Enough Gas, Enough Daylight

Patriotic vigilantes would have to find something else to be vigilant about: on Saturday, October 20, 1918, the federal fuel administration cancelled "gasless Sunday." The country's gasoline reserves had been sufficiently replenished, so people could go driving around for pleasure as well as to church on Sunday. However, on that first unrestricted Sunday, "the great rush which was expected did not materialize," the Hobart News noted, "perhaps due to the rainy and threatening weather" — or perhaps due to the fear that the word had not spread to all the paint-wielding patriots in the area.

At the same time, the federal government decided it had enough daylight, and Congress allowed clocks across the nation to be turned back one hour, over the objections of the War Industries Board chairman.

The Indiana fuel administrator did not feel so confident about the coal supplies, and urged people to lay in their winter's coal supply now in order to avoid the shortages that had made the previous winter so miserable.


Sources:
♦ "Clocks to Be Turned Back One Hour at 2 a.m. October 27." Hobart News 24 Oct. 1918.
♦ "Fuel Administrator Advises Householders to Lay in Coal Supply." Hobart News 24 Oct. 1918.
♦ "Fuel Administrator Lifts Gasoline Ban Effective Last Sunday." Hobart News 24 Oct. 1918.