[From the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press, Apr. 30, 1964]

UNIFORM TIME SYSTEM REQUIRED

The Duluth City Council, which has voted to deviate from State law and inaugurate daylight saving time next week, deserves some sympathy. It is extremely inconvenient, if not downright confusing for Duluth to be an hour behind neighboring Superior, Wis., which went on fast time last Sunday.

But Duluth's problem is not unique in this age of instant communication and increased mobility. Few States and communities, not to mention businesses and travelers, escape the confusion brought on by the absence of a uniform national time standard during the summer months.

At last count, less than half the States were on a fast-time basis from April through October. Some States, including Minnesota, go on daylight time later; other States remain on standard time throughout the year. If a person were to drive from Wisconsin, through Minnesota, to North Dakota today, for instance, he would have to contend with three different time zones.

This situation is aptly described by the National Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, as "ridiculous and burdensome." The public confusion, the costs to the transportation and communication industries, and the bother to tourists and other travelers all argue for a uniform time system for the entire country during the summer. A bill to that effect is now before Congress.

Rural interests still oppose daylight saving time. Their case is not without some appeal. But two facts undermine its validity. First the bulk of the population now resides in metropolitan areas and wants fast time. Second, and most compelling, farmers in States with daylight time have made the adjustment with a minimum of difficulty.

[From the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press, May 13, 1964]

OF TIME AND ORDER

St. Paul and Minneapolis made the correct decision in deciding not to act contrary to State law by adopting daylight saving time in advance of the statutory date.

St. Paul went a step further in adopting a resolution calling for enactment of a national daylight time statute which would eliminate the time confusion and chaos that presently exists with 24 States going on fast time on the last Sunday in April while 5 other States, including Minnesota, will do it later this spring.

Communities in the State desiring daylight time "order" now have a bill in Congress upon which to focus attention, introduced by Representative Donald Fraser, of Minneapolis. It provides that all States which adopt daylight time would do so on the same date. States would have the option of maintaining standard time if they desired.

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However, since such legislation has never made such progress on the Federal level, Minnesota also should plan to approach the 1964 legislative session with a proposal to alter Minnesota's time law to coincide with those of neighboring States.

To facilitate support of the daylight time proposals, Minnesota communities interested in such legislation should consider forming an organization which could serve as an official spokesman for them before lawmaking bodies.

Mr. KARTH. That concludes my statement, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. LONG. Thank you, Mr. Karth. Any questions? If not, again we thank you, Mr. Karth.

Mr. KARTH. Thank you very much for this opportunity.

Mr. LONG. Mr. Ramspeck, will you come forward, please? The next witness, members of the subcommittee, the Honorable Robert Ramspeck, a very distinguished American, Chairman of the Committee for Time Uniformity, 1710 H Street NW., here in Washington. Welcome before the subcommittee, Mr. Ramspeck. We are glad to have you.

STATEMENT OF HON. ROBERT RAMSPECK, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE FOR TIME UNIFORMITY, WASHINGTON, D.C.; ACCOMPANIED BY ROBERT E. REDDING, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND SECRETARY, COMMITTEE FOR TIME UNIFORMITY

Mr. RAMSPECK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee. My name is Robert Ramspeck. I reside at 9516 West Stanhope Road, Kensington, Md. Over the years I have enjoyed the privilege of seving as a Congressman from Georgia, as well as Chairman of the Civil Service Commission. My experience with the transportation industry has included 5 years as executive vice president of the Air Transport Association, comprised of all the scheduled airlines. More recently, I served as vice president of Eastern Air Lines, Inc., from which position I have recently retired.

I appear here today in my capacity as national chairman of the Committee for Time Uniformity, with principal offices at 1710 H Street NW., Washington, D.C. The members of this committee are keenly interested in the growing difficulties surrounding the observance of time throughout the United States and wish to express their appreciation for the privilege of presenting views in support of time uniformity legislation.

