The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1900-01-05

misapprehension in the minds of
many people as to the proper loca-
ton of the year upon which We are
just entering; and even in print
there has been a good deal of allu-
sion to the year now ended as the
closing one of the nineteenth CEN
fury. A half minutes clear think
ing is enough to remove all confu-
sion. With December 81 we COM
plete the year 1899-that is to say,
we round out SO of the 100 years
that are necessary to complete
full century. We must give the
nineteenth century the 365 days that
belong to its hundredth and final
year before the year l of the twent-
ieth century. For some reason the
mathematical faculty usually works
far more keenly in monetary af-
fairs than elsewhere; and none of
the people who have proposed to
allow ninety-nine years to go for a
century would suppose that nine
teen-hundred-dollar debt had been
fully met by a tender of Sl,S99
There would remain due just one
hundred cents.
Though we have quoted the above, and
many other papers and magazines are in
harmony witty it, authority may be mis-
taken.
The elapse Of time, it appears to rs, is
simply 4 question Of the method used in
recording time during the first year Of
the Christian era For instance. If an
incident which happened on the 4th day
fully during the fist year was recorded
VI 0. mo- Z, da. 4. which would mean
that the incident took place : months
and days from the time agreed upon as
q date from which to reckon the elapse
nf time we are beyond a doubt in the
20th century, and have been the past five
Z days: but if on the other hand the same
incident had been recorded. VI. l. mo. Z.
4 da T. which would mean that the incl
dent simply took place on the 4th day of
the eth moath Of the LIST year and not
that year, months and days had
elapsed since the established date as Il
basis for eckoning then we have yet the
remainder of this yeai to round out be-
fore cmeeging into the Goth century.
II our calender is TO register for US. be-
sides locating as to the time Of happen
ing, the number of years that have
elapsed since the beginning Of the Christ
ian era which it seems would be the
only practical method, | am forced To
believe We have begun the journey of
the twentieth century.
The question of leap year may
be as interesting and more in
structive than the above so we
give you the following for deeper
reflection:
1t is borne in mind that the year
1900 is not a leap year, although
divisible by four. Under the Gre
gorian calendar the year consists
approximately Of 365 days, hours
40 minutes, and y seconds. The
accumulated surplus over and
above the 365 days amounts, in the
I course Of a century, to very nearly
"a days. To indulge in leap
. year every four years would require
enough remnants of time stuff to
make up p days for every century
The arrangement in practical use
allows "A leap years each for three
consecutive centuries, and then
gives the fourth century % such
days. Thus. though it is not likely
to concern many Of US in an imme-
diate, practical way, it may be re-
marked that the twentieth century
will be one day longer than the
nineteenth, since it is arranged
that the twenty-ffth leap year
which is assigned to every fourth
century shall be brought into the
calendar Of the year that is divisi-
bic by 400. The failure to sacri-
fee three quadrennial leap years -
that is to say, three extra days in
every four centuries-has led to
the discrepancy between what is
known as the Julian, or old-style
calendar, and the Gregorian.
fTha nTort,1,or, Co., ,..,,.,,., Il =: