Thank you. Mr. VAN DEERLIN. General, that is a very fine statement. Mr. Younger? Mr. YOUNGER. Only to compliment the general. General ADAMS. Thank you, Congressman Younger. Mr. VAN DEERLIN. Mr. Gilligan? Mr. GILLIGAN. No. Mr. VAN DEERLIN. Thank you, General Adams. We have for the record a letter from R. J. Riddick, executive secretary of the Freight Forwarders Institute, and a statement by Carroll P. Burks, president of the American Short Line Railroad Association. (The letter and statement referred to follow :) Hon. HARLEY O. STAGGERS, FREIGHT FORWARDERS INSTITUTE, Chairman, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, DEAR CHAIRMAN STAGGERS: Last year when the Senate Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee was considering S. 1404, proposed legislation to facilitate greater uniformity of time observance, our institute advised the Honorable Warren G. Magnuson, chairman of that committee, that we endorsed S. 1404. The members of the Freight Forwarders Institute have approved a policy supporting the principles of S. 1404 and likewise would like to go on record before your committee endorsing bills H.R. 6785, H.R. 7867, and H.R. 6481. As common carriers our members face the same problems as other common carriers caused by the varying time standards throughout the United States, and are of the opinion that time uniformity will remove some of these obstacles. It is our hope that the aforementioned bills will be favorably reported by your committee and the principles enacted into law in this session of Congress. We respectfully request that this letter be made a part of the official records of the hearings. Sincerely, R. J. RIDDICK, Executive Secretary. STATEMENT OF CARROLL P. BURKS, PRESIDENT, THE AMERICAN SHORT LINE RAILROAD ASSOCIATION My name is Carroll P. Burks. I am president of the American Short Line Railroad Association with offices at 2000 Massachusetts Avenue NW., Washington. D.C., and have served in that capacity since November 1, 1964. Prior to coming with this association I served in various operating supervisory capacities for a number of years, and have a total experience of 35 years in the railroad operating field. On behalf of the member lines of this association, the majority of which are representative of small business interests in the railroad industry, I appreciate the opportunity of filing this statement with the committee in support of uniform time within standard time zones. 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 jurisdictions, wherever standards of time differ it is imperative that there be complete understanding between the customer, 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 cause. For a number of years, and most recently at the 52d annual meeting of association members in Milwaukee, Wis., on September 29, 1965, the representatives of these members adopted as a desirable legislative objective * * * "The associa tion favors amendment of the 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 18 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 was observed, and the frequent difference in dates at the begining and ending of daylight saving time periods. All of this resulted in the inability of the railroads to render the best possible public service for which they had 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 position 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. Most member roads of the American Short Line Railroad Association are exclusively freight carriers; however, its members that are passenger-carrying railroads are faced with the same problems with regard to the operation of passenger trains as has often been described. 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 proportion of rail 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 to 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 the customers. To alleviate some of the difficulty, it is sometimes necessary for railroad forces 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 for the convenience of the customer, frequently result in confusion to the shipper and the 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 with local custom and still make travel possible without undue waste of time and energy. On behalf of the 245 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. We, therefore. fully support the enactment of uniform time legislation applicable throughout the United States. Mr. VAN DEERLIN. The record will remain open for 5 days to receive statements and comments of any further interested parties. That concludes the hearing. (The following material was submitted for the record:) STATEMENT OF WILLIAM D. TOOHEY, CHAIRMAN, GOVERNMENT RELATIONS COMMITTEE, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF TRAVEL ORGANIZATIONS Mr. Chairman and members of the House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, my name is William D. Toohey. I am executive vice president of the Tourism Council of Greater Chicago, 36 South Wabash Avenue, Chicago, Ill. I submit this statement in my capacity as chairman of the government relations committee of the National Association of Travel Organizations, which is dedicated to the welfare and advancement of the travel industry. NATO's principal concern is promoting more travel to and within the United States. We not only want more people to travel, but want to make certain they enjoy it, so they will repeat their travel. Our members are the firms and organizations which provide the information, transportation, accommodations, food service, entertainment, and the many services required by travelers. NATO spearheaded the massive see-the-U.S.A. program designed to encourage our citizens to travel in this country which has now evolved into the discoverAmerica campaign. President