The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1899-12-23
Our correspondent will observe that

nineteenth century ends on Dec. RI,
1900, and that the twentieth century be-
gins; but, as he does not claim to be
lnfalllble on matter of chronology, no
good Catholic need hesitate to differ
with his holiness about the date, The
Cardinal says that all scholars under
stand that the final year of the nine
tenth century begins with 1000, but it
appears that all scholars do not under
stand that to be the case. He would
have spoken more correctly had he said
that some scholars believe it and some
scholars do not. Rev. L. A. Lambert,
the scholarly editor of the New York
Freeman's Journal, believes that the
twentieth century opens on Jan. I, 1900
instead OF Jan. I, 1901, and he gives the
following reasons, which we consider
most convincing:
We are now living in the one hun
dredth year of the nineteenth century,
and when this one hundredth year OF
this century ends at midnight on the
3Ist of next December the nineteenth
century will be closed, and as far be-
yond our reach as the years before the
flood. OF course, if the year we are
living in were 1899 it would require one
more year to complete the nineteenth
century; but as we are now living in
the hundredth, and not in the ninety
ninth year, the end of this hundredth
year is the end OF the century.
What does a date mean? It is an
answer to the question: How much
time has passed since the birth OF
Christ? Thus the date Jan. 81, 1890,
means that 1899 years, plus 81 days,
have passed since the angels sang their
song OF peace to men over the crib at
Bethlehem. Put it into another form:
Suppose our Lord had continued to live
IN visible manner on earth up to the
present time, how old would He be?
1t is the purpose OF date to answer
that question. He would be 1899 years
and 81 days old; that is, so much time
has passed since His birth. A date,
then, always expresses past time, not
current time. Hence, Jan. 81, 1900,
means that 1899 has passed 81 days
over, and these 81 days are the 31-365ths
OF the year one hundred. That is the
present year.
Where, then, did 1899 come in? It
came in Jan. 1, 1898, and was the time
that interviewed between that date and
Jan. I, 1899.
Why, then, do we call this year 1890
if it be not SO? We do not call it 1900.
We call it 1899 plus 81 days, or plus any
other number of days on till we have
enough days to make a year. These
days do not belong to 18oo-for that
year is passed and counted-but to the
years following it; that is, to the year
one hundred of this nineteenth century
In counting we always retain the last
unit as the basis OF the count, and we
add to it the fractional parts of the next
Unit until the fractional parts make a
whole Unit of the same order of the pre-
ceding unit. Thus we say five dollars
and ten cents, five dollars and twenty
cents, and so on-always retaining the
five dollars as the base-until we can
say five dollars and hundred cents;
that is, five dollars and one dollar, We
add this dollar to the five, which gives
us six dollars as a new base, to which
add the fractions of the next dollar, and
so on. 1t is for this reason that the
figures "18' as the symbol of past cen
turtles, have been retained for the last
hundred years as base on which to
place the fractional parts of the nine
teenth century. But although we have
for hundred years retained the 49,"
we have not called the present century
from it, because it was not the eigh-
teenth century, but the eighteenth plus
the years OF the nineteenth that have
passed. In the same way as with five
dollars we retain the symbol of the past
1899 as the unit base OF the fractional
parts OF the year that is now passing.
We say 1899 and 81 days, 1899 and 200
days, 1899 and 3o5 days, 1899 and one
year. We then add this one year to the
1899 which equals 1900. The symbol OF
1890 must be retained until the days
added to days make another year. The
year that the passing days are now
making is the hundredth year-the
time that intervenes between 1899 and
1900. This time will expire Dec. 81,
1899, and after the clock strikes IL, 1900
years will have passed. We indicate
that it has passed by making it the new
basis to which to add the fractional
parts of the next, the twentieth century.
After the clock has struck IL the date
will be Jan. I, 1900, which is equivalent
to 1900 years plus one day. That one
day being over and above 1000 belongs
to the twentieth century. Keep in mind
that dates are symbols OF time past and
there is no confusion.
With due reverence to the great pom
tiff who sits on the throne of Peter we
prefer to believe with Father Lambert
that the nineteenth century ends at mid
night OF Dec. 81, 1899, and that the
twentieth century begins after the
twelfth stroke of the clock. Tn other