DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME

Looking back . . . 
'Fast time' causes tense time at Capitol


Last week Minnesotans moved their clocks ahead one hour with
scarcely a fuss.

But more than 20 years ago, the issue of daylight savings time
was one of the most hotly debated topics in the state. It pitted
rural interests against the metro area, and the judiciary against
the executive branch.

The Legislature, as usual, was caught in the middle.

"After two summers of DST (daylight savings time), legislators
and Gov. Orville Freeman report that it has caused more vocal
protests than virtually any other piece of 1957 legislation,"
stated the Minneapolis Star, Jan. 28, 1959.

Added Rep. Willard Munger (DFL-Duluth), "I don't know why people
got so emotional over it, but they sure did."

Farmers complained that "they cannot get into the fields any
earlier than under standard time . . . because the morning sun
does not dry the dew 'on daylight savings time,'" stated the same
Star article.

Marjorie James wrote a letter dated May 23, 1960, to the St. Paul
Dispatch denouncing the idea because, as most parents know, it's
harder to get children to bed when it's light outside.

"Putting clocks back an hour would give us much needed relief
from children, who seem to think because it is still daylight
they should be allowed to run up and down the streets shouting
and screaming," wrote James.

The president of an association of movie theaters wrote that
daylight savings time would be the "death knell" for movie
theaters because people wouldn't go when it's light outside.

And the executive vice president of the Minneapolis Grain
Exchange complained in 1960 that the daylight savings time
adopted by Minnesota didn't conform to the standard set in
roughly half the other states at that time.

"If Minnesota wants to compete in the world of business we must
adopt practices which help industrial expansion in our state,"
wrote George Wilkins in the May 3, 1960, Star. "It is necessary
that we place in a secondary position 'the sleeping habits of
small children.' It seems to me it is of paramount importance
that 'dad have a job,' even though this might mean the children
will be up until 9:30 p.m. on long summer evenings."

The concept of daylight savings time had been around for years.
In fact, Minnesota adopted it during the two world wars to save
energy.

But the skirmishing in the Legislature began in earnest in 1957
with the passage of two laws concerning daylight savings time, or
"fast time," as it was called then.

The first bill allowed Hennepin and Ramsey counties, and counties
contiguous to them, and the city of Duluth to adopt daylight
savings time on their own.

But in a lawsuit brought by an alliance of movie theaters, the
Minnesota Supreme Court issued a ruling that barred the counties
from adopting a different time from the rest of the state and
urged the Legislature to adopt a uniform policy.

Then Attorney General Miles Lord issued an opinion that claimed
the high court's action had no effect on the counties. 

The result was that some parts of the state were on a different
time than others -- a schism that was reflected by state
government in 1957. On the second floor of the state Capitol, the
Legislature and the Minnesota Supreme Court remained on standard
time while the Governor's Office adopted "fast time."

"The fast time issue was one of the greatest legislative battles
in Minnesota history . . .," declared the St. Paul Dispatch, May
20, 1960.

The dispute was temporarily resolved with passage of a bill in
1957 that allowed the governor to adopt daylight savings time for
the whole state.

And in 1959 in a special session of the Legislature, a permanent
daylight savings time law was approved. But in a compromise, its
length was made the shortest in the nation -- extending from the
fourth Sunday in May to the Tuesday following Labor Day. 

In 1966, the U.S. Congress, tired of the patchwork daylight
savings time zones across the country, passed a law that
pre-empted state law and made daylight savings, which runs from
the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October, uniform.


Although many rural Minnesotans were adamantly opposed to "fast
time," a 1961 Minnesota Poll showed that a majority of
Minnesotans supported the concept. The poll in April showed 57
percent in favor of "fast time" while 35 percent opposed it --
although 68 percent of the "farm people" still opposed daylight
savings time.

Its time had come. In fact, a woman from southern Minnesota made
it clear that she was adopting daylight standard time no matter
what the Legislature did.

"A housewife in so far standard time Le Sueur County . . . says
her house is going on daylight savings, law or no law," stated an
Associated Press story of April 25, 1959.

--Grant Moos
with research provided by
Legislative Reference Library



Originally published in 1991 in the Session Weekly, a weekly
newsmagazine published by the Minnesota House Public Information
Office.

***Last Update 8/5/94 (jtt) Last Review 8/5/94 (jtt) ***