I thought we were done with this. Was it my imagination that the outdated practice of “Spring forward, Fall back” was being discontinued? As my readers discovered last week, Daylight Saving Time is still around.

Daylight Saving Time has been around for a long time. In fact, legend has it that we can thank Ben Franklin for it. He invented a lot of things including bifocals, swim fins and the lightning rod. Daylight Saving Time has become a standard procedure in many parts of the world. The concept is credited to Benjamin Franklin while he was in Paris representing the new United States of America. He wrote an essay in 1784 proposing that Parisians could save money on candles by waking up earlier and taking advantage of a longer period of daylight. At the time he didn’t think anyone would take it seriously; it was the humor piece that caught people’s attention.

It was up to George Vernon Hudson, no relation to me, to actually push to adjust the time pieces around the world to benefit from longer days when people were up. He was an entomologist from New Zealand who in 1895 presented a paper to the Wellington Philosophical Society. It proposed a 2 hour shift forward in March and a 2 hour shift backward in October. He began bugging everybody with his theory. Those of you who collect words would see the irony of my using the word bugging. An entomologist is a person who studies insects. By adjusting the clocks twice a year Hudson summarized that he would have longer periods of daylight to collect insects for his studies. But over the years it made lots of people “bug out.”

The use of Daylight Saving Time got a big boost at the beginning of the First World War. In an effort to conserve resources and fuel, Germany became the first country to use DST when on April 30th, 1916, they mandated that the clocks be turned forward in the spring and back in the fall. They correctly surmised that by extending daylight hours they could reduce the use of coal for artificial lighting and their war effort. Many European countries including the United Kingdom and France adopted Daylight Saving Time within weeks.        

The United States jumped on the bandwagon in 1918 with the passing of the Standard Time Act. However, the practice was met with mixed reactions. While many praised the energy saving benefits others were bothered that it would upset their daily routine. In response, the US Congress abolished the Act after the war leaving it up to local jurisdictions and states to decide whether to continue the practice.

Years later when the United States got involved in the Second World War, President Franklin Roosevelt instituted essentially a Daylight Saving Time. It would be year-round to maximize daylight for production and reduce energy consumption. It lasted until the end of the war in 1945.

 When the Second World War ended various states divided a mixed bag of Daylight Saving Time practices that confused a lot of people. To address this, the Uniform Time Act of 1966 was enacted. It standardized the system for Daylight Saving Time across the country. Simply said, the Act stipulated that it would begin on the last Sunday in April and end on the last Sunday in October, but it wasn’t universal because states were given the option to opt out of it by passing state legislation.

Proving the adage that you can’t make everybody happy, Congress has tinkered with the Uniform Time Act since it began. For example, during the energy crisis of 1974 Congress extended the Daylight-Saving Time to last nearly the entire year to conserve energy. It made a lot of people angry due to the unpopular fact that it extended the period of darkness in the morning and in 1976 everything went back to the original Daylight Saving Time.

In 2005 something called the Energy Policy Act further modified Daylight Saving Time extending it by 4 weeks. It begins now in the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.

Despite its history of being around for hundreds of years it remains a very controversial topic. Those in favor argue that it saves energy, promotes outdoor activities, reduces traffic and accidents. Those who criticize it contend that the energy saving benefits are minimal and the shift in time disrupts sleep patterns and can have adverse health effects. Some studies have even linked the biannual clock changes to increased risk of heart attacks, strokes and health issues.

Personally, I am okay with the biannual adjustment of my time pieces. It is my way of celebrating the time of the seasons.

Hudson Cooper is a resident of Sullivan County, a writer, comedian and actor.