Norwich bulletin., 1918-01-01
Holidays Delay The Words Business
Only Eishyfom Days in 1918 in Which the Worlds Bus ness is Not Interrupted Somewhere by Holidays and Suday&
ev GARRETT SMITH.

with on 2t1 days. our1ng 1913. Au oIn- CT words, there will be only 84 days in this coming year that are not Sun days or special holidays in one or more. important commercial regions of the earth. Ner is this an unusual condition created by the war. We are accustomed to jump remarkable conditions into the category of war evils these days. On the contrary some of the fighting nations have for the time being stripped their decks of minor and unusually superhuous holi- days.
 Ever since man was condemned to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow he has been putting in a lot of spare time trumping up methods of kSating the game. Next to working into the boss's job the invention of the holiday has been one of his ablest little achievements in this line. Like wise ever since bosses and holidays evolved, along about history's sum rise, the former have been cursing the latter as troublesome breaks in the years work. By the Middle Ages holidays had become so numerous that they seriously interfered with industrial pursuits. A valuable re- suit of the Reformation not generally appreciated was the abolition of a
 
 [. But as time went on political and religious miiestones accumulated again Today, while the years over load in any one country is by no means as serious as in the Middle Ages, the growth of international finance has made the worlds aggre- gate of closed days a serious factor ohd an expensive one. Not until now. however, has any attempt been made 10 compile an exhaustive list of hol- days fer the guidance of bankers and merchants. The results have been published ;u booklet. that should be valuable addition to the reference library of every bank in the country doing more than a purely local busi ness.
 Importance of Bank Holidays.
 Suppose a bank has a commercial paper collectable in Peking or AtheHs or Cape Town on January 5. It is important to know whether the hank in that particular city will be open that day. Does any one around the place know whether January is a bank holiday in Picking or Athens or Cape Town? Usually no one does. It's hard enough to keep tabs on the 54 holidays rampant in these United States. It therefore becomes neces- sary to send an expensive cablegram to get the information. This sort of things happens not once, but many times, in every banking house with an extensive Foreign business. One bank found it was spending several hundred dollars a year in telegraph and cable tolls to get this information piecemeal. That is probably true of all the larger institutions doing simi- lar business; hence the value of hav- ing this information compiled in ad- vance.
 Holidays are among mankinds s most ancient institutions and are ob served in every part of the world" says the foreward of the booklet. Broadly speaking, these days when the normal course of industry and commerce is interrupted are of two kinds, those established by custom and those establish ,d by the church In recent years governments. perceiv- ing the importance of holidavs with respect to payments and business con tracts. have sought to estab blfah 9 l define certain dates as legal .o.id'' This has been done in tao U-l:5 .i Kingdom and in may rsI $ Q 7. British empire. In the ilnit9G S..
 where 1t is a mstt2r dcte"r1 lr-;i
 Sach state independ: 1t'v Of all 9 sothers--and iu a number Of ot'-'~ countries. Elsewhere the princ.raj holidays have freqvently rocciv q semiofficial confirmation by being published by iocai chambers os conl- meree or in the year book or alma macs of the different countries"
 ., Among the holidays established .hy custom the occasion is generally tho anniversary of an important political Ars fhn s-fI, Nf hero. Such holidays are therefore To- cal, while church holidays are for the most part general. The former class prevails in the newer and more dem- ocratic. countries, while the older ones conffne themselves largely to the church lasts and festivals. -
 Where Holidays Are Thickest.
 Contrary to the popular notion. the new democracies of the west enjoy a greater number of holidays than their sister. nations of the eastern hemi- sphere. Of the 97 nations or depend- encies listed ,. Brazil leads, with S4 holidays. The United States, with 54, Is close second, although she. unlike Brazil, practically ignores the church. days. Another popular delu- sion is shattered when we find that France has only IS formally observed days and Italy only 23. We had sup posed the Latins always outdid us in this particular. Among the other bel ligerents Germany, it is presumed. will observe 20 days next year, Great Britain Is. Japan 15 and Russia IT. In most of these countries numerous local holidays ordinarily observed have been abandoned during the war.
 The study of holidays is fascinat- ing to the historian. Those of our own country offer a particularly rich field If, one knew the meaning of all the half a hundred days celebrated in the United States, with the collateral events connected with each he would be we'll versed in the nations history : One of the first surprises in. store for such a student is to learn that the United States no has national holi day., The reader will at once think of Fourth of July and of the Presi- dents Thanksgiving Proclamation But not even these are national. Acts Of Congress and Presidents pro only to the District of Columbia and the territories The states usually follow suit, but as a matter of GUS tom only and not of law. Here is a chance to win some bets from your friends
 Of the 54 holidays of the United States only IF are observed generally and some of those like Memorial Day and Arbor Day, fall on varying dates in different states. Thirteen South and Central American countries share our Columbus Day with us. There are 29 other countries with Independence Days, though not one falls on onr Fourth of July. In fact, that date is unique in not being celebrated any