The Committee for Time Uniformity (sometimes referred to herein as the "CTU") which I represent, was voluntarily formed as the result of a "uniform time conference" convened on August 13, 1962, by the Transportation Association of America here in Washington.

This ad hoc, nonprofit, voluntary association of transportation, communications, finance, travel, farm, labor, and other interests was formed as a result of the efforts of the Transportation Association of America to stimulate widespread interest in eliminating the growing confusion and chaos resulting from clock juggling throughout the United States.

I might interpolate here, Mr. Chairman, that I am serving as chairman of this committee without compensation, simply because I think there is a need for legislation for the benefit of the interests I have mentioned.

A list of these interests cooperating together in this undertaking is attached to my statement.

The CTU has also worked in close cooperation and harmony with many departments and agencies in the Federal Government, as well as with a number of representatives of governmental interests at State and local levels. A list of such cooperating departments and agencies is also attached to this statement. Many of them will undoubtedly inform you directly of their concern about time uniformity.

In the interest of conserving the subcommittee's time, there are also attached to my statement explanatory materials which will further describe the committee's operations. More specifically, these attachments include a CTU brochure entitled, "Join Project Timesaver! It's Time To End Clock Confusion!" They also include pertinent excerpts from the remarks of Robert E. Redding, vice president and general counsel of the Transportation Association of America and executive director of the Committee for Time Uniformity, presented at the 33d annual meeting of the National Association of Motor Bus Owners on October 25, 1962. I hope that the chairman will permit these attachments to be included in the record of these hearings. Mr. LONG. Without objection it is so ordered.

Mr. RAMSPECK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Redding is sitting here at my right.

At the conclusion of my testimony, Mr. Redding would like to present for the record a written statement by the Transportation Association of America in support of greater time uniformity. He will then be followed by key witnesses from the vitally affected national interests cooperating with the Committee Time Uniformity, who will present their respective viewpoints on the problem and the ways by which they are adversely affected today. It is my further understanding that many other interested organizations will be submitting written statements in support of affirmative action to end clock confusion, and I hope that the record of the hearings will be kept open for a few days for the receipt of such letters.

I would now like briefly to summarize the prevailing conditions which not only warrant the committee's attention to the time problems of today but also justify some type of corrective action. Without exception, all citizens of the United States literally live by the clock, almost automatically as a matter of habit. From the time a child is taught how to read the face of a clock until he becomes a senior citizen his entire existence is regulated by time.

Whether it involves going to a movie, watching a favorite television show, maintaining appointments in the office, or shopping for Christmas presents, we all live by the clock. Books have been written about the technicalities of time observance throughout the world and beyond to the universe.

Most of us, however, conduct our day-to-day affairs with family, friends, and business associates merely by a glance at our timepiece countless times each day. I would venture the guess that the time bills under consideration by your committee are probably some of the few bills in the Congress which directly affect every American citizen. The history of time observance in this country is summarized in Mr. Redding's remarks, attached to my statement, which I will not. repeat. It was the railroad industry which adopted its own sys

tem of timekeeping 81 years ago, followed ultimately by the enactment of the Standard Time Act of 1918, currently administered by the Interstate Commerce Commission. During World War I and World War II the Congress adopted nationwide daylight saving time to enhance the war efforts. During the intervening peacetime periods, however, the observance of daylight saving time has been left to the States and local communities, resulting in a veritable patchwork of conflicting and confusing time practices.

The extreme contrasts in time regulation are exasperating. The cesium atomic clock has been developed with an accuracy equivalent to the loss or gain on only 1 second in 3,000 years. Also the United States and England now utilize radio transmission via the Telstar satellite to synchronize clocks within 10 millionths of a second.

On the other hand, the common everyday time observances by the general public in our own country are so confusing that it is little wonder that the United States is described by Dr. William Markowitz, the leading time scientist at the U.S. Naval Observatory, as the "worst timekeeper in the world."

