The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1869-05-29
THE FoURiI OF saARCm.


which has been haped to us for our opin.
ion about it, has rtived the old inquiry
| why the fourth of larch was selected as
the day for inapgDtiug a newly elected
President; and anScrs that il is because
the fourth Of Mard rccurs less on Sun.
day than any 0therlay Of tho week.
The question cbtains an erroneous
statement and tho explanation contains
another. Tho -foura of March was in no
way selected" ashc day Of iuaugura.
tion, and the fourthof March recurs lust
rs often as any otkr day Of the week
neither more nor les.
The explanation { these two matters,
which come up ever four years as puz-
zles, is very simple.
The Constitution d the United States,
which was passed. ia 1856, was ratified bs
a sufficient numler OF States 10 be put In
operation in III, middle Of 1888. In
September, 17sS the Congress of the
Confederation announced the ratification
and provided the necessary steps for or.
ganizing under it, to 10 taken in the fol.
lowing order:
Llectlons were to 50 appointed in the
several States on thc"frst Wednesday Of
The ensuing January" the electors were
70 assemble and cast hcir votes for Presi-
dent On "the first Wednesday in Febru-
ary," and ''the frst Wednesday in March"
was appointed for commencing the pro
ceedines under the Constitution"
The first "Wednesday 10 March, 1889,
happened to be on the Ith of March and
it was appointed for the commencement
of the new Govcrpm.nt, not from any
peeularity Of its fourth day of March, !,
but as the third in n series Of Wednes.
days selected at convenient monthly il.
,eryals for tho several successive steps Of
organizing the new Government
These were provisional arrangements,
which we're superseded by the subsisting
law, passed by tho frst Congress, in which
the Presidential term Of Office was made
to date from the fourth of the March
succeeding an election thus fixing the
official commencement of General Wash.
ington's second term, at the close Of four
years from the day designated for the
commencement.
If there had been any purpose to avoid
Sundays. the obvious rule would have
been TO keep The original designation oi
the frst Wednesday in March, instead oi
altering il TO the 18th day of March, which
was probably done 10 make the term OF
four years an equal and definite one, in
stead Of the variable one IL would be, !,
nauuta1 rx.s. a.a TFaJ..n.Ju., - MIL
to the corresponding Wednesday Of the
fourth succeeding year.
There is this further and settling ex.
plnnatiou, that the fs.s-~'' A~r cf Ms-"L
is not different IN any respect from any
other. aud from every day in the year,
and in every year, in returning 70 the
days Of the week in invaTiablc order,
through regular cycles.
The cycle is tWep,y-eight years, within
which period every day of the year re.
turns four times on each of the seven
days of the week, and at the twenty.
eighth year all the days return in the
same order through the year to the same
day Of the week. The intervals of the
four intermediate recurriogs are irregu.
lar, and not divisible by four, so that an
inauguration day, which occurs every
fourth year, recurs TO tho same day Of the
week and month only oncc 10 twenty.
cight.years.
There is variation when the cycle Of
twenty. eight years overlaps the even
hundreds Of years, the order is disturbed
to the extent of day in the transition
from century to century. But in the
every day suffers cquslly in the
the displacement, and Is affected in the
same way in its recurrence and the
fourth of March changes its relative posi-
ton just as all other daps in the year do,
neither more nor less. These cycles arc
arranged on the basis of astronomical
facts as invariable as the laws of motion
of the heavenly bodies. which hu-
man science has been taxed to reduce to
universal formuln, that, applied to meas.
ures Of time, make the order of success.
sions invariable.-Pieayune.