Poor Ben gets credited with many inventions, and Daylight Savings is only one of them. He did discuss the savings in candles which could be had by getting up early, but it was in a satire of himself published in his last year as America's Minister to France. Being Ben, the Satire was both personal aggrandizement -he was a shameless self promoter--and a savvy political move.
Franklin was better known in Europe than any other inventor or America of the age, and he played his fame to the hilt. Franklin presented Europe with a host of contradictions ones which became associated with "the American character." One aspect of the persona he adopted was the Franklin of Paris salon society, who played chess until the wee hours of the morning while discussing philosophy. This Franklin was said to have invented bi-focals so as to keep an eye on the girls across the room and the one next to him without having to change glasses. Another aspect of the persona Franklin adopted was the character of "Poor Richard," the publisher of almanacs and espouser of the virtues of frugality and industry. This was the Franklin who dressed in a coon skin cap and dark, plain clothing. (This dress had the effect of making him stand out from the brightly colored, baroque clothing of the Paris Court and salon society.)
In 1784, in a letter published in a Paris newspaper, Franklin wrote a satire in which he suggested the public project of regulating when the population of Paris went to bed and arose. In the letter, Franklin satirized himself in both aspects of his European persona, and it's a good example of how Franklin used his fame and humor to gain the public eye and to promote good. Here's an excerpt from the letter:
"An accidental sudden noise waked me about six in the morning, when I was surprised to find my room filled with light; and I imagined at first, that a number of those lamps had been brought into it; but, rubbing my eyes, I perceived the light came in at the windows. I got up and looked out to see what might be the occasion of it, when I saw the sun just rising above the horizon, from whence he poured his rays plentifully into my chamber, my domestic having negligently omitted, the preceding evening, to close the shutters."
"I looked at my watch, which goes very well, and found that it was but six o'clock; and still thinking it something extraordinary that the sun should rise so early, I looked into the almanac, where I found it to be the hour given for his rising on that day. I looked forward, too, and found he was to rise still earlier every day till towards the end of June; and that at no time in the year he retarded his rising so long as till eight o'clock. Your readers, who with me have never seen any signs of sunshine before noon, and seldom regard the astronomical part of the almanac, will be as much astonished as I was, when they hear of his rising so early; and especially when I assure them, that he gives light as soon as he rises. I am convinced of this. I am certain of my fact. One cannot be more certain of any fact. I saw it with my own eyes. And, having repeated this observation the three following mornings, I found always precisely the same result."
In the letter, Franklin goes on to calculate the savings in candle wax to be had if all of Paris were to get up with the sun and go to bed earlier. Reading the letter, I can't help but think of George Burns as Franklin delivering it.
Most don't understand Franklin's humor and just how fine a writer he was, and I have to tell you, humor if fun to teach.
The moral: you can't blame Franklin for Daylight Savings. Blame bad readers of satire, who took his modest proposal more seriously than he intended.
Here's a link to Franklin's piece, which was published in a newspaper in Paris:
Steve
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