A 1962 survey of more than 20 railroads identified the following areas of general confusion and difficulty attributable to lack of uniform time: General confusion in passenger timetables. Difficulty in scheduling passenger trains to accommodate origin, intermediate and destination requirements. Extra expense of printing timetables. Difficulty in handling mail to meet Post Office Department requirements. Necessity for rescheduling freight trains to meet market delivery times on perishables and livestock, and to maintain adequate interline service. Work of operating employees on standard time while nonoperating employees work on daylight saving time, resulting in confusion and inconvenience. Revision of switching crew schedules to meet requirements of local industry. Confusion, particularly for train and enginemen, for employees who follow standard time at work while using daylight saving time at home. Reduced communication time between widely separated stations on the same railroad. Are the airlines also concerned? Yes, the airlines are seriously concerned with the confusion, the passenger inconvenience, and the additional expense, caused by variations in daylight saving time observance in different areas of the country. An airport usually serves a large geographical area which may even extend across State boundaries. These service areas frequently include both daylight and standard time zones. This causes confusion to many passengers; some of whom might arrive at the airport an hour early for their flight or, even worse, arrive an hour late and miss their flight. This frustration also extends to families and friends of departing or arriving passengers. A missed flight is of serious and expensive concern to both the passenger and the airline. For the airline, a missed passenger today may well become a nonairline passenger of tomorrow. During certain times of the year, the nonuniformity in dates for daylight time observance results in as much as a 4-hour time change on a coast-to-coast flight, one hour beyond the normal 3-hour change. This extra hour which the transcontinental passenger experiences in these circumstances makes his physical adjustment to the new time zone that much more difficult. Anyone who has ever had to adjust to a 4-hour time change on a 5-hour flight will understand this problem. A very definite and measurable expense to the airline is the required reprinting and redistribution of system timetables with each time change at some individual point on the system. If cutoff dates for daylight saving time were uniform in all areas, schedule reissuance based on time changes would take place only twice each year. This would result in a substantial cost saving to the airline industry. In the spring of 1962, when Washington, D.C., was on daylight saving time while Norfolk, Va., remained on standard time, the official flight schedules were reminiscent of Alice-in-Wonderland. A passenger flying from Washington to Norfolk arrived 5 minutes before he left-according to juggled clocks. On the other hand, flying from Norfolk back to Washington consumed 1 hour and 55 minutes again according to juggled clocks. Would less clock juggling help other interests? It's about time to streamline the hourglass for everyone. For example: Oregon and Oregon State Universities continue their campus clocks during the summer on standard time, yet their classes begin an hour earlier on daylight saving time. During a 2-month period in 1959, some offices in the Minnesota State Capitol Building observed daylight saving time while others used standard time. For husbands who work on daylight saving time and wives who run the home on standard time, Thomas Wolfe in the Washington Post suggested "His" and "Her" clocks so that both will have the "time of their lives," The west coast States of Oregon and Washington in 1962 shifted back to standard time on the fourth Sunday in September, while most of the rest of the country stayed on daylight saving time until the last Sunday in October. This 1-month period of a 4-hour time lag meant that the business day on the west coast in these States was only half over when the east coast offices closed their doors. In Pennsylvania, State law requires that official business be conducted on eastern standard time. Yet in 1962 more than 600 Pennsylvania communities observed daylight saving time from April 29 to October 28. What needless confusion. What can be done at State and local levels? Much has already been done. For example, the voters of California in June 1962 voted overwhelmingly to bring the State into conformity with most other States on the switch-over from daylight saving time to standard time, i.e., from the last Sunday in September to the last Sunday in October. Nevada and Vermont followed suit by proclamation of their respective Governors. Many other States with conflicting time change dates should review the matter. Uniform State laws on the subject may be the answer. Does the Federal Government now regulate time in any way? Yes. The Congress enacted the Standard Time Act in 1918, the first Federal legislation on this subject (15 U.S.C. secs. 261-265). This happened 35 years after the Nation's expanding railroads standardized their time schedules by creating four time zones across the Nation, each 1 hour apart. The 1918 