The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1916-03-16
WILL THERE BE ANY
MORE FEBRUARY 20?

L eHNh way viz hVNh uAh Jus
tom of injecting a day into the
calendar now and then TO make
up FOR discrepancies, and labelling
It February 49," will be aban.
doned following the settlement OF
the European war.
When the big war broke out
an International Congress TO re-
wise the calendar had just been
called. Many proposals had been
just made along the line of calen-
dar reform, and several of the
larger European governments APP
proved some of the schemes for
Simplifying the methods of reckon
mg days and months.
If the calendar is altered, and
attention is sure to center upon
It after the details Of war settle
ment are adjusted, it is almost
certain that the years will be d.
vided into thirteen months, of
four weeks each. The odd days
will be tackled on at the end, L
Is believed, TO form some sort Of
a world holiday.
There are many objections 10
the present plan Of some months
containing thirty days, others
thlrty-one, and one fluctuating. 1t
Is a source Of error and annoy
ance, besides much waste of time
IN consulting the printed calendar
every time one needs to be Ger
tam of his days, weeks and
months. Under the thirteen
month plan every week and month
starts with a Sunday, and every
holiday comes either on Monday
or Wednesday.
The Bureau OF Commerce of
the United States has officially
recognized the need for change
in the calendar, and has Endorsed
the thirteen month proposal.
Switzerland and Great Britain
have also leaned strongly toward
revision Of our method of reckon
ing the weeks and months of the
year.
1t was Julius Casear who fixed
the solar year at 365 days and g.
hours. This almost perfect ar
rangebent dates back 10 45 b. c.,
and prevailed generally through
cut the Christian world until the
time of Pope Gregory XIII. The
Julian calendar was defective in
this particular, that the solar year
consisted of 800 days, 3 hours
aud 40 minutes, instead of 365
days and 6 hours. AT the time
of Gregory this difference a.
mounted TO ten days. To elimi-
nate the difference, Gregory or
dained, in 1889, that that particu-
lar year should consist, of 265 |
days only, October . becoming
October 10. And to prevent fur
ther irregularity il was deter
mined that a year beginning a
century should not be a leap year
with the exception of that begin. !
ming each fourth century. Thus
100, 1900 and 1900 were not leap
years, but the year 1000 will have
an extra day.
While this arrangement, which
came down through the centuries,
has supplied us with calendars
that are fairly accurate, the needs
Of the peoples of all countries
have not been met. Some coun-
tries never adopted the new
style of Pope Gregory, the Mo-
hammedans, having chung TO their
own calendar, the Hebrews 10
their method of figuring the years
aud there is a wide variation a
mong these various tables of
Father time.
Whether we will have a brand
new calendar when the next leap
year comes around remains for
governments TO decide If we do
mot have February 30 those
whose birthdays fall on that elu-
sive date will compute their birth
days as falling on March l. The
anniversaries of the Doth, Both
and 3lst of other months will al
so have TO be changed. Other
confuSions are bound to arise
from the adoption Of a new cal
endar. Whether these would be
offset or indeed put in the shade
by the advantages of a new
schedule of months is the subject
which Is occupying the minds 10.
many thinkers.
- Il