Daylight saving: The dawn of darkness (and some confusion)

Hope you enjoyed that extra hour of sleep this morning, because for the next four months, most of us will be going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark.

Fortunately, this coming stretch of stygian days will be the shortest since daylight-saving time was enacted in 1942. As a result of the energy bill passed two years ago, we'll be turning our clocks forward on March 11, three weeks sooner than in the past. Next fall, we'll turn them back on the first Sunday in November, effectively adding a full month to daylight-saving time.

Observance of daylight-saving time is not mandatory around the country, but it will be followed in all states except Arizona and Hawaii, along with Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa.

Our continental neighbors also generally follow the practice. Canadian provinces will be saving daylight on the same schedule as we do, with the exception of Saskatchewan and parts of British Columbia. All three of Mexico's time zones will join us in March. In Central America, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua save time; Belize, El Salvador and Panama do not.

Bermuda switches time, as do the Caribbean islands of the Bahamas, Cuba, Haiti and the Turks and Caicos, while most of the others do not.

The South American countries lying closest to the equator, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, don't bother switching back and forth, because there isn't much difference between the daily hours of sunlight in summer and winter. Argentina, Brazil and Chile do save time, but opposite to our routine, springing forward in October or November and back in February or March.

Elsewhere, all members of the European Union will be switching their clocks back today and turning them forward the last Sunday in March. Same for Russia and all of the former Soviet republics. No Asian countries (other than Mongolia) bother with daylight saving, including the vastness of China, which has only one time zone. Ditto for all of the Pacific island nations. Parts of Australia and New Zealand save daylight, while others do not. In the Middle East, Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria save time, while in Africa, only Egypt, Tunisia and Namibia bother resetting their clocks twice a year.

Confused? The best advice about knowing what time it is in a country you'll be visiting is to check before you go. There are plenty of good Web sites, including www.timeanddate.com.

In a related note, there's a strong Western Pennsylvania connection to the keeping of daylight-saving time in the United States.

Although Benjamin Franklin was the earliest American proponent of the idea of setting clocks forward in the spring and backward in the fall, much of the credit for actually implementing the concept goes to Robert Garland, a member of Pittsburgh City Council from 1911 to 1939.

Called the "Father of Daylight Saving," Mr. Garland was born in Ireland in 1862 and moved with his family to Pittsburgh in 1877, where he found work as a clerk in the Oliver Iron and Steel Co. In his early 30s, he established a manufacturing company and became active in civic affairs. Business success brought him prominence, and he was elected to corporate boards, university trusteeships, as well as prestigious organizations such as the Duquesne Club, University Club and Pittsburgh Athletic Association.

During World War I, Mr. Garland was appointed district chairman of the War Resources Committee. Long an advocate of saving daylight, he used his position to help craft and promote federal legislation implementing the concept, and on March 18, 1918, Congress enacted the Boreland bill.

In recognition of Mr. Garland's contribution, President Woodrow Wilson sent him the pen he used to sign the legislation into law. Although the act was repealed the following year, many cities including Pittsburgh, continued observing the practice of "springing forward and falling back."

Mr. Garland continued to be a strong advocate for daylight saving, along with Pittsburgh Mayor Edward Babcock and editorial cartoonist Cy Hungerford, long of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. When the United States entered World War II in 1942, the idea came up again, and Congress quickly passed legislation making it a legal guideline for the country. President Franklin Roosevelt also sent Mr. Garland the pen he used to sign that legislation.

And now, as Paul Harvey would say, you know the rest of the story.