The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-03-02
WHEN DOES IT BEG|N2
Butte Torn Up Over the Goth
Century Question.
MORE ABOUT THE SUBJECT
Discussion of the Matter Results in
Heated Arguments and Loss of
Temper-St. Paul Newspa-
pers Take 1t Up.


Among the people of Butte all public
questions are overshadowed by that
confusing problem When does the next
century begin?" Since the publication
in the Standard a week ago of an an
cient authority which held that the cen
fury will begin on the first of next Jan
| uary, and the reply to it by a local
authority in which it was argued that
the century would not begin until
year later, the town has practically
been all torn up over the question. Men
and women are debating it in the homes,
In many cases the matter has resulted
| in men losing their tempers and sew
| eral personal encounters have grown out
of it. Each side of the question has it's
| supporters, but some take a neutral
| ground and contend that both sides are
right, and that the difference is only
| question of starting point. If, in be-
ginning the computation of time, year,
or the end of the first year, is taken as
the starting point, then the century VII
not begin until Jan. 1, 1901, but if the
start is made with the beginning of the
Christian era, or with cipher, then the
century will begin on the first of Jan
| uary, 1900, is the way the neutraIs
put it.
Only for the purpose of contributing
to the interest in the question and add
| ing to the pending mental confusion,
the following from the St. Paul Pioneer
Press. giving a clear statement of the
arguments generally advanced on either
| side of the question. is published:
st. Paul, Feb. 23.-To the Editor: In
| the issue of your journal of the 18th
| inst there appeared on page 9 the fol-
lowing mention of the Greenwich clock:
The clock at Greenwich, England,
which records Greenwich time, used by
| navigators-and in this country by the
| railroads, with allowances for differ
| ences in longitude-has a dial with three
| circles. One circle is for seconds, one
| for minutes and one for hours. 1t is
| "a hour clock but does not have the
| numeral NX1V. The time starts frcm
in all cases-seconds. minutes, hours
| Scientists and those who have to mark
the lapse of seconds accustom them
selves to count ''naught one, two and
| 81 OIL l. lie llISl SetbHu Is IlUt cDlllpletp
until is reached
1T would seem to the writer that a
careful reading of that statement in
| reference to the markings of time. as
| shown by the dials of the Greenwich
| clock should make clear to the mind of
the intelligent. reader that figures, re-
| ferring to time which has elapsed since
| the beginning Of this era to the present
day, always indicate time past, and
| hot ,Itr1,f i- tr
| that infinitestimal point in time which
| intervenes. so to speak, between the
| end of every division of time (frOm sec
onds to and including centuries and
eras), and the beginning of that which
succeeds it. Judging from your COM
ment on the lines quoted below, which
appeared on the editorial page of your
issue of the 21st inst dimes purporting
| to have been written on the morning
| of Jan. l. 1900, you seem to indorse the
erroneous conclusion arrived at by the
rhymer quoted. The following is the
| paragraph containing the lines referred
| to, with your preface and comment
thereon:
1.-The following has been raked up
from the ashes of the past by a can
! temporary. 1t was written on the
morning of Jan. l, 1901:
'''Precisely at u o'clock last night
| The eighteenth century took its flight;
Full many an aching head
Has racked its brain. its ink is shed
To prove by metaphysics fine
! That one hundred means but ninety
| nine,
While others at such wisdom wondered
| But took one more to make a hun
| bred.
eve beg all aching heads" that have
| puzzled over this subject to commit
these lines to memory that it takes 100
years to make a century.
THAT you indOrse the conclusion ar
rived at by the writer of those lines
! goes to show that intelligent minds are
| liable to arrive at opposite conclusions
| upon any given subject. The writer is
| absolutely convinced land he is far
| from being alone in that conviction)
that the year called 1899 represents the
| fact that 1899 decades of years have
| passed, and that when another 4 of a
| decade Cor one year, which is now pass
! ing), has passed, and the year which
we number 1900 arrives. it will simply
| mean that 1900 years or 100 decades of
years have passed since the beginning
| of the Christian era.
ALLOW me to endeavor to make clear
to the reader my meaning by presenting
! the following formula: The naught
preceding the nfSt line IN the f1rSt de-
| cade, as shown in the formula, repre-
sents what l have above endeavored to
express by calling it an infinitestimaI
point in time intervening, in this in
stance, between the preceding and the
present era The lines, thus, as used
in the formula, represent time past and
| figures indicate years past The formu' a
is as follows: 0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-
| 9-10-11-12- 13-l4-15-16- l7--1S--19--
This formula is intended to represent
the first two decades of years of the
present era. The reader will notice that
| 10 lines in the above formula. each rep
resenting the passing of one year of
time, are counted before figures repre-
senting 10 years are reached, so that 10
| means that 10 years have preceded its
use as a record of time, and this holds
good with every multiple of 10 to the
end of the present era. which, of course.
includes the one hundred and ninetieth