Undoubtedly, Chairman Goff of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) will explain to your subcommittee the present scope of the Standard Time Act of 1918, as well as its claimed omissions and deficiencies. It appears that this Federal law, which established our commonly known standard time zones, is regarded as applying principally to Federal functions and interstate commerce. Its applicability to State and local activities, but without penalty provisions for lack of conformity with time zone boundary lines, has led to considerable confusion in many areas, and, indeed deliberate noncompliance in some instances.

The confusing situation which currently prevails in the State of Indiana, for example, has resulted from the limited scope of this Federal law. There is no official State time in Indiana. The boundary line between the eastern standard time and central standard time zones splits the State in a north-south direction, with slightly more than half of 100 counties located west of this line. Some 17 Indiana counties and portions of 5 others observe central standard time during the fall and winter months. The balance of the counties also west of the line-32 in number-observe central daylight time, or "informal eastern standard time," on a year-round basis.

Late in 1962, St. Joseph's County, in which South Bend, Ind., is located, joined the latter group. This action was taken, however, after bus schedules and timetables had been printed on the assumption that central standard time prevailed. As a consequence many football fans chartering bus service to the Notre Dame football games arrived 1 hour after the games began.

In another instance, the boundary line between mountain standard and central standard time cuts the State of South Dakota into two equal halves. The State legislature in 1963 considered legislation to place the entire State on central standard time notwithstanding the zonal boundary line approved by the ICC.

It came as a considerable surprise to us in 1962 that no governmental agency anywhere maintains any accurate information about the time practices observed throughout the Nation. The U.S. Naval Observatory receives more inquiries on this subject than any other agency but it has never complied or maintained such data.

Accordingly, the Transportation Association of America conducted a 1962 survey collecting such information from all States in the continental United States. The CTU conducted a 1963 survey, the results of which are reflected in our brochure "Join Project Timesaver."

A 1964 survey of State time practices has also just been completed. The results of the 1964 survey thus far are shown on the three maps also attached to my statement. One of these maps shows the States which currently observe daylight saving time, both on a statewide and a nonstatewide basis, while the other map reflects the disparity of switchover dates. The second map reflects the dates on which daylight saving time States shift to daylight saving time. The third map shows the dates on which such States return from daylight saving to standard time in the fall. These maps are in turn accompanied by a tabulated written summary of such information.

These materials reflect the fact that daylight saving time will be observed this year in 31 of the 50 States in the Union.

I might interpolate here, Mr. Chairman, that the reason a previous witness said 29 was because we did not have the information of the other two States at the time that information was given to the Congressman.

Those States not observing daylight saving time are located in the Midcentral and Southeastern sectors of the United States. We find that some 100 million Americans are on daylight saving time, while some 85 million other citizens are not.

We also find that one of the most perplexing causes of clock confusion is the widespread variation among States and communities as to the dates on which they begin and end daylight saving time. The problem of beginning daylight saving time on different dates has been considerably reduced by CTU and other efforts, with 20 of the 31 States switching from standard to daylight time on the last Sunday in April. Fifteen of the thirty one States return to standard time on the last Sunday in October. The remaining Sates use a wide variety of switchover dates to and from daylight saving time.

Another analysis attached to my statement shows the checkerboard pattern of daylight saving time in cities with populations in excess of 100,000 people. Of 130 such cities, 6 of every 13 stay on standard time while the other 7 cities shift to daylight saving time in 1964.

The large map and Mr. Redding has the map here, prepared to supplement my statement dramatically displays these differences in time. observance among large metropolitan areas, even though many of them are located within the same standard time zone.

Further proof of the clock juggling in our Nation today is shown by the analysis of time practices in 220 key cities in the United States, also attached to my statement. These cities, including State capitals and other thriving centers, are all dependent on a good network of transport and communications facilities. The efficiency of present interchanges of people and information are unduly hampered by time differences, with half of them on daylight saving time and the other half not.

I think the subcommittee will also be interested in some typical examples of clock juggling which lead us to believe that it is time for a change in our time changes. Other witnesses will undoubtedly mention similar instances.

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