South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-03-19
ooling With the Calender
BY GARRETT p. sERvIss.

am asked 10 give an opinion
concerning a proposed new calendar
by which the year would nave 366
days divided into l. months. six of
which would have 80 days and the
other six 81 days. each. The weeks
would consist of six days including
five working days and one rest
ing day" Thus there would be 81
weeks i'm this new calendar year.
My opinion is that julius Caesar
whose greatest achievement was
not laying the foundation of impe-
rial Rome, but putting chaos out of
the calendar-would turn in his
grave at the suggestion of an at
tempt 10 thrust $50 days into a
space OF time that cannot contain
even the 365 IA days that he as
signed TO il without overcrowding
When nature set the earth spin
ming on its axis and at the same time
speeding around the sun. she saw no
necessity for making the two mo-
tons Chronologically commensurate
ii. G., she took no pains to have an
even number Of aXial turns con-
tanned in a single revolutiOnal cir
cult or in even number of days i'm a
year. To have done so would have
been somewhat like requiring an
athlete. in running a mile, 20 take
exactly 1.76O steps each three feet
long. Although such an arrange
ment would unquestionably be a
great convenience for almanac max
ers. as we'll as for race track time
keepers. the things are not done that
way.
The length of day is a fixed
quantity of time, and so is the
length of a year" Both depend
upon movements of the earth over
which we have not the slightest con-
troll and which pay no attention to
our arithmetic. To count 500 days
/ for "a year would be putting the cal
endar ahead of the sun at a rate SO
rapid that i'm a few years the sea-
sons as shown by the almanacs
would drift out of all connection
with those recognized by the weather
and the plants When Caesar estab-
| lshed the Julian year he gave the
/ world its first scientific calendar, al
though he got the fundan entail idea
from the old Egyptians.
The problem was and always will
DE. 20 keep the calendar dates as
close as possible in accord with the
natural point Of beginning of the
year. (for the northern hemisphere,
which is the populous half of the
globe) that point being the vernal
! equinox. when the sun crosses the
equator coming northward after its
winter excursion into the southern
sky. To start with we might have
the vernal equinox fall IN any month
we chose, and on any day OF that
month. but once fixed it ought 20
remain constant. Thus. as now ar
ranged the equinox falls on March
/ 21. and all our almanac dates are
set on that frame II the equinox
drifted forward or backward in the
calendar. agricultural, as well as
AN other affairs would be upset.
! Caesar brought his new calendar
1 into accord with the Nern3l equinox,
and undertook TO keep it in accord
for the future For this purpose ne
| ascertained that there are about
! Sos IA days in a year. He there
/ fore. adopted that as the true length
OF a year. but TO avoid fractions OF
DAYS he ordered that three-quarters
OF the years should consist OF 365
DAYS and one-quarter Of $50 days. In
other words the year was 10 com
Prise 365 days for three years in sue
| cession. but every fourth year was
TO contain $50 days, thus convenient-
Is disposing OF the fraction OF one
fourth OF a day by not counting il
Iuntil il added up TO one whole day
/ These fourths. or long. years were
called leap years. the same term that
| ne use today.
But now mark what happened 10