The Washington times., 1937-01-06

-cities are active
Edwin O. Hi here and abroad
to bring it about. One Of the
foremost advocates Of a reform
was the late George Eastman, the
film manufacturer. The latest
agency to suggest it was a United
States Government bureau, the
Central Statistical Board. Report
ing to the State Department on
November % last, the board said:
"The need for the establish
ment Of q perpetual calendar Is
now agreed upon by q very large
number of business interests,
and Is sympatheticaIly viewed
by the agencies Of the Federal
Government dealing with stats
tics"
The proposal from this source
Is for a year divided into 13
months of % days. The months
would begin on Sunday and end
on Sunday. ALI holidays would
be made to fall on Mondays so
as to prolong the week-endS.
Since 13 months of % days would
leave an extra day, this day would
be inserted as an extra holiday
between the end Of the old year
and the beginning of the new.
The extra day in leap years would
be inserted in the middle Of the
year.
CALENDAR REFORM
Advocates Of calendar reform
are divided on how it should be
done. In addition to the groups
favoring . year Of 13 months,
there are others who would retain
the 12-month standard but who
would equalize the days Of the
month. These latter groups fol-
low the plan Of the "Simplified
Calendar" worked out in 1900 by
q Swiss mathematician, Prof. l..
A. GroSclaude. His calendar
would have the same number Of
business days in each month; eS-
tablish a coincidence between the
date and the year Of the week and
bring about a reform Of the vart-
able date Of Easter.
The Grosclaude month would
have twenty-Six working days; July
A would fall always on the same
day Of the week and Christmas
would be a Monday always. With
each month having twenty-Six
working days and four Sundays, or
thirty days in all, five days would
be left over in each year. Four Of
these would be designated as Sun
days and inserted one in every
three months. The fifth extra day
would be tackled on as holiday to
the end Of the year.
While this talk of changes in
the Gregorian calendar goes on
here and in Europe, China is hav-
ing its own particular problem.
Her government, with its modern
tendencies, is trying to catch up
with the Gregorian calendar and
has ordered it substituted for the
calendar Of the moon, used for
cenuries by the Chinese.
The printing of the old calendars
has been forbidden but it goes on
in secret. The police of Shanghai
and other cities are having their
hands full tracking down the boot
leggerS and confiscating their
illegal calendars and almanacs.
New Years may be January ! to
Marshal Kai-shek and his western
lied followers, but to most Of the
Chinese 1t continues to be some
date in February.
Our measure Of time has its
basis in certain phenomena Of the
earth and the heavens. The day
is based on the alternating light
and darkness of the revolution Of
the earth. The month is desig-
mated by the different phases Of
the moon and the year by the
cycle Of the seasons. The twenty
four hours in a day and the seven
days in the week are conventions
originated without any regard to
astronomical data.
LEAP YEAR
The mathematicianS who worked
out the calendar for Julius Caesar
figured the year Of 356A days.
Therefore, they inserted an extra
day every fourth year, giving the
leap year. But they made one
mistake. The year, as they COM
puted it, was too long by II min
uteS and IA seconds and this
meant that every 1913 years there
was q day missing somewhere in
history.
Pope Gregory took up this slack
in his reform by moving October
5. 1882, up to October is. But his
scientists were not exact, either.
They went wrong by 26 seconds
of the day.
This means that in the year
1905, A. D., the Gregorian cal
endar will be one day ahead of a
time. Art may be long and time
short, as Longfellow or Horace
said, but so is calendar reform,
England waited almost two hun
dred years before it accepted the
Gregorian calendar. Russia never
accepted it until the Soviet revolu-
ton.
When is Easter this year? It