Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-10-11
pAGF EIGHT
WANT ! TO ADOPT
3-M0NTH YEAR!
MsN&%SN.gINNtsG ~ - q
Caesar e Juggled With the
Calendar, and Started
Trouble With Time.


Notwithstanding Caesar. by his
un~sctentihc juggling of tho calendar,
has caused unnecessary confusion for
centuries, say members of the Inter-
national Fixed Calendar League. who
advocate the adoption Of a l3-month
year with each. month containing
twcnty-eight days and an information
all holiday added each year to make
up the S65 days of the solar calendar,
There Is really no q why the
calendar should be. SO broken up.
league me,nbers/say. In the days Of
the ancient Egyptians. who originated
the calendar, working with the
shadows of pyramids and obelisks, the
calendar was arranged with thirteen
months OF equal length. wiS a five
days festival at the end OF the-year
to square things up with the sun. The
reason for the pyramids and obelisks
was their use Din astronomy and cal
Aendar making it is said.
In(4G B. c., Julius Caesar, dissatis-
fed with the moon-chasing calendar
of his day, adopted the Egyptian sys-
ten-with notifications. The ROM
ans were superstitious about odd
numbers. SO julius started to do with
the calendar as he had one with the
ny ~ bAAA - ANS "N SHsS
equal length months were all br6ken
up. the five-day festival was climin-
ated, and the months were arranged
alternately with 80 and 81 days.
So pleased was the Roman senate
with Caesars work. 1t immediately
nalned the seventh month in his cal
endar in his honor, and the system Is
known as the Julian calendar.
Changed the Plan.
That worked for a while until one
Of Caesars successors, Augustus by
name, changed his ftrebear's work, In
B. c. 20, and when his heavy hand
was through, the calendar resulted in
its present. state; the odd and rel
numbered months were changed
around and arbitrarily fixed, February
was given a little more liberty than
the other months. and the half-years
half getting only 1Sl days and the
second 1874. The Roman senate re-
taliated by changing the name OF the
eight month to honor Augustus, rs
that was his birth-month us July was
Julius's.
CONSTANTINE the Great" says a
league publication, conferred the
ever-welcome Sabbath : rest each 7th
day on Europeans; but the unusual
lengths of % and 81 day months i'm
posed by julius mi Augustus have
since forced the>> Constantine weeks
yearly to slice months into different
weeks, and at month-ends almost
split weeks into parts, necessarily but
needlessly confusing weeks and
months"
In 1882 another change was made,
when Pope Gregory XIII found Julius
had been wrong in his arithmetic and
made an error In computing leap
years, and hat as a result ten extra
days had piled up Sfrom somewhere
in the meanwhile. The sun and the
earth, according to that time table,
were not travelling on the same
schedule. So Gregory did what many
other people have often wished they
could do, he dug out ten days from
n month-October of that year
and threw them Into the discard, in
order to readjust the 21st Of March
to the Equinox and the rest Of the
calendar to the seasons
Since then we have been travelling
under the sGregorian calendar. In
consequence. the league complains,
Gregory moved the Christian years
end (which eve since the establish
ment Of the Christian era had
been celebrated at 'Christmas) from
Christmas to January 1st-one week
farther away from natures years
end, December a." Russia and
Greece alone did not comply with that
edtct, and continue as of old.
After several national and interna-
tional conferences during 1922. OF
I, those interested in the new move.
4 ment, a final international conference
was planned to be held sometime dur.
{ ing the coming year. 1t will be held
here, at the presidents call. Many
attend, to discuss a program which In
cludes:
Wond Remove Leap Day.
Location of the "Year Day" remov-
al OF ''leap day. to be a midsummer'e
I holiday. the best arrangement to Al
the present 50 yearly weeks into per.
manent months, q name for the pro.
posed month "Sol." the best perma.
mont date for Easter, the best date or
which to begin the ''yearal" or equa'
month year Tentatively at 1929, and
70 draft recommendations CONCERN.
j ing the above into legislative form fol
adoption by all nations and remit that
standard bill to their respective gov.
! ernments to insert their national holi.
days therein and together make It Law
ii TOE Inelr respective natlOno.~
Interested in the movement, accord
# ing to the league, are: InternAtionA
chambers Of commerce, internationa
conferences Of European calendar ad'
vocates, the International Astronomit
Union, International Roman Catholi.
Eschlrches (through the VaticSa). TIL.
government of Canada, the Royal So
y cfefy OF Canada. and the internationa
conference of United States and Ca
xnadian Calendar associations have al
- nnanimo uslyS endorsed the 'Interna
u tiona1 Fixed Calendar Plan" as tn.
q best thus Tar devised to remedy tn.
detects In existing calendars.
Practically, It is said, the revised
calendar would aid in agriculture II
preventing crop failures by planting
AtSincorrect times because the calen,
DIR calls for 1t. 1t would be Of valu,
ito labor and capital alike, 1t is claim