Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-11-12

WASHINGTON, Nov 9.-The
trials of saying Thirty days hath
September" and then counting la
b~oriously on your fingers to find out
on what day of the week Christ
mas or pay day comes, will be
ended if a bill by Representative
Thomas Schall of Minnesota becomes
a law.
Representative Schall says that
Minnesota business men are urging a
change in the calendar system.
Business men," he points out, are
every day giving their promissory
notes without knowing whether they
will come due on Sunday or on some
day of the week on which they have
engagements at distant points. The
amount due an employee who works
by the month is often in dispute II
he quits at the end of any week pre-
vious to the end of the month, be-
cause the week is not an integral
part of the month.
millions of our people work by
the month, and yet we have no such
thing as a standard month. We have
standardized everything else except
our of time-the very thing
we use the most. We need a sim
pie. well planned calendar, so that
we would no longer have to consult
an almanac or engage in tiresome
calculations every time we plan an
engagement or sign a paper
The business men who feel most
strongly about the irritations of u
present time-reckoning system have
organized into the Liberty Calendar
Association Of America. One OF
them, Mr.. Joseph Barnes. of Mime
apolis, has evolved @ liberty calen-
dar, which has been approved by
experts on higher mathematics, ana
by the Chamber of Commerce.
This calendar is the one which
Mr.. Schall has submitted to con-
gress. 1t would divide the year into
thirteen months of four even weeks.
Every week and every month wouId
begin on the same day-Monday-
as the bill stands. And every quar-
ter of thirteen weeks would always
begin on the same week day, winch
would be a greater convenience to
business men.
a New Month.
The extra month was originally TO
be called Liberty, but this e not
exactly harmonic with the names
of The twelve months as they stand,
so Vern, meaning spring, has been
suggested. Vern would fall between
February and March.
The irregularities necessary TO
keep a calendar accurate are pro
vided for by the inventor of the I'D
erty calendar. Thirteen onths Oh
four weeks each provide 364 days TO
a wear. The 365th day, or rather the
first, is made New Years Day, n a
holiday. 1t would have no status as
a day of the week. except that every
year it would be observed as Sunday;
Our Leap Year system IS changed
somewhat by the liberty
| February still has only tw~enty-elght
DAYS. SO have the other months, so
| that there IS not especial need TO
give 1t the extra day. Instead, Leap
Year Day is placed between the 2Sth
Of June and the first OF July, ana
made a legal holiday. 1t occurs, as
at present, every -four years, except
once in four centuries.
The calendar bill provides that NO
vember II, which would always ian
on Thursday, would be observed as
Peace and Thanksgiving Day. there
by killing two birds with one stone
Other generally observed Mondays
would remain about as at present.
The liberty calendar would solve
one problem for the benefit ot@fhe
church. > Easter Sunday would al
ways fall on the 14th of March. This
| obviates the difficulty of fixing the
| date each year by the ecclesiastical
moon and an intricate formula.
The present method Of determin-
ing Easter has long been regarded
as unnecessarily troublesome. Eu-
ropean astronomers are now plan
ming TO confer at Rome next spring
to make Easter Sunday a fixed date
and perhaps to discuss other I'M
I provements in the calendar.
II Il important country made
radical changes in its way OF recK-
oning time, other progressive ma
tions, it is claimed. would undoup.
tedly follow suit. 1t is not thousn
that there would be any difhculty II
getting the important countries OF
Europe to agree on a cnange Irop.
the Gregorian system 10 something
better. The details, such as hohdays
and names. need not be the same II
different countries, but there should
be some agreement as 10 the al,
rangement of days, weeks ano
months.
II is recognized abroad, as wei
as in this country, that the Gregor'
ian calendar is not the most conven'
lent possible. Beginning j n 1906
Europe has had bills and conVen'
tions on the subject OF calendar re-
form. Recently. a commission OF
the reform of the calendar has beer
put to work again. The five mem
lbers are from Belgium. France