The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1890-03-13
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.
When Will it Regin?-A Difio ult Question
to Decide.
From the Boston Globe. I

DeS!NS. AS matter OI laCL IlIe NueS
ton has long been subject OF vehe-
ment controversy; and it IS not at ali
probable that either one Of the two
opposing camps will ever be reconciled
to the views of'the other.
Will January l, A. D. 1900, be the
beginning of the twentieth century, or
will January l, 1891? This question
has recently been broached in Boston;
and the prospects is that the battle
will rage until the contestants deslst
through sheer weariness. Havard Is
already divided into two parties, and
is getting quite warmin the discussion.
The students have, for a week or more,
beer arguing the pros and cons, with
many appeals to weighty authorities
and much c!ashing of theories. The
question has now been formally sub
mitted to one Of the most learned his
torians in America: ''Nill 1900 or
1901, he the first year Of the twentieth
century," His decision is still pending.
But the dictum of the most learned
of professors could never settle the dis
pute, for each side will always continue
to advance arguments of such force and
cogency as will convince themselves, II
not their opponents. One ofthe notice
able things about the controversy IS
the fact that every person is apt to
take one side or the other from the out
set, and hold it with tenacity that
opposition only increases to bitterness.
The question appears simple enough to
each who considers it, and he is honest
ly amazed at the obtuseness of people
who persist in seeing the other side of
il.
The same controversy accompanied
the debut Of the present century. 1t
was taken up in speeches, in news
paper articles, in pamphlets, aud even
in books. But no detinite conclusion
was reached. Each side triumphantly
clung to its own opinion and viewed
the obstinacy Of the other side with
wondering scorn. 4 canny Scotchman,
one Andrew Mackay, published IN the
wear 1900 a little book entitled "Ihe
Commencement of the Nineteeuth
Century Determined upon Unerrlng
Principles" in which he undertook to
settle the whole question with ponde-
rous conclusiveness. But he only sue
ceeded in getting himself in glorious
muddle of astronomy, science, logic,
chronology and sarcasm. He asserts
that the nineteenth century begins with
the beginning of the year 1900; and he
will not admit that the other side has
leg to stand on.
Astronomers, he tells us, reckon the
year Of Christ;s birth as the year 0: and
it follows, as matter of course, that
the eighteenth century ended with
beginning of the year 1900. Chronologers
reckon the year Of Christ's birth as in
cluded in the era B. {. which amounts
to the same thing as calling 1t zero, so
far as the present era is concerned.
There is still farther complication
and confusion OF ideas due to the fact
that there is a difference of more than
three years between the old and new
chronology, Mr.. Mackay argues warm
ly; 'Those VINO maintain that the
nineteenth century does not begin till
January, 1901, consider the year to
mean the whole Of the first year from
0 to. l. Those, on the contrary, who
consider it as commencing January l,
1900, conceive 1900 to mean not the
lSCUth year, but that atom of time, if l
may be allowed the expression, that
marks tbs completing Of the lS00th
wear from Christ as l o'clock does the
completion of the first hour. This may
possibly be illustrated by an anecdote
of an Indictment set aside because 1t
stated that the crime was committed
between the hours of + aud s, which
was impossible. 1t should have been
between i and 5 o'clock. The hours on
a clock, the milestones on the road,
carpenters rule, the manner Of reckon
ing the degrees of latitude and longi-
tude, all confirm this hypothesis, as
marking not the whole space Of their
respective measures, but the end OF
them. When a man says he is 80 be
does not mean that he is in his 3Oth
year, but that thirty years have elapsed
since his birth. This is proved, also,
from milestones. Would it not be
ridiculous to say, when I arrive at the
milestone marked 100 that I must
proceed to another stone and walk l0l
miles before I complete 100 miles,"
It would be impossible here TO set
forth the learned Arguments that have
been employed in support Of the doc
trine that the ceotuty began with the
first day of 1900. Mr.. Mackay states
some of the more obvious ones. On the
other side, it is scornfully retorted that
no sane man ever thought of himself as
living in the year zero; that the first
wear of q child's life is his year one,
and that i? ne lived long enough he
would round out his first century at the
end of his Tooth year and start in on his
year 10l. 1t is urged, moreover, that if
thelcentury closes with the 99th year,
each decade Of the century must close
with its ninth year, so that each decade
would begin with and end with 50,
style Of reconing better suited to "Alice
in the Looking g-Glass" than to the
daily affairs Of sensible people. The
argumento Of Mr.. Mackay as to the car
penter's rule and the milestones, to be