Spring back, fall ahead, right?

No? Well, whatever. We all know that sometime this weekend (2 a.m. Sunday) we should set—or forget to set—our clocks back one hour (must be fall back). Do any of us know why we do this?

First things first, you do not get an extra hour to drink. Sorry.

Before 1883, all U.S. towns kept time by sundial. This resulted in different times in towns that were not very far apart. The fledgling railroad companies could not handle this and originated one standard time—railroad time.

In the early 1900s, the British debated on a daylight savings program to conserve fuel and increase training time for soldiers, but it was always defeated because of farmers’ opposition.

Farmers don’t like the idea because they have to push back hay bailing and harvesting certain crops for an hour to allow the sun to dry off the nightly dew, said Dave Whitson of the DeKalb County Extension Service.

In 1916, Germany and then Britain switched to Daylight Savings Time and saved 15 percent in energy consumption. The U.S. followed suit in 1918 to conserve wartime fuel but abandoned it afterward due to agricultural pressure.

A year-round DST was established during World War II and was kept by some states. In the early 1960s, 18 states had DST, 18 had local DST (DST when they chose it), and 14 went by standard time. A bus ride from Steubenville, Ohio to Moundsville, W. Va., a trip of 35 miles, required seven watch corrections.

In 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, which we follow today. In 1974, it imposed a 10-month DST during the Arab oil embargo, which saved an estimated 100,000 barrels of oil each day.

Now, candy industries lobby for DST to extend past Halloween. The Southland Corp., the 7-11 people, estimate the hour they lose means $30 million because working women who shop there during the day go to better-lit supermarkets at night.