Monday, April 04, 2005

"Most Americans think daylight-saving time benefits farmers or saves energy, but farmers have always hated having to get up earlier and energy savings have never been proven," according to Downing.

"The idea seems to have originated with Benjamin Franklin, who noticed in Paris in 1784 that people slept while the sun was up in during summer mornings, but complained about the cost of candles used at night. He suggested U.S. church bells be rung at sunrise, and if that didn't rise people, a cannon be fired."

Wall Street preferred having fewer hours between the markets being open in New York and London and stores found they had more shoppers while it was still light, the Globe reported. The federal government made it official in 1966.