Spring Ahead

The long list of disruptions that people in this era faced ranged from the world-historical to the socially epochal to the merely annoying … right down to the trivial, which is what we're dealing with in today's post, in the form of Daylight Saving Time.

Somewhere in the course of my education, I got it into my head that DST was a Depression-era invention, so I was surprised to come across it in 1918. But I'm always glad to have my ignorance remedied.

The Hobart News of March 21 announced that, a few days earlier, Congress had passed a bill putting daylight saving time into effect on March 31. (Obviously they weren't wasting any time, were they? Ha ha.) The intent was to give "wage earners one extra hour in which to work in their garden or have a little extra time of their own which they would not have otherwise."

Just before the time change, the News explained to its readers in careful detail what to do:

[W]hen you prepare for bed Saturday evening, say at 10 o'clock, move your clock or watch ahead one hour to 11 o'clock. If you do not do this, when you come down town Sunday morning for your mail at the customary time, you will find Postmaster Kostbade has kept open his usual hour and gone home.

The Gazette likewise reminded its readers to do what is now a yearly ritual familiar to most of us, adding: "It will make a wonderful saving in daylight."

The following Thursday, the News said that daylight saving time had gone into effect with "scarcely a ripple," beyond a few forgetful people missing their trains.


Sources:
♦ "Clocks to Be Set Ahead One Hour Beginning March 31." Hobart News 21 Mar. 1918.
♦ "Don't Forget to Move Your Clock Ahead One Hour." Hobart News 28 Mar. 1918.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 4 Apr. 1918.
♦ "New Time in Effect Next Sunday." Hobart Gazette 29 Mar. 1918.