act followed the same pattern, setting up eastern, central, mountain and Pacific standard time zones. The Interstate Commerce Commission was assigned the responsibility for resolving any disputes about time zone boundaries and still has it today. Why was the ICC assigned this responsibility? The purpose of the 1918 legislation was to remove existing confusion primarily for the beneficial interest of interstate commerce. The act directed that zonal boundaries be fixed "having regard for the convenience of commerce and existing junction points and division points" of interstate common carriers. Thus, the ICC was considered to be the most logical agency for this assignment. Has the ICC developed any recommendations on the subject? Yes. For the past 30 years the ICC has complained to the Congress about the inadequate scope of the Standard Time Act. Its recommendations are summarized in its most recent annual report as follows: "We recommend that Congress amend the Standard Time Act so as to broaden its scope by providing that the time of the zone shall be the exclusive measure of time for all purposes, with possible exceptions either specifically provided or authorized by the administering agency, and by adding more definite standards, requirements for observance, penalties for violation, and provisions for administration and enforcement. In any event, we further recommend that there be a thorough survey for the purpose of determining whether this Commission is the most appropriate agency to fix the limits of the zones or to administer the provisions of any future law relating to standard time." "We recommend that Congress amend the Standard Time Act for the reasons set forth in the 'Standard Time Zones' chapter in this report, and if Congress does not see fit to so amend the statute, that we be relieved of the responsibility for its administration." How does the Civil Aeronautics Board feel about it? Chairman Alan S. Boyd expresses the following views on the subject: "The Transportation Association of America has certainly undertaken a worthwhile project in working for greater uniformity of time changes on a nationwide basis. There is no doubt that it would be helpful to the air transportation industry if this were accomplished.” Does the Department of Commerce have an interest? Yes. Under Secretary of Commerce for Transportation Clarence D. Martin, Jr., observes as follows: "The lack of uniformity among the different modes of transportation, with the railroads operating on standard time and the buses and airlines on local time, is confusing to the public at large. However, the lack of greater uniformity in the field of time also directly affects every sector of our economy and probably have some adverse effects on the gross national product." Has there been any organized effort to streamline the hourglass? Yes. The bus industry in April 1961 solicited the help of other modes of transportation through the Transportation Association of America. A few months later TAA approved a policy in support of time uniformity, backed by all common carrier modes-air transport, freight forwarder, highway, oil pipeline, railroad, and water carriers—in its membership. During 1962 a large number of Government agencies-Federal, State, and local-and national industry organizations were contacted to ascertain their interest in a vast cooperative effort to solve the time problem. In August a "uniform time conference" was convened in Washington under TAA sponsorship, which was attended by representatives of 24 Government and 30 industry groups. The conference was advised by the Nation's top scientific authorities in this field that the United States keeps the most confusing time of any country in the world. At this conference it was decided, unanimously, to form an ad hoc Committee for Time Uniformity to "foster and promote, by coordinating the efforts of interested groups, uniformity of time observance at national, State, and local levels." What interests are working together on the problem? Government departments and groups include: Department of Agriculture Department of Commerce Federal Aviation Agency General Services Administration Naval Observatory Bureau of the Budget Coast and Geodetic Survey Federal Communications Commission Post Office Department Weather Bureau Advisory Commission on Intergovern- American Municipal Association National Association of County Officials Administrators International Association of Chiefs of National Association of State Aviation Industry organizations interested in Project Timesaver include: Air Transport Association. American Short Line Railroad Associa- American Telephone & Telegraph Co. Securities Dealers. National Industrial Traffic League. United States Chamber of Commerce. American Farm Bureau Federation. National Association of Travel Orga- Transportation Association of America. What has Congress done about the time problem since World War II? Very little prior to 1963. Now, both the Senate Commerce and House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committees may launch hearings into the time uniformity problem. S. 1033 and H.R. 4702 have been introduced by the respective chairmen of these committees to carry out ICC recommendations. Other bills have also been introduced. What is the program of the Committee for Time Uniformity? (a) Education.