The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-06-28
END OF THE CENTURY.
MIR. Beaumont Says the New Cen.
fury Begins Jan. L, 1900.

Mr.. Beaumont Says the New Cen
fury Begins Jan. L, 1900.
To the Editor Of the Globes:
In your issueei Off the 23d inst. there
appeared on The editorial page, under the
above caption md over the signature
of c. L. Annan,a Communication which
starts out with the, following statement,
namely: 3pIt
eff one hundred years make century,
the opening of the twentieth century of
the Christian era will date from Jan. l,
19O1" That lone htf1idred years make a
century," no one will deny but it by no
means thereby follows that the opening
of the twentieth century will date from
JAN I, 1901. The writer, quoted above,
evidently overlooked the undeniable fact
that numerals used to denote the flight
of years which have elapsed since the be-
ginning of the Christian era denote, in
every instance, time past. This Is an alb
solute fact from which there is no escape
and, such being the case, when the cur
rent year is complete and the figures 1900
are used, they will denote the fact that
1900 years have passed since the begin
ming of the era, that the nineteenth CEN
tury Is complete, and every day, week
and month which follow the use Of the
figures 1900 will be days, weeks and
months Of the year which, when COM
plete, will call for the use of the. figures
1901, which will mean that the first year
Of the twentieth century is complete. The
first day of January last was the 1S99th
anniversary of the birth of Christ and
of the beginning of the Christian era.
The writer would like to ask your cor
respondent this question, namely: Sup
posing a man-was living today whose
birth was coincident with the beginning
of this era, would he not be nearly six
months over 1899 years old? It is passing
strange how readily everybody under
stands death notice which reads as fol-
lows: Died, on the 18th inst, John
Smith, in his one hundredth year" Which
means that he had passed the ninety
ninth anniversary OF his birth and had
entered upon the one hundredth year of
his life, and. on the other hand, so many
fail to readily comprehend the fact that
the era has passed the 1S99th anniversary
of it's beginning, and has now entered
upon it's 190Oth Year. While the current
year is the year. which, when complete,
will be the year 1900, we cannot use
those figures until the year Is complete,
for the reason that it may never be COM
pleted. This globe ON which we live may
suddenly leave it's orbit, and take q head
er into some abyss of infinite space, be-
fore the year is complete; therefore it is
only safe, Enthusiastically and arith-
metically, to make all figures denoting
the lapse of years indicate time past.
The use of the Latin words Ammo Do.
mini CA. d., literally signifying Gin the
year of the Lord" ifreely translated, 'in
the year Of our lord"l, are misleading
and no doubt. cause much of the confu-
sion that exists in many minds as to the
end of the century When we read some
legal instrument and find it dated as fol-
lows: This goth day of June, In the year
of our Lord one Thousand eight hundred
and ninety-rine "a T. 1891" 1t has a
tendency to fix in our minds the false i'm
preston that the current year is the year
1899, and, while it is SO stated in the text
of the instrument. 1t is. as. a matter of