The Oskaloosa herald., 1892-07-28
The Correct Columbus Da
The recent action of Congress cha

The recent action of Congress chang
ing the date for the national publ
school celebration from October 2lst t.
October 2lst is a step In the direction
OF scholarly accuracy, and 1t Is remark
able that it should have been so lOnI
over looked.
Ifthere is to be a national observance
of the 400th anniversary of the discOv-
cry of America it should take place or
the date which marks the true century
point. 1t Is obviously stupid to avail
the recurrence of q date which BY
reason of arbitrary changes in thu
methods Of reckoning time has lost its
significance aud does not indicate the
true cycle Of years.
Every American knows that Colum.
bus discovered this hemisphere on Oc-
tober IL, 1842, and at first thought Uc-
tOber II, 1892, would seem to mark the
4O0th anniversary of that event. But
it will be remembered that time was
then calculated upon a different basis
than is now in vogue.
For many centuries the Julian cal.
endar was the accepted authority fcT
all caIculations,a although its inaecuraey
was not unknown. In 1882 retorma.
ton took place. The Gregorian cal
eDdar was then introduced in Europe,
and this calendar is now used by all
civilized nations, with the exception of
Russia, which still adheres to the
Julian method of computing time.
When this reformation occurred it was
found necessary to drop ten davs from
the calendar; and October 4, 1852, be-
came October 10, 1852. These dropped
days were the accumulatlons of many
centuries OF erroneous reckoning. The
Julian calendar assumed that a year
contained 365 days, and as this was
IL minutes and IA seconds too long, the
error amounted to 3 days every 400
years. The Gregorian calendar cor
rected this defect by making every CEN
turial year a common year unless di-
visible by 400, whereas by the Julian
calender every year (centurial year in
cluded) divisible by 4 was leap year.
Thus by the new style of computation
the years 1900, 100 and 1900 were not
leap years.
AS previously stated the reformation
took place In 1882, and ten days were
suppressed. But as the discovery of
America was previous to the year 1900,
which by the Gregorian calendar was
common, there were but 8 days to omit.
Consequently on October 81, 1892, the
sun will occupy the same relative posi-
ton to the earth as ON the 18th of Oc.
tober, 1892. when for the first time Co.
lumbus beheld these shores.
For these reasons, together with the
fact that every precedent is in favor of
adopting the new style" of reckoning.
we favor the change.
The Gregorian calendar was not in.
troduced into Great Britain until 1851,
ignorance and prejudice defeating The
change up to that time. Consequently
it has been necessary to correct the
dates of our American anniversaries
which commemorate events previous
to 175l. Washington was born Febru.
ary 11th, but by the new style" his
birthday falls on the 22Dd, and that is
the day we celebrate. The anniversary
of FOrefather's Day and of the found
ing of the city of Boston are both OBJ
served on the corrected date. 1t is un-
fortunate that the Act of Congress of
April %, 1890, naming October 18th,
1892, as the date for the dedication of
the Worlds Fair grounds has not been
by a change of date to Octo.
Der 2lst. The fair will practically be
a year late, and the dedicatory exerci-
Ses should take place on the true ami
which is October 21st. Con-
gress has already shown its good sense
by placing the popular and general cell
ebratiOn of which the public schools
are to be the centers on the correct date.
1t only remains for Congress to extri-
cate the nation from the comical pre-.
dicament of a two-headed celebration
of Discovery Day by changing the Chi
cagO date to correspond with the cor
rected date it has already set for the
popular public school celebrations.