Johnson has wholeheartedly endorsed this program. The President appointed a five-member, Cabinet-level task force to assist in implementing the discover-America program. The task force is headed by Vice President Hubert Humphrey. The program is financed by private industry money. We are deeply concerned with the matter of time uniformity in the United States both from the interest of the foreign and domestic traveler. The millions of people who travel each year in the United States for varying periods of time for business and pleasure come into personal contact with the confusion created by differences in time observance and the vagaries of the boundaries of time zones, which often do not seem to make good sense. Travelers in automobiles, who comprise over 90 percent of the travel in this country, are just as subject to inconveniences, doubts, and uncertainties concerning what time it is as are the other travelers who move via the public carriers. Automobile travelers must be constantly alert in order to know when to begin their day, when to end it, when it is time to eat, when the points of interest and attractions they want to visit will open and close, and when to set their watches forward or back. A mistake can be costly A mistake can be costly in available traveltime, or in gaining admittance to an attraction or point of interest, or in meeting any present engagement. I want to point out that time confusion is a deterring factor to the travel business. The travel business is one of the great distributors of the wealth produced in the United States, involving more than $30 billion per year. Most of our States consider the travel business among their top three industries. The travel industry is one of the largest employers in the United States. Add together the people involved in running hotels and motels. restaurants, transportation companies, rental car firms, gasoline stations, attractions, sightseeing facilities, travel information centers, etc., and this becomes apparent. Foreign visitors, singly and in groups, are becoming more and more a part of the American scene. They come here to see this great country, of which they have heard so much. We need to enhance their opinion of us. We must not disillusion them. A little research discloses that time regulation is smoothly handled in most parts of the world, particularly in the areas from which we are currently drawing foreign visitors. We respectfully support identical bills-H.R. 6785, H.R. 7867 and H.R. 6481. However, in the interest of quick adoption of time uniformity legislation, we would not object to enactment of S. 1404. The National Association of Travel Organizations is a member of the Committee for Time Uniformity and supports its testimony fully. We need enactment of legislation for adoption of time uniformity in the United States. Thank you for the privilege of submitting this statement. STATEMENT OF A. B. MCMULLEN, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STATE AVIATION OFFICIALS My name is A. B. McMullen. I am executive vice president of the National Association of State Aviation Officials. On behalf of the members of NASAO, I wish to thank the committee for the opportunity provided the association to present its views on the various bills now being considered "to establish uniform dates throughout the United States for the commencing and ending of daylight saving time in those States and local jurisdictions where it is observed." NASAO members are officially responsible for fostering the orderly development of aviation and air transportation in their respective States. and they are keenly aware of the veritable nightmare of time confusion presently caused by various States and political subdivisions changing to and from daylight saving time each year on different dates, and the adverse affect this unregulated and uncoodinated procedure has on all forms of transportation and communications, business and industry, shippers and individual travelers. This practice not only causes many missed train, plane, and bus connections and disrupted business and social engagements, but unnecessarily costs corporations and individuals millions of dollars annually in administrative, operating, printing, and communication expenses. NASAO has been actively interested in and has continuously worked toward a solution of this exasperating situation for over a decade, and during the association's 1962 annual meeting, NASAO members unanimously adopted a resolution recommending legislation which would assure that all changes from standard to daylight saving time be made on the last Sunday of April, and the return to standard time be made on the last Sunday of October. Therefore, the association strongly endorses, and respectfully urges the Congress to adopt legislation such as that incorporated in House bills 6481, 6785, and 7867. which will go a long way toward solving the daylight saving time problem. The problem would be reduced even more than the proposed legislation will accomplish if the final committee bill limited the choice of adopting daylight saving time to individual States, rather than extending this decisionmaking authority to political subdivisions as well. However, if legislation requiring uniform changeover dates is enacted as presently drafted, NASAO will work for the adoption of supplementary legislation by individual States. In addition to adoption of legslation such as recommended herein, it is also respectfully urged that Congress immediately investigate the several other time systems and procedures, in order that the most desirable features of each may be uniformly adopted to assure that the national time system keeps pace with modern transportation and communications facilities and services. These time systems