The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-08-08
CHANGING THE CALENDAR.


should be divided into months Of un-
equal lengths. They have wondered
why some of the months have thirty
days and others thirty-one, and one Of
them only twenty-eight days. Prob
ably some have thought that they
could get UP much better arrange
ment. but perhaps they would find the
Job a hard one.
The necessity of calendar was APP
parent to thinking people ages ago
but they were slow to find the way to
make one that would fill all the re-
quirements. The ancients had various
ways of dividing time but 1t remained
for Julius Caesar to find, q remedy
which came very near to meeting all
the requirements. What came to be
known as the Julian Calendar was ar
ranged by him and adopted by the Ro
mans about half century before the
Cln istian era. At that time the meas
nrement and record of tiain among the
Rom, ms was In a bilIy tangled condi-
ton. Ignorance and supersti-
| tion combined to confuse all
attempts to formulate any def
mite or logical system, and Caesar,
recognizing the need of something bet
ter, set himse,; to work to remedy the
defects that existed. Either by hts
own great mental powers or by the
assistance Of the wise men of his tina
he established the method which stood
for about sixteen centuries.
But the Julian calendar had one de-
feet which became more and more ap-
parent as the centuries passed. That
defect was the fact that the year as
fixed by his system was about eleven
minutes longer than the natural
changes Of the earth and the seasons.
This finally became confusing. SO in
1852 Pope Gregory. after much study
and calculation. ordained that ten days
should be dropped from the reckoning
as 1t then stood. Then the year was
divided and the months established
with the number of days as we now
have them. But even his arrangement
was not perfect, for there was about
six hours in each year that had no
place, and so 1t was arranged that on
every fourth year February was to
have. twenty days so as to even
| up things, and that came about as near
to an exact arrangement as was
thought possible.
As we have said, there have been
many who have wondered IL some
more absolutely perfect system could
not be invented. but none was adopt
ed. Now there comes one who thinks
he has it all fixed up. Perhaps we
cannot do better than to copy at some
! length from The, New Bedford Stand
ard. as follows: gT.
A California genius thinks the time
has come to improve on the Gregorian
teenth improved on the calendar
which bore the name of julius Caesar.
So he has invented one which ought
to be named The Get There on,iek,
the new "Civ1 Calendar" We do not
pretend TO say whether 1t is mathe-
matically or astronomically perfect,
but it looks well having a simplicity
year is divided into thirteen months OF
twenty-eight days each. making SO!
days. The first. eighth. fifteenth and
twenty second days Of each month are
always Sunday, and the other days fall
into a similar rotation regularly. For
the 365th day an extra day is put in
nember and sunday. the first day of
january. The inventor of the scheme
calls it ammo Day." though it might
as. well have any one OF half dozen
this day for a holiday. for he explains
that st is no calendar day and has
no other distinction sepa nate from the
last day of December. Any labor done
special contract or agreement. No in
terest or rental shall accrue on that
day; for all such purposes 1t Is to be
considered a part OF Saturday, Deem
year there must be new month. and
the inventor sandwiches 1t in between
June and July, calling II Vincent"
for some reason which he does not ex-
plain. Perhaps THE reason is as good
as that which made Quintilis and Sex
tilis over into July and August in COM
pliment to Julius Caesar and Augustus
Caesar. But the sonorous stateliness is
not there, and we fear that such a
name would never be popular Who,
,ur example, would ever think of taxi
ing his vacation in "Vincent?" win.
cent" too, is the leap year month, Feb
ruary having been robbed of that dis
tinction. The inventor puts his odd
day between Saturday the 14th and
sunday the 18th. and calls it Mid
ammo Day" explaining that II is to be
treated in all respects like "Anno Day
This, too. will be a ghost day and will
afford a good excuse for going fishing.
Our Yankee contemporary is some
what inclined to be facetious. but is
It not the fate of all great discover
ers and inventors to be laughed at?
We suspect that even the great Greg
DRY himself may have been the sub
icct of ridicule and criticism by those
who thought they could indulge in it
safely. so 1t will he natural for peo-
pie to laugh at the California genius
who thinks he has a good thing ahead
He will have n hard time. though. con-
vincing the world that he has the
right plan. And II must be kept in
mind that a change from our present
calendar to the one devised bv him
would involve an almost incalculable
amount of trouble, change, calculation
and confusion throughout the civilized
world. We rather think he'll be a long