Question: How dies a mine worker who lives in Port Henry arrive at work in Mineville at 7 am, works an eight hour-day, with a half-hour lunch break, and gets back to his home in Port Henry a little after 2:30 pm.
Answer: The difference between Standard and Daylight Savings time in thee two communities.
Port Henry residents voted 251-242 in a public referendum to continue on Standard time, The Ticonderoga Sentinel reported on May 17, 1923.
“The village of Port Henry will have none of that new-fangled time. The question of adopting Daylight Savings time was submitted to the people in a special election Monday, and the ‘old-timers’ carried the day by the skin of their teeth,” the Sentinel reported. “Port Henry’s sister villages, Mineville and Witherbee, are on Daylight Savings time, and there is some
confusion and inconveniences as a result.”
In other lighter side of political news collected from Northern New York historic newspapers:
Politicians helped clear the sidewalks in Albany. “An order was promulgated a few days since requiring the capitol orderlies in Albany to shovel the snow from the sidewalks about the Capitol, and the other day an alderman, justice of sessions and a city supervisor did valiant service with the other officials in shoveling the beautiful,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on Dec. 22, 1890.
Verplanck Colvin, the Republican candidate for state engineer, campaigned at Glens Falls, The Morning Star reported on Oct. 4, 1893.
“Governor Flower includes in his accomplishments the ability to handle a rifle It with more skill than the average guardsman,” The Morning Star reported on Nov. 7, 1893. “On Saturday he went to the
Rensselaer range and improved his record by forty-four out of a possible fifty.”
It was political fire – not literal fire. “During the Republican demonstration (at Sandy Hill) last evening, someone rang the court house bell and it was answered by the Wait Hose Company bell and the company ran with their cart as far as Judge A.D. Arnold’s residence when they were informed that there was no fire,” The Morning Star reported on Nov. 9, 1893.
“An opossum supper will be served in the Republican club rooms, Troy, this evening, in honor of the victory at the recent election in this state,” The Morning Star reported on Dec. 19, 1893.
It must have been a grand filibuster. “The longest legislative day in the history of the United States Senate was that which began Tuesday, Oct. 17 and closed Monday night Oct. 30,” The Morning Star reported on Nov. 27, 1893.
“Oklahoma, too, is knocking at the door of Statehood, and her case has been favorably reported by the House Committee on Territories. The racing that began when Oklahoma was first opened to settlement seems to have been going on ever since,” The Morning Star reported on Jan. 9, 1894.
Editorial Wit
“Election expenses during the fall campaign are answerable for the winter failure of more than unsuccessful candidate,” The Morning Star quipped on Dec. 27, 1890.
“The farmer always gets plowed under in the political field.” – The Granville Sentinel, Nov. 10, 1893.
“A good many years ago a Massachusetts man was elected to the office of Lieutenant Governor. When the fact of the election was announced, he was called upon to make a speech. – He proceeded to acknowledge the honor in very handsome terms, and added that he should make a good Lieutenant Governor as that was the office he had always held in his own home.” – The Fort Edward Ledger, Sept. 28, 1860.
Photo: A New York Times pressman checking a newspaper for defects in 1942.
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