W. D. Moffat
Editor
DAYLIGHT SAVING
FRANKLIN’S IDEA
There was nothing of any significance in the affairs of mankind that escaped Benjamin Franklin’s attention. Not only political, social, commercial, literary and artistic matters concerned him, but likewise the many problems, great and small, that had to be met in the course of the day’s work. He was the first to conceive the idea of daylight saving—which means that he was, in practical wisdom, 130 odd years ahead of his time.
On an early morning walk along the streets of London in 1784 the thought first came to Franklin, and in passing it on to the world at large he said:
“In a walk through the Strand and Fleet street one morning at 7 o’clock, I observed there was not one shop open, although it had been daylight and the sun up above three hours, the inhabitants of London choosing voluntarily to live by candle light and sleep by sunshine; and yet often complaining a little absurdly of the duty on candles and the high price of tallow.”
Soon thereafter in the Journal de Paris he published an article, later appearing among his essays under the title “An Economical Project,” which further elaborated the advantages of daylight saving; namely, of “Turning the clock forward an hour” so that everybody would live one hour longer by daylight and one hour less by artificial light.