Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-05-24

! year for all time to come is provfd-
ed with Just thirteen months Of ex-
actly four weeks each. In order to
retain all the fundamentals of the
] present calendar, Correction Day"
is omitted from the last year of all
centuries not evenly Invisible by
400. This is necessarily because our
calendar year is out of joint with
| the true Solar year to the extent of
81 seconds per annum. Some people
suppose our present months are
governed by the moon, but this is d
mistake, as the use of Lunar
months was discontinued ages ago.
The new month of Liberty is
placed next after January and Feb
ruary in the new form simply be-
cause of similarity of sound 1t is
explained that the new calendar
| was constructed not so much with
an idea of furnishing a convenience
for the next few years, but it was
constructed with a view to furnish
/ ing a well thought out and scien-
/ tif1c plan which should be used and
appreciated through all the ages 10
come. And because of this fact, peo-
| pie must not complain about a Mt
tie Inconvenience in observing
birthdays or about other matters of
trivial sort. Speaking of birthdays
most people do not know that
George Washington was not born
on February %, but on February
IL. He was born before our present
calendar was adopted by Great
Britain and the American COLO
MES.
The summer season under the
new form is given four months, but
each of the other seasons is given
three months as heretofore. It Is
claimed that this arrangement will
be more true to nature than our
present division.
The plan also provides that Good
Friday and Easter Sunday shall al
ways be observed on certain fixed
dates. This was contemplated when
our present calendar was adopted.
The officers of the association
are informed that the French acad
envy of Sciences favors their plan
and will advocate its adoption by
all the nations which shall join the
new international league. A bill for
the adoption of the Liberty Calen-
dar has already been introduced in
our congress, and another bill will
be introduced in both the house and
the senate at the extra session. The
bill provides that the change to the
new form shall take effect on the
first day of the year 1922. This will
make the transition very easy. as
that day will be Sunday as we'll as
New Years day, and the next day
will be Monday, January l. There
after, at the end of each four weeks,
a new month will begin, and this
will be the regular order to the end
of time. All the months will be ex-
actly alike, and this will continue
for all the ages to come.
1t is claimed by the advocates of
this new plan that any thoughtful
person must admit that the calen-
dar we are now using is cumber-
some and inconvenient in the ex-
treme. 1t is pointed out that be-
cause of the absolute want of regu-
larity, and also because of the sew
eral different lengths of the
months, the mind of the whole pub
lie is constantly kept in a befud-
died state, and that no one ever ,
knows even ten days in advance, on
what day of the week the next
month will begin. Doubtless there |
are several million small boys who |
would like to be. told right now on !
what day of the week next Fourth !
of July will come, but nobody |
knows. A certain doctor is quoted |
as calling our present form a !
"ferocious mess" and the officers of |
the association say he is not far |
from right.
1t is shown that under this sim
pie Liberty calendar one will be able |
to tell on what day of the week