June 22, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



631 



on the encouragement of their material develop- 

 ment on sound economic, and therefore on scien- 

 tific, lines. 



It is earnestly to be hoped that the action ap- 

 parently taken may be reconsidered before we al- 

 low ourselves, as a colonial power, to be made ridic- 

 ulous, and as a business people to stand com- 

 mitted to the policy of penny wise and pound 

 foolish. 



Unless we learn in time the lessons which this 

 war is enforcing on every side, namely, that the 

 way of prosperity in the future lies in promoting 

 scientific knowledge and in utilizing the results of 

 scientific investigation, it will make but little dif- 

 ference in the long run whether we win the war 

 or not. For we should assuredly lose in the far 

 more serious conflict that is certain to follow it, a 

 conflict in which the claim for superiority will be 

 inexorably decided against any nation which re- 

 fuses to take fuU advantage of that knowledge 

 which is power in a sense far more real than ever 

 before. 



DAYLIGHT SAVING 



Eesolutions in reference to daylight saving 

 were, on May 23, adopted by tlie American 

 Philosopliieal Society as follows : 



JSesolved, That The American Philosophical So- 

 ciety, convened in special meeting for this pur- 

 pose, memorialize the Congress of the United States 

 urging the early enactment of the identical bills, 

 House No. 2609 and Senate No. 1854, entitled re- 

 spectively "A bill to save daylight and to provide 

 standard time for the United States." 



Eesolved, That the members of the American 

 Philosophical Society urge their respective senators 

 and representatives to take early and affirmative 

 action on these bills, and that the society address 

 the President, asking his approval of them. 



Eesolved, That the members of the American 

 Philosophical Society urge their respective state 

 legislatures to pass resolutions favoring these 

 bills, as the Pennsylvania Legislature has recently 

 done, and that they furlner urge commercial, finan- 

 cial, agricultural and engineering societies in their 

 respective localities to memorialize Congress for 

 the early enactment of these bills. 



Mr. Arthur H. Lea, in moving the adoption 

 of the above resolutions, said in part : 



In his Autobiography , Benjamin Pranklin wrote: 

 "In walking through the Strand and Fleet Street 

 one morning at seven o 'clock I observed there was 

 not one shop open, though it had been daylight 

 and the sun up above three hours; the inhabitants 



of London chnsing voluntarily to live much by 

 candle light, and sleep by sunlight, and yet often 

 complain, a little absurdly, of the duty on candles 

 and the high price of tallow." (Bigelow edition, 

 Philadelphia, 1868, pp. 291-92.) 



The founder of this society was the first to pre- 

 sent the idea of Daylight Saving, but his sugges- 

 tion has been neglected for one hundred and fifty 

 years. Men can not and will not individually alter 

 their habits of rising and going to bed, but col- 

 lectively they can do so wth no inconvenience. 

 Traveling eastward or westward we alter our 

 watches one hour at certain places and immediately 

 forget the change and adapt ourselves to the new 

 time. By federal legislation we can do the same 

 and as easily throughout the entire country. 



The bills aforesaid would legally establish the 

 standard time zones adopted by the railroads in 

 1883, which innovation was then recognized as an 

 immense convenience. They would also cover any 

 legal questions by providing that standard time is 

 to govern common carriers, government officers and 

 persons subject to the jurisdiction of the United 

 States, in their acts and legal relations, rights and 

 contracts. Furthermore, after establishing stand- 

 ard time, these bill provide for advancing it in five 

 zones, respectively, by one hour at 2 a.m. on the last 

 Sunday in April of each year, and for retarding it 

 by one hour at 2 A.M. on the last Sunday in Sep- 

 tember. The only amendment necessary, now that 

 April, 1917, is past, is to provide that for this year 

 the advancement shall take effect at the earliest 

 date, to be specified, after approval of the Act of 

 Congress. 



All the belligerent European nations, except 

 Kussia, have adopted Daylight Saving as a war 

 measure for efficiency and economy, and ad- 

 jacent neutral nations, such as Norway, 

 Sweden, Denmark and Holland, have done like- 

 wise. These European nations now follow 

 time standards 6 and 7 hours ahead of ours, 

 and therefore their business day is practically 

 over before ours begins. Stock exchanges in 

 London and Paris now close one hour before 

 our Exchanges open, and the Continental Eu- 

 ropean stock exchanges close two hours before 

 our opening. Stock exchange transactions 

 within the same day would be facilitated by 

 our advancing our time, and the same would 

 be true of ordinary commercial and financial 

 transactions across the ocean. 



