The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-03-02

divergence of opinion exists as to
Whetnef the current year, /. e. 1882 or
the year 1900 is the last year of the
nineteenth century. The diversity of
opinion VIII disappear as soon as it be-
comes fixed in the minds of those who
are interested in the subject, that any
given inquire indicating the year.of our
Lord as, for instance, A. D. 1900, are in
tended to convey to the mind the fact
that l,S0O years have passed since the
beginning of the era in which we live,
and that when the 31st of December OF
the year 1900 had passed. the first year
of the nineteenth century was com
plete.
In what has been written above. the
writer has endeavored to make it clear
that all numerals indicating the year
of our Lord, from the beginning of this
era to the present day, indicate, in ev-
cry instance, time passed.
j. l. BEAUMONT"
To the above the st. Paul paper re-
plies editorially as follows:
u. l. Beaumont argues that the CEN
fury will end Dec. 81 1899 He takes as
parallel the fact that the clock at
Greenwich by which time is reckoned
starts with the figure and runs to L,
marking the end of the first hour, to
NN1II marking the end Of the 23rd hour.
and ends at 0, marking the end of the
oath hour The argument would be
very convincing if it did not overlook
one very essential point. The starting
point of the clock is 0, but that of the
era is I. When the Greenwich clCcll
was constructed those in charge arb
trarily used the symbol as the start
ing point They might have used the
symbol I, in which case Mr.. Beaumont
would have used some other parallel to
discover his confusion But they did
not. And they did not because there
was no more reason to start with than
with or 150-while there was soma
reason to start with 0, because the clock
is intended to mark passing time and
fractions of the first hour are as i'm
portant as any others.
But when it seemed desira BILE to
mark off a new era. those who
took charge of the matter arbitrarily
used the symbol l as the starting point.
They might have used the symbol 0. in
which case they would have saved the
world oceans of ink. But they did not.
And they did not with good reason.
They desired to properly designate the
first year of the era, and they labeled
it A. D. l, and not A. d. or A. ID. 2.
because there is a peculiar inclination
to connect the adjectival first with the
numeral one. If they had started with
0 the first month would have begun
Jan. L. A. D. O. instead of Jan. /, A.
d. !, as we have been taught to believe.
A year later it would have been Jan /,
A. d. l. instead of A. d. 2. and Mr..
Beaumont would be correct. But as
we have failed to see any event recorded
as having happened in A. D. 0, and as
1T has been stated several times on ex-
celent authority that Jan. l, A. D. /.
was the starting point of the era, we
assume that as a matter of hard. unre-
sisting, and otherwise impervious fact,
the fellows who invented the era start
ed with the first month of the year |
just as the Greenwich fellows started
their clock at 0. If we are not mis-
taken in this assumption the irrefragi-
bic laws of simple addition cOnStra n
us to believe that the first year did not
end until midnight Dec. 81. A. D. l.
the first century did not end until Dec.
81 A. D. 100 and the nineteenth CEN
tury will not end until midnight Dec.
81. 1900
| "Furthermore. if the gentleman who
wrote the article Chronology in the
| Encyclopedia Britannica does not de-
| liberia tely preNaricate, the very aStron
omers upon whose assistance Mr.. Beau
mont depends treat him scurvily. Says
the Britannica: Astronomers denote
| the year which preceded the first of our
era by O#**. but chronologsrs in con
formity with common notions call the
year preceding the era / B. c.. This
| shows not only how arbitrarily are the
designations. but that astronomers and
| chronologers agree that the first year
| of our era was the year A D. l., begin
ming Jan. |. A. D. 1. Consequently. as
| it takes 100 years to complete a century
| and not ninety mine, the nineteenth
century will not end until Dec. 81, 1900.