The Topeka state journal., 1921-11-07
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN, Director.
Washington, D. G.
MORE NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

we have more Mondays!
! The feminist forces have asked con-
gress to make August %, the day the
woman suffrage amendment was
adopted, Woman's Day, and a nation
al holiday. Admirers of Roosevelt
want his birthday, which falls on Oc-
| tober 27, added to the list of holidays
thruout the country.
Columbus has his supporters, too,
who think the day this country was
| discovered is of sufficient Importance
| to be celebrated more widely than 1t
| is. Various groups are urging con-
| gress to make Armistice Day a perna-
nent holiday.
Bills for new holidays are presented
| to congress every year. but this year
| there seems to be more interest in
| them than usual.
Armistice Day stands the best
chance of being put on the calendar
as a permanent holiday now. Senti-
| ment in favor of it is strong, and the
| time is opportune. But lengthening
| the list of holidays is a serious step,
| and now, especially, there is a ten
| dency to stop to consider whether we
| have enough holidays already, wheth-
er they are an economic asset or liza
bility, and what holidays cost anyway.
| A large number of feast days is re-
garded by some authorities as a sign
| of economic degeneracy. The eYi-
!
| too many holidays now. AS the diff
| ferent states decide for themselves the
| holidays they will celebrate. the num-
Der varies from seven to a dozen or
| more. The average, which is about
/ ten, compares favorably with the hol-
| iday lists of other countries. Scot
I land, it is true, gets along with only
| five national holidays, but Australia
| has sixteen. Rumania has twenty-four,
mostly religious, and while Mexico has
| only nineteen national holidays, it is
| estimated that all of it's sixty local hol-
| idays are observed by more than half
| the people.
| Back in ancient times. Roman his
| tory furnishes a striking illustration of
holiday excesses. Out of 355 days in
a year. the Romans set aside 100 as
unlawful for judicial or political bust
| ness. These days were dedicated to
the gods. We have about half as many
rest days in our Sundays and our
eight or ten legal holidays correspond
to the eleven other Roman holidays
But this proportion of almost one
third of the time "off'' did not satisfy
Rome when the empire began to de-
| cay. At the middle of the fourth cen
tury, there were 175 holidays, some
| lasting several days.
Indian Holidays.
No country today is in this condi-
ton, but there is an interesting mod
ern example of a people having a
great number of holidays, more than
any of the civilized countries, and
without serious effects. These peo-
pie are the Hopi Indians of the south
west, whose religious festivals oc-
cupy more than half the year. They
arrange most of their ceremonies for
the slack months between harvest time
and planting.
A government scientist says of
| them: "Altho the Pueblo farmer may
thoroly believe in his ceremonial sys--
tenn as efficacious, his human nature
is tco practical to consume the
precious planting time with elaborate
ceremonials."
The Hopi Indian makes his holidays
fit in with the simple economic scheme
of the tribe. But more civilized
countries with complicated labor con-
ditions do not
More and more, holidays are COM
ing to serve as recreation days. Most
| of US celebrate Washington's birthday
by an extra nap in the morning and
then some kind of amusement for the
rest of the day. Our remembrance
of Washington is perhaps limited to
kindly thought or two Of George"
who obliged US by being famous
enough to be worthy of a holiday.
But our holidays are not arranged
to give the best results as days of
recreation. It has been shown by
are the most efficient time for holi-
days. When workers knock off to
play in the middle of the week there
| is found to be a good deal of the
before-and-after holiday spirit; while
there is generally less when the holi-
day falls at the beginning or end of
| a week.
A holiday that falls on Saturday,
economists show, is followed by a rest
! day, and workers are more apt to re-
turn to work on Monday with the
holiday party forgotten. The atmos-
phere of office and shop is more nor
NAL than on a working day directly
after a holiday
Monday Best Holiday.
Monday, like Sunday, is desirable
| as holiday. Here. again, the week is
not broken up by two separate resting
spells Monday is the best day in the
week for a holiday, from the workers
point of view, because it gives him two
days together.
Besides this, it has been found that
when a holiday falls in the middle of
the week, factories often shut down
for the half of the week following the
celebration. Occasionally, the whole
week is given to the workers-without
pay
So far as the people who work are
concerned, it would be further desir-
able to have our holidays scattered
thruout the year, the pleasant months
being the most satisfactory for cele-
brations.
AS the calendar stands, we have
March. April, May and June without
nation wide holidays, except at Easter
and Decoration Day, which is in May
in the north and April in most south
ern states. AS Good Friday is not a
legal holiday in many states. Easter
from an economic standpoint really
does not give an extra daV of rest,
Then, August and October have no
general holidays. In all of these
months, except March. perhaps
weather is favorable for out-of-door
events=picnics. pageants, excursions
and hikes.
Our prevailing holidays seems to be
clustered in the four coolest months
! with Fourth of July and Labor Day to
furnish recreation for summer. This
side of the matter has never been