Evening star., 1940-11-30

World Calendar David Lawrence.
of II months of equal quarters con-
tanning 81 days. Every year end
there would be an extra Saturday to
be known as December 81 and every
leap year there would be an extra
day at the end of June, somewhat
as February has an extra day in
the present calendar.
Fourteen nations have approved
the new world calendar proposal
and it is hoped to have it in effect
by January /, 1945. Once this Is
established, each nation can adopt
the idea of Mondays for all holidays,
depending on public opinion. Eliza
beth Achelis of New York, president
of the World Calendar. Association,
which is composed OF leading cltl-
zens of many countries, writes to
me as follows:
Monday holidