More than a century ago, the editors of the Pottsville Republican newspaper published a plea to synchronize time across Schuylkill County.

Despite national efforts to sync watches, clocks, shop whistles, and bell towers, Pottsville and surrounding areas apparently had not yet gotten in sync.

From the Pottsville Republican, February 9, 1922:

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Synchronize the Whistles

Synchronized time is certainly needed by our Pottsville industries and those of the surrounding towns for the variety of time now observed is confusing to say the least.

Unless you set your watch by Washington synchronized time, which is to be found in many places throughout the city, the chances are ten to one that your watch will not agree with that of anyone else or with any of the store clocks, or the factory and colliery whistles.

Daylight saving time was a deliberate and deep laid plot to twist time around for an hour, but the present system, or lack of system, which regulates our clocks has nothing to commend it and has much about it which is not desirable.

The workman coming to his place of employment hears a whistle blow, “What 7 o’clock already,” and he steps on the gas and pulls out. After he has commenced to puff with exertion of violent walking, another whistle blows. “Oh! Why it is only 7 o’clock now,” and he eases up in his stride.

A few more squares and another 7 o’clock whistle blows and from then on every few minutes he can hear a 7 o’clock whistle blowing firm from the North, then from the South, then the East or the West.

It is either that each industry keeps its own original favorite time or else the whistle man waits until he has smoked out his pipe or finished his conversation with the man on the upper floor, or else – but we would not dare to enter into all the possibilities of the occasion.

But this great discrepancy in time to be noted in every official and unofficial clock and watch and every whistle and bell, has reached a point where it is time for some organized effort to determine by just what time we are to go, whether it is court house time, colliery time, mill time, shop time, school time, our own individual preference time, or Washington time.

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You can almost hear the chaos.

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