New-York tribune., 1901-01-06
CENTURIES AND DECADES.
A FEW LAST WORDS AS TO WHEN
THEY BEGIN AND END.
THE TR1BUNE's STATEMENTS OF THE
FACTS OF THE CASE AND A FEW
COMMENTS THEREON.

the cannon have gone off. the City Halls
have been Illuminated the fireworks have be-
spangled the armament. Almost all the peo-
pie have thrown up their hats and shouted
'.Hurrah." for the new century, while few
have sat at home and felt that the date Of the
celebration all mistake. and that it ought to
have happened year ago. II will seem to many
that any argument directed toward convincing
these persons is wasted. Still. some of these
persons serious and honest-perhaps all OF them
are-though some of them inclined to be vio-
lent, and The Tribune has been rash enough to
print few articles already with the purpose Of
convincing them. and one farewell effort to set
them right shall be made. Some OF The Tribune's
readers have been pretty well stirred up by the
articles published already. and this is chiefly
for them.
One OF the readers of The Tribune is the Editor
OF ''The Evening Press" of Dayton Ohio He read
article in The Tribune IN which the question OF
decades was discussed along with that of centuries
and he wrote editorial il, In which he said:
n the first deeade-says of the nineteenth cen
ssii Z. -the ems, fhsn the nsR5 decade would
more Tben The or tbrd aeeaSe H
would be ',the twenties." But what year begins
logically begin with twenty-one. Hence the fourth
decade begins with thirtyone. and so on. And the
lssl 10 1850 inclusive. For the twenties certainly
oomprise the decade Ss Of The on twenes a s This Was
this form OF reference TO the 'eyen decades" And
= Is al, right proyidpg only that we do g., not 60
teens which. as matter OF accuracy consist
ending with lsls inclusive So 'fhe teens DO not
@ fofm e after M M M io he rt Il is Te
Questionable whether "the tens would be proper
As nobody 1t. we shall abandon it right here.
and, having already disposed Of tire teens" as a
w @ Ms @ @ Sa ana at end in
with the digit In feet this is absolutely @ ~, nscss ,h
year $50 for example is year Of 'the sixties"
What says The Tribune 10 this decision?
The Tribune says TO this decision that If il could
be shorn OF the confusion which enwraps IL as a
fshnet. It wold be not far from The Tribune's own
decision formerly published, namely that the even
decades, IL counted from the beginning of the
Christian Era without a break must end In every
case with The year whose number ends In co. but
that the term 'the sixties" means the years from
60 so inclusive. the term the sixties being,
however, mere loose conversational term. having
and importance I'm mathematics or chro~
nology.
But the reasoning of the Editor Of ''rhe Press
Is singulariy misty. Why should he call the first
decade Of the century "the tens? If he will recall
hts elementary arithmetic ne Will see that 1.-The
units would be a better for it. Then. he
wants 10 call the next decade 'rhe teens quite
forgetting that the termination teen means moth
ing IN the world but -ten" So. he calls decade
the tens and the next 1.-The tens. quite after the
manner Of the who tried TO distinguish be-
tween the front board and the tail board OF his
cart by marking one OF them 'B" for Before" and
the other "B' for Behind" He next falls into
the common of mistaking words for things.
when he says that the teens are not decade, be-
cause there only seven nf them. This looks
like confusion for the sake OF confusion. If that
decade is TO be designated 'the teens then the
year IL is Just much OF them the year is.
lucid demonstration OF the century question is
sent TO The Tribune by a correspondent in Kings
Park. Long Island He sends his full name
every good correspondent does. but desires that
only HIS initials. C. NJ. J.. be used. This is his
explanation. somewhat condensed:
Suppose the case were stated thus: century all
Will admit TO be a hundred years. A dollar is
hgnaEs 6s @ bIe Thy are alike s Hd 5h sppa ea
sition-not difficult one-tfat one unit of dol
ssondlns s 6
%s VIII nay vita he % & esny The @
unit OF The century would be the year J, corre-
be laid down when the year was completed and
not before one year one esn The same 1 plan 10
the year 10 was completed 10 cents would be ac-
rhe 81 show was a sf the @
ssar % e ss woa "a b the d osn say Of hs h
one one collar which would snow as n the century and
century was compete-the first century.
Let the process be continued The first year Of
The year lo1, when the first cent of the second
completed, would be the second century and would
hs 1 s ES@d sSps ss6lse8 S ss
begin The nineteenth century which would be com
plsted with the last day Of 1900. ,
between The Name Of the yeaT T and it's eompetioh
The first year of century is the year / and 1t
and continues TO be the year until the last day
OF December when It is eompleted and counts
autres learned calculation. but simply counting,
trying abstruse reasoning, will all come TO the
result.
II Is hard to how this reasoning fail TO
convince any who stilI eoubis, but X c. NJ J.
could OF the letters which have come
The Tribune he would discover that Of the
Geguers this topic cannot count, else.
apparently. refuse 10 try. They have alarm
ing tendency ALSO to get lost among questions
which have nothing to do with the case. One OF
them, for instance, has discovered that the date
OF the birth of Christ is believed to have been In
correctly determined, a mistake OF some four
years having been made, and he argues, therefore,
that the century really ended four years ago.
or course. this is entirely immaterial. A
tain point has been fixed upon rightly wrongly,
ss the starting point for the counting of time for
ward and backward. and the question when a
century ends counting from that point. This ques-
tion is entirely separate from and even re-
lated TO the question of whether or the birth
OF Christ any other occurrence fell that par
ticuiar point
This same correspondent says: "It is very awk-
ward 10 have 1900 in century and 1901 in
another The first two figures should determine
and designate the centuries This does not seem
to The Tribune to be in the least awkward but
wardness IS not the 1ont The faei Is What Is fo
be determined Some facts are awkward, but they
the twentieth century IL the hrst year OF that
the century the year 1909 viii be the third year and
sc on In other words the year ol Is the second
and SO on. How is that for awkwardness? And III
eonyenienee and not fact, is what the inquirer is
with Is the nineteenth century? Surely that ought