include the 24-hour clock, which is utilized by some governmental agencies, particularly the military, and by some commercial organizations, and the use of "Z" or Greenwich time, which the U.S. Weather Bureau and some American transportation and communications companies engaged in international operations now utilize. While no single system of time will completely satisfy the requirements or accommodate the convenience of everyone, a careful study should be made of the advantages that would result from complete abolition of daylight saving time, and permanently advancing the standard time by 1 hour in each time zone throughout the United States. This would eliminate the confusion and expense associated with changing to and from daylight saving time each year, while providing all the advantages afforded by daylight saving time. Adopting the 24hour clock simultaneously with the 1-hour time advance would necessitate only one educational and familiarization period in order to acquaint everyone with these two major changes which many persons who have made a careful study of time problems consider desirable. W. E. WILLIAMSON, WASHINGTON, D.C., February 3, 1966. Clerk, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.: For the record of the hearings please insert following wire to Chairman Harley 0. Staggers: "The International Association of Machinists, AFL-CIO, fully endorses the provisions for time uniformity as embodied in bills H.R. 6785, H.R. 7867, and H.R. 6481. In representing thousands of employees on the airlines, railroads, the shipping and shipbuilding industry and other segments of the transportation industry, we are fully cognizant of the tremendous benefits which will result from a uniform policy in changeover from standard to daylight saving time." P. L. SIEMILLER, International President. Hon. OREN HARRIS, AMERICAN TELEPHONE & TELEGRAPH Co., Chairman, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The American Telephone & Telegraph Co., representing the Bell System, respectfully submits this statement in support of H.R. 6481, introduced by you, or H.R. 6785, introduced by Representative Staggers, which, we understand, will be reviewed by the Subcommittee on Commerce and Finance of the House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee at a hearing to be held in a few weeks. Our company takes no position with respect to the desirability of daylight saving time, but we are convinced that uniform changeover dates to and from daylight saving time, which H.R. 6481 or H.R. 6785 is designed to achieve, will be beneficial to our customers and to the company in the operation of its longdistance communications network. Some of the principal difficulties experienced by our customers and our company because of time confusion are: (1) Uncompleted calls-Inconvenient calls.—When making long-distance calls, our customers are often confused by the lack of uniformity of daylight saving time changeover dates. Such confusion results in failure to reach the called party in his office or home at the expected time, which can be of serious concern to the calling party. Also, a customer may, because of such confusion, receive calls at inconvenient or undesirable times. On an ordinary business day, about 16 million long-distance calls are placed by Bell System customers, approximately half of which are handled by an operator-the rest being directly dialed by the customer. Approximately one-fourth of these calls (4 million) are not completed for a number of reasons, such as "don't answer," "called party no available," etc. At periods when there are different time changeover dates, a significant number of uncompleted calls can be attributed to time confusion. Such uncompleted calls place an additional and unnecessary burden on the long-distance network. (2) Frequent adjustments in employee scheduling.-Operating force schedules are affected by the traffic volumes at particular times of the day. Different start and stop dates of daylight saving time affect customer calling habits and patterns, and precipitate more changes in traffic volumes which require adjustments in employee scheduling to adequately service such traffic. (3) Burdensome and expensive work procedures.-Because of customer confusion in placing long-distance calls, caused by lack of uniform daylight saving time changeover dates, our operators are required to answer more inquiries from customers on difficulties experienced in attempting to complete calls, and to render such assistance as is necessary. Notices must be prepared and placed on the switchboard to alert telephone operators to the difficulties generated by time confusion, to indicate particular locations involved and their effective time, and the operators must be trained to handle the novel situations that arise. In conclusion, it is our opinion that the single most troublesome area to the Bell System in the matter of time confusion is the difference in changeover dates to and from daylight saving time. Should all communities following daylight saving time convert on the same date, the confusion and difficulties described above should be substantially reduced. Accordingly, we urge your favorable consideration of either H.R. 6481 or H.R. 6785. We appreciate this opportunity to submit this statement, and respectfully request that this letter be made a part of the record in the hearing. Very truly yours, F. R. ECKLEY, Executive Vice President. UNITED STATES INDEPENDENT TELEPHONE ASSOCIATION, Hon. HARLEY O. STAGGERS, DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Receipt of the notice of public hearings on uniform time bills, H.R. 1581 and others, is acknowledged. The United States Independent Telephone Association (USITA) is vitally interested in the passage of time |