Evening star., 1923-12-30
~ srHAbfxa HEiLfa.

PARIS, December 20.
n T Ew YEAR this time falls on .
I'M Tuesday. 1t will never hap
pen again. Once more, re-
spectively, New Year VIII
fall on a Wednesday. q Thursday,
Friday. Saturday ana gunday--and
then, forever aftsfs on 4 Mohdayl
1t will be due 10 governmental ne
sleh In the various countries, similar
10 that which adopted the present
"dfekofian" caiendaf--Aftsf 1 coA.
ference OF AAtfoAemsfs called BY
Pope gregory XIII, In iSs2.
Fwo years AEs. In fact, the gev-
sfnmeAts were ready. ana the vatican
hAd actually called It's new" con-
ference taftsf 4se ysAss) tor need
ed simpiineatioh OF the calendar And
nxins to aehnite dates, perhaps
OF Easter and the movable feasts de.
pending thereon. But, Of eoufse, the
main ana certain thing II TO make
Ah easy, sclentific calendar which
every one can carry In his head
ana practically abolish ainAnaes.
The main outlines or ~ are known.
II Will give the year proper only
ana exactly ss4 days, or exactly fifty-
two weeks divided into four quar-.
tefs ef nihety.ons days, Cor exactly
thirteen weeks), each quarter hava
ink, each exactly like the others. two
thirty day months, and one thirty.
ene-aAy month.
Each year will be preceded BY an
extraordinary hoselty-a holiday
Without q name, i hAmeless day or
rest and recreation, which will be
neither y day OF the month nor of
the week. Il will belong neither to
December nor to January. II will
not make us a day older-time will
simply stand still. The nameless day
Will come between q Sunday (which
will always be the last day OF the
old yeaf) and a Monday (Which will
always be the iirst day Of the new
year. 30. here will be three per-
fectly good holidays all In q string
together-sunday, Nameless and New
Year day,
A MOTHER bit OF all rish. is that
Christmas day will always fall,
like New Year, on a Monday. Here
you have another pair of days Of rest
which nobody can take from you,
A third BIT Of neutrality-suspicious.
will be found in the extra day of
leap year. Now, Il 10 the ssth OF
February-just another day to work
or go to school. But when the new
calendar gets In Its work, this, too,
will be a nameless day OF rest, stuck
In between the last day Of June and
the frst day OF July. Time will stand
still for II, too, for how can business
put q credit or q debit on the books
when it viii not be either June
or July, nor q Monday. Tuesday,
Wednesday or other day OF the week?
And the reason for It will be this
to give every year exactly fifty-two
weeks, every quarter exactly thir-
teen weeks, make every month begin
ana end on 4 fixed day ana every
holiday df this be possible) become
flxed day OF the week and month!
For example. Easter (if It be fixed)
will always fall on April II every
year. which date, in any case, will
always be 4 Sunday, and the other
now movable feasts associated with
Easter will become lin such case) all
automatically fixed dates.
Two years ago there was peculiar
reason to act promptly. The year
1879. which happened In our present
system to commence on q Monday,
was absolutely indicated BY that fact
to be the year for making the
change. There would be no jumping
effort or confusion. we would just
slide TRANQUILITY into the easy cAlen.
dar! Each subsequent year would
begin on q Monday without effort or
confusion. az. Also, would every
quarter, Of exactly and invariably
thirteen weeks!
The governments were ready, The
Vatican was ready. Cardinal Meroier
was to preside and had accepted.
The meetings OF the conference were
to begin In April. 1922. Rome. hav-
Ing hxed our present calendar in
and central situation Tin an intel.
lectual sense), WAS waited on Tor the
word ''0o''i or "PlAy ball"! ~
starter or an umpire might prol
nounce II.
But the word was not pronounced.
No one could understand.
THERE were kickers, already, in
4 1882. England herself accepted
the present 0regoriAn calendar only
In 1851 GOO years latch, whereas
Spain, Portugal And italy adopted it
the Same day ~ Rome, france the
same year. parts Of Germany the year
only In 100, ~ in Denmark and
Sweden. while Russia and other coun-
tries. holding to the Greek orthodox
neveri