-Encourage necessary research on current practices and problems of time observance, and develop and distribute materials acquainting the business world, governmental officials, and the general public with the need for uniformity in time. (b) Daylight saving time effective dates.-By majority vote it was decided to urge all State and local jurisdictions observing daylight saving time to have it become effective on the last Sunday in April and terminate on the last Sunday in October of each year. (c) Review of existing Federal legislation.-Support at the appropriate time the recommendations of the Interstate Commerce Commission that "Congress reexamine the entire field of standard time" to determine whether existing Federal legislation on the subject should be amended or repealed. (d) Cooperation with Government.-Invite and urge the mutual cooperation between the Committee for Time Uniformity and Federal, State, and local government agencies in implementing the above three program activities. (e) Other corrective measures.-Determine what additional remedial steps might be undertaken and supported to achieve time uniformity for all U.S. citizens. It's time for a change in our time changes. THE CALL TO ARMS FOR TIME UNIFORMITY Excerpt from remarks of Robert E. Redding, vice president and general counsel of the Transportation Association of America, presented at the 33d annual meeting of the National Association of Motor Bus Owners, October 25, 1962 The history of this time problem is quite fascinating, yet known to very few people. Only 80 years ago there was no orderly system of keeping time in this country. All that we had was local time or "sun time," as it was called, which was based upon the concept of the sun passing from horizon to horizon. For example, there was a difference of 7 seconds between the Capitol dome in Washington and the Lincoln Memorial; and a difference in time of 30 seconds from one end of the San Francisco-Oakland Bridge to the other. As the railroads in the 19th century continued to grow and develop, they were faced with this problem. So, they simply established their own individual time systems. This time network became so complex and difficult, however, that in the city of Pittsburgh, for example, there were six different time standards governing the arrival and departure of trains. Pity the confused passengers and the shippers, as well as the employees of these companies. So, for many years in the latter half of that century, the railroads wrestled to find a solution. Finally, in November of 1883, a system of four standardized time zones was established in the United States by the railroad industry. This was quickly and gratefully accepted by the American people and observed by the Federal Government, States, cities, and towns throughout the Nation. It is little short of amazing that for 35 years thereafter this system operated without any Federal legislation on the subject. It was only in the closing months of World War I that the Congress finally enacted the Standard Time Act. This statute placed the official stamp of approval, ladies and gentlemen, on the four time zone systems already in use the eastern, central, mountain, and Pacific zones. The new law also empowered and directed the Interstate Commerce Commission to define the boundaries of these zones and to resolve all boundary disputes thereafter. The Standard Time Act also gave official sanction to another time-measuring device which had since plagued us for many years-daylight saving time. It was then approved as a wartime method of conserving fuel and increasing our national efficiency. This notion was originally conceived, we understand, by Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century when he served as U.S. Ambassador to France. It was reported that he awakened early one morning in Paris and noticed the sun shining brightly outside. He asked himself, "Why are we not taking advantage of all of this daylight?" He even made an analysis of the number of candles that could be saved by the people of Paris, if they changed their time habits. The Parisians ignored Franklin, however, and so nothing was done about it. Daylight saving time was also unpopular with the American people in 1918; it was only a year later that the Congress repealed the legislation establishing daylight saving time, overriding the veto of President Wilson. So it was that our bouncing baby was given a premature death as a Federal matter. This so-called hydra-headed monster continued to grow, however, at State and local levels during the 1920's and 1930's into a complex hodgepodge of time schedules. It later took World War II to breathe new life at the Federal level into daylight saving time. It was in February of 1942 that the Congress by law advanced the whole country 1 hour without disturbing the four time zones. This time the baby managed to survive for almost 4 years, until after the cessation of hostilities. Since then, State and local governments alike have gone off in all directions in their use of daylight saving time during the summer months. Time confusion in U.S. cities of at least 100,000 population 1 El Paso is in the central standard time zone but observes mountain standard time. Source: Bureau of the Census, based on 1960 population data. X |