By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
FEB. 26, 2021 | Time in the United States is permanently set…..with our nation divided into four continental time zones. It’s been that since 1883, when pushed by the nation’s railroads, all the states began using a standard time. (The time grid is really six zones, with both Alaska and Hawaii having added time zones of their own.)
Prior to 1883, it was up to local communities to set the time. Each community set its clocks to noon, based on when the sun reached its highest position in the sky.
More recently, our Congress adopted the Uniform Time Act of 1966 for timekeeping, bringing Daylight Saving Time as uniform. As of today, Arizona and Hawaii are the only two states that do not observe DST.
For years, the various people and states have been complaining about Daylight Saving Time. Now our own Georgia Legislature is bringing up the subject. One representative from Woodstock wants to make daylight saving time applicable all year.
Another legislator, a physician from Savannah, doesn’t like switching the time twice a year, saying it’s unhealthy. He doesn’t care whether Georgia is on the saving time, or standard time, but only wants to use one standard.
Already Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana have passed legislation wanting daylight saving time all year.
But all this ballyhooing in the various legislatures is virtually for naught, since any switching of how the USA keeps time requires Congressional approval.
The big reason for a standard time is no longer much debated. After all, with our country, interconnected as we are with modern methods, standardizing time is almost essential.
The airlines (and railroads, though they now mainly haul freight), the stock markets, sports, national television channels, the military….all find using a standard time best. Now whether that standard should be “sun time,” the traditional time we mark time during late fall and winter, or the “saving” time, for spring, summer and early fall, is the key. Having parts the nation on one time, and other parts of the country on another, is fraught with problems. No one seeks such a change.
So while our Georgia legislators may introduce measures concerning time, and whether it should be all year or a half year, they are mainly talking to themselves. They have more critical problems to study, and must leave the time question to our national body, the Congress. And judging from the past, Congress isn’t going to make this change.
Speaking of time, here in Gwinnett is a good example of what time can do for you. Back in older days, you could catch a train in Gwinnett, and arrive in Atlanta before the time you left. That was because at one point, the demarcation line between Eastern and Central time was between Gwinnett and Atlanta. Therefore, though you gained by it taking less than an hour to go to Atlanta, you made up for it when returning that night!
Most of the state of Arizona (except the Navajo nation) uses standard time during the summer. Why?
It’s because of extreme summer heat. According to an Arizona Republic editorial from 1969, the argument against extending the daylight hours into the evening is that people prefer their activities in the cooler evening temperatures. If Arizona were to observe Daylight Saving Time, the sun would stay out until 9 p.m. in the summer (instead of 8 p.m., like it does currently).
Meanwhile, in Europe, The European Union voted last year to abolish the practice of daylight saving time in 2021, but concrete plans on what comes next remain elusive. So be prepared for any late breaking news on time changes. Their saving time was scheduled to begin March 28.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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