The Irish standard., 1910-11-12
VIEWS OF OTHERS
October Fl the True Date Of the Land.
ing Of Columbus.

October Fl the True Date Of the Land
ing Of Columbus.
jacksonville, Cal, Oct. 20, 1910.
Editor Irish Standard,
Minneapolis. Mimi:
Dear Sir-In the editorial in your
issue of Oct. 18th entitled, columbus
Day." you state that Oct. 18th was
the four hundred and eighteenth ar
niversary of the discovery OF Amer
lea. l wish to call the attention of
your readers to the fact, which seems
to be not generally known, that Oct.
18th is not the true anniversary of
Columbus discovery.
1t is true that Columbus, in his
journal, names the 18th as the date
of his finding land, but in his age
time was reckoned according to the
Julian Calendar, which was then
something over nine days behind the
true time, which would therefore
make the true anniversary of the dis
covery Oct. 21st.
Our historians usually speak of
dates in accordance with the Julian
reckoning as "Old Style" and the true
reckoning as New Style
Probably most OF your readers are
aware that in 1852 Pope Gregory XIII,
reformed the calendar, making the
calendar date to coincide with the
true or solar time, the calendar date
having been. when this correction
was made, about ten days behind the
true time; but the English, by rea-
son of their sectarian prejudice, did
not adopt this reformed calendar un-
til 1852.
According to "Old Style" the Pill
grims landed at Plymouth Dec. 18th.
1920; but the New Englanders cele-
brate the anniversary of that event
Dec. 21st-ten days later than the
Pilgrims give as their date of land.
ing.
julius Caesar. when he reformed
the calendar in the year A B. G.,
made each fourth year consist OF
366 days; this was making each year
TOO long: consequently the calendar
time fell behind the true or solar
time about II minutes each year,
which in 1882 amounted to about ten
days: but in 1892, the year of the
discovery, the difference amounted to
about nine days, which would make
the true date of the discovery Oct.
21st.
And in accordance with this fact,
in 1892, the four hundredth anniver-
sary of the discovery, the president
of tho United States, in compliance
with the mandate of a joint resolu-
ton of congress to that effect, issued
a proclamation making Oct. 21st of
that year legal holiday throughout
the United States.
Those who have been instrumental
in getting this anniversary adopted
as a legal holiday in so many of the
states deserve great credit, but their
zeal in the matter seems to have
greatly outweighed their knowledge
of it: and the date adopted by the
United States congress Is the more
likely to be the true one, since there
were so many original documents and
manuscripts on exhibition at the
Worlds Fair that it was easy to
obtain knowledge of the subject from
original sources; and ii this holiday
is to become, as it bids fair to be. a
national one, it would seem case
for our educators to take in hand, and
have the date set right, so as to fix
once and for all time in the popular
mind the true anniversary of this
tremendous historic event.
The following ia President Harri-
sons proclamation on the subject,
which will be found in Richardson's
Messages of the Presidents, Vol. TX,
page 289:
BY the President of the United States,
Proclamation:
Whereas, by a joint resolution ap-
proved June 29th. 1892. it was re-
solved by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States
OF America in Congress assembled,
That the President of the United
States be authorized and directed to
issue a proclamation recommending
to the people the observance in all
their localities of the four hundredth
anniversary Of the discovery of Am
erica on the 21st of October 1892, by
public demonstrations and by suitable
exercises in their schools and other
places of assembly.
Now, therefore. l, Benjamin Harri-
son, President OF the United States
of America, in pursuance of the fore
cold ioint rooo1ut;op do hova1>,, ,,