Brethren,
Did you feel it? Something hap- pened the first of this week. It affected us all. Well did you feel it? Do you know what “it” was. The occurrence was first proposed by a Brother many years ago. He was an American in France at the time he made the suggestion. Well have you figured it out yet?
It happened last Sunday. You lost one hour of sleep. Yes what I am talking about is Daylight Saving Time. It was conceived by our Brother Benjamin Franklin in 1784 in an essay “An Economical Project” while he was an American delegate in France.
It first took place in England, when William Willet wrote the “Waste of Daylight” in 1907. The idea was to add 20 minutes each Sunday in April. This was followed by Sir Pearce introducing a bill in 1909 in the House of Commons making it compulsory to adjust the clocks in the spring and fall. This bill met with much ridicule and opposition at the time and did not pass although being introduced several times. William Willet died March 4th, 1915. Following Ger- many’s lead Britain passed a bill and Willet’s scheme went into operation May 31st, 1916. You can bet there was much opposition and confusion as some of the Governmental agencies and private businesses refused to adjust to the new “Summer Time” as it was called.
Daylight Saving Time was instituted in the United States during World War One in order to save en- ergy for war production by taking advantage of the later hours of daylight between April and October. In 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act which standardized the length of Daylight Saving Time in the United States. In 2007 four weeks were added to Daylight Saving Time due to the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Only two states, Hawaii and Arizona and Puerto Rico, U.S Virgin Islands and American Samoa have chosen not to observe Daylight Saving Time. Other parts of the world observe Daylight Saving Time and in the southern hemisphere where the seasons are reversed Daylight Saving Time is from October to March.
Add to your knowledge daily brother, read, listen and correspond. The world has much to offer.
Fraternally,
John Thomas
Junior Warden
