The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1924-08-18
FOR
CALENDER
REVISION
Would Mean Thirteen Sep
arate Sets of Month
Iy Bills.
Times Washington BureGu,
1000 Aa,n UA-I- =,

1 IN
IIWl would you like to have thir-
L-1 teen sets of monthly bills ev-
cry year, instead of twelve? OF
course, the bills would be smaller,
and if you are paid by the month
there would be one more pay day
per year.
That is what will happen If sci
entists advocating adoption of a new
calendar convince the world such a
course is desirable.
Charles F. Marvin, chief of the
United States Weather Bureau, is
one of the leaders in the movement.
He delivered an address on the sub
ject at the meeting Of the British AS
ISOLATION for the Advancement of Sci
ence in Toronto recently.
1--WE don't measure length with a
yard rule that is three feet some
times and three feet one inch or
three feet two inches some other
time" Marvin says. Yet our pres
ent system of measuring time by ir-
regular months is just as inaccurate
and causes us endless difficulties"
Year Length Same
The length Of the year can not be
changed nor can the length Of the
day be changed to make an even
number of days In the year. The
best day out of the dilemma, Marvin
and the other scientists believe, is to
divide the year into thirteen months,
each with four weeks, and each
week with seven days.
That would leave one outlaw day
between the last day OF December
and the first day Of the new year,
which could be given a new name
and celebrated as a new holiday On
leap years there would be two such
days and the other holiday would
fall in the summer.
They're talking about calling the
new month sol" or "Midyear."
since it would be inserted near the
time of the summer solstice. between
the present months OF June and
July.
New Birthdays
Everybody born after Jan. %
would have a new birth date to cele-
~ eNs''f AtAAAAAl6 a 4AtIlb lAlt4 LAAdIA II
did before. Our Fourth OF July. IN
stead Of being the Fourth Of July
would be the seventeenth OF Midyear.
Christmas would be the twenty-third
OF December. Easter would be on
a fixed date, April 8, If all Ecclesiasti.
cal bodies agreed.
The new plan would go into effect
fIa. To-
first Of January is on Sunday and
Easter falls on April s, a date mid
way between the earlier and later
dates on which II sometimes falls.
Once the new plan is adopted. the
first of every week, month and year
viii always fall on Sunday. The
same calendar win be used forever.
with only the variation OF the extra
day in leap years.
The story Of our present calendar
is an interesting one.
First Had Ten Months
Romulus made the first calendar,
but had in II only ten months. After
a few years he discovered that
March. his first month. sometimes
fell in spring. sometimes in winter,
and sometimes in summer Later
Roman rulers added two months to
try TO overcome the difficulty. but
still the date Of the spring equinox
kept creeping forward as the years
rolled by. Julius Caesar tried again
and added extra days irregularly
through the calendar to make 365-
day year.
The present calendar with its sys-
tenn Of leap years was fixed by Pope
Gregory XIII in the year 1882, but
was not adopted by England and
America until the eighteenth cen.
tury, and not by the orthodox east
ern churches untq October of last
year
Before any action can be taken all
the nations Of the world must agree
to the change, or confusion worse
than that now existing would re-
suit.