The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-01-21
How This
Notable Question
Is to Be
Settled in a
Suburban..
Community.

But. my dear sir" said Mr.. warheld,
you have al entirely erroneous view Of
the case. Now. we Will say that this Is
January. It has been January from the first
second Of the first minute Of the first hour
OF the first day OF the month: and It viii
continue to be January until the last second
OF the last minute OF the last hour OF the
last day OF the month. You would not wait
until midnight OF the thirty-frst day Of the
month and then begin to call the ensuing
tw~enty-eight days January. No. cir. You
will call thai. February. Then. again: Take
the day. This is Friday. Il has been Br:-
day since the secondhand marked the end
OF yesterday. II Will continue TO be Friday
until the secondhand marks the lapse OF
the last instant before the beginning OF to-
morrow. You would not say that Il - not
Friday until the full twenty-four hours Of
the day nave elapsede And ye. that Is the
very thing you fellows do say IN regard
20 the year. Where Is the dlfference7"
The advocates of the theory tina Mr.. War
field champione6 cheered.
Hold on. john said somebody on the
other side. You did not carry your arg1I-
ment far enough" Then it appeared that
Il was Mr.. Stevens speaking. Had you
done 50. you would have shown thai there
is absolutely nothing arbitrary In the way
OF counting time. What you say in regard
TO reckoning the days Of the month and the
months themselves IS in~disputahly true. But
take the hours Of the day. for instance,
ard the divisions Of the hours. It is not I
o'clock until sixty minutes have been COM
pleted after u O'Clock. /. is not one mir
ute past u o'clock until sixty seconds have
elapsed-been positively coUnted-after IL
O'Clock. II Is not one second after L o'clock
until the second hand has marked off exact
~ that much time. A man Is not 30 years
OF age until ne has completed fifty years
Of life. Court has not been IN session for
ten days until II has adjourned at the end
Of the tenth day. A t~hirty.day none Is not
due and payable until thirty days from the
Gate Of its making have elapsed. Then. why
should a year be 1900 unit! 1900 years have
elapsed?"
Then there were cheers from the SIDE that
Mr.. Stevens represented. Coincident with
the cheers there was a food OF mixed or
atory IN which both sides Of the question
were discussed with ell The !rregularity that
q dozen or more people could bring into use.
IN which Gays. years. hours. minutes. Sec
onds. months. weeks, feet. inches, miles,
coppers. dollars. bicycles. marbles. papers.
notes. books. terms OF courts. legislatures
and all the other things that have 10 do
with time and its divisions and reckonlugs.
were inseparab!y jumbled.
Before the matter had been settled there
was another addition to the crowd. There
had been additions ever since the opening
OF the argument. But this addition was an
important one. II was J.. l.. Dunning. MI.
Dunning is a great man to argue a ques.
ton. He likes the excitement; and he got
right into the controversy.
Gentlemen" he said. The whole thing
hinges on the question of when we began
to measure time. Was Il from the be-
ginning Of she era that we recognize. or
was II from the date on which that era
was one year oldc / imagine that the usual
rule was followed. I have been a carpen-
ter for a good many years. but I never. I'M
less l happened TO make a mistake. counted
thirteen inches for a foot. When I proceed
TO erect a building / usually lay Of
a pole. generally q ten-foct one.
Sometimes I lay OF the first foot
IN divisions OF twelve inches. Now, let
US call these twelve inches the months OF
the year. / locate a corner of the building
and drive a stake. 1 place my pole against
this stake and commence counting, the first
foot representing twelve months. or one
year. and we are only one foot from the
stake. ] count one. two. three. etc, until
l come to the end of the pole. / find I
am ten feet from the stake-no moro. I
then carefully mark, and slip the pole the
length of itself and repeat. adding Just
ten feet each time l apply the pole. At ten
applications l find ] have loo feet. exactly.
at the end Of the pole. without having TO
trespass on the next foot.
Now, we Will take another view Of the
matter. 1 have twenty silver dollars. Each
one is worth 100 cents. These cents repre-
sen: years. and the dollars represent cen
turtles. | now lay down one dollar at a time.
and count one century. two centuries.
three centuries. ard 50 on until L
have counted out nineteen Of my dol
lars. Now l find that each of the nineteen
centuries il fully represented by 100 cents
for each and every year. Why should I
draw cent from my twentieth dollar to
make good a deficit that does not exist. as
l have already laid down a dollar for every
century. aud a ceEt for every year up to
and including nineteen hundred and no
more? In other words. if l owe A s19 and
pay him sl9, how much more should l have
10 pay TO cancel the debit
"If that does not settle the argument"
shouted a Twentieth ; man.
Settle nothing" shouted an "Auti-Twen-
tie:h'' man. The whole trouble with you
fellows IS that you DO not know when"
And that you don't stop to think
that put In another.
You Will not listen to reason" declared
another. who may. Judging from his re-
mark. have been on either side.
whats the use OF trying to argue with
a man who will not put in another man.
Then why not drop it?" interjectel still
another.
The crowd was now breaking up. and GO
ing Off in sections. still arguing. Finally no
one was left In the room but Judge Shoers
and Deputy Sheriff Autenrelth. The old
Judge sat quite still for a moment. Then he
shifted IN his chair. and said:
"Al. III bet a million dollars that 100
people are In the insane asylum right now