The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-11-15
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN, Director,
Washington. D. c.
A NEW CALENDAR.


Representative Thomas Schau OF
Minnesota becomes law.
Representative Schall says that IN
Minnesota business men are urging
change in the calendar system.
"Pusiness 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. me
amount due an employe 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 stand
ardized everything else except our
measure of time-the very thing we
use the most. We need simple,
well planned calendar, so that we
would no longer have to consult an
almanac or engage in tiresOme. cal
cuIations every time we plan an en-
gagement or sign a paper"
The business men who feel most
strongly about the irritations of our
present tine-reckoning system have
organized into the Liberty Calendar
association of America. One of them,
Mr.. Joseph Barnes, of Minneapolis,
has evolved a liberty calendar, which
has been approved by experts on
higher mathematics. and by the
Chamber of Commerce.
This calendar is the one which Mr..
Scha1l has submitted to congress. 1t
would divide the year into 3 months
of four even weeks. Every week and
every month would begin on the same
day-MOnday-as the bill stands. And
every quarter of 10 weeks would al
ways begin on the same day, which
would he a great convenience TO hnSi-
ness men.
The extra month was originally to
be called Liberty, but this does not
exactly harmonic with the names of
the II months as they stand, so Vern,
meaning spring, has been suggested.
Vern would fall between February
and March.
The irregularities necessary to keep
calendar accurate are provided for
by the inventor of the liberty calen-
dar. Thirteen months of four weeks
each provide 1854 days to year. The
365th day, or rather the first, is made
New Years day, and a holiday. 1t
would have no status as a day of the
week, except that every seventh year
it would be observed as Sunday
Our Leap year system is changed
somewhat by the liberty calendar.
February still has only % days, but
so have the other months, so that
there is no especial need to give It
the extra day. Instead, leap year day
is placed between the 2Sth of June
and the first of July, and made a legal
holiday 1t occurs, as at present,
every four years, except once in four
centuries.
The calendar bill provides that
November II, which would always fall
on Thursday, would be observed as
Peace and Thanksgiving day, thereby
killing two birds with one stone. Other
generally observed holidays would re-
main about as at present.
The liberty calendar would solve
one problem for the benefit of the
church. Easter Sunday would always
fail on the 14th of March. This OBJ
viates the difficulty of fixing the date
each year by the ecclesiastical moon
and an intricate formula.
The present method of determining
Easter has long been regarded as IN
necessarily troublesome. European
astronomers are now planning to con-
fer at Rome next spring to make
Faster Sunday 4 fixed date. and par
maps to discuss other improvements
in the calendar
If one important country made
radical changes in its way of reckon
ing time, other progressive nations,
it is claimed, would undoubtedly fol-
low suit. 1t is not thought that there
would be any difficulty in getting the
important countries of Europe to
agree on a change from the ,IregoTian
system to something better. The de-
tails, such as holidays, and names,
need not be the same in different
countries, but there should be some
agreement as to tho arrangement of
days. weeks and months.
Efforts at Calendar Reform.
1t is recognized abroad. as we'll rs
in this country, that the Gregorian
calendar is not the most convenient
in
has had bills and conventions on the
subject of the calendar reform. Re-
Gently, a commission on the reform
| of the calendar has been put to work
again. The five members are from
Belgium, France, Great Britain Hol-
land, and the United States.
Mr.. Schau thinks that if congress
set the example in passing the liberty
calendar bill and fixing 1928 as the
| year to start the new system, other
countries would fall in line promptly.
The only other calendar which has
received serious consideration of late
| is a Swiss invention. This provides
IL months of 81 days each. AS we
| understand this calendar, the months
would not be alike, as in the liberty
calendar. That is, the 18th of January
would not fall on the same day of the
week as the 18th of February or
March. Every year, however, the 18th
| of January would fall on the same
week day
From this, it can easily be seen
that the Swiss calendar is not so SIM
/ pie as the American plan. and it does
not do away with the necessity for
consulting a guide in calculating
dates.
Representative SchaIl, who is blind.
! says whimsically that the simple cal
endar would be very useful to him be-
cause he would no longer have to
| bother his secretary to look up dates
| for him. THAT is something 1 am al
ways asking her to do, now" he said.
He reminded US that a change III
| the calendar is not so great and I'M
| precedented a step as some persons
! think. It is less than 200 years since
/ this country adopted its present sys-
| tenn. George Washington was born
under the old Julian calendar. which
placed his birthday eleven days earlier
than it now stands
The Gregorian calendar has grad
ually replaced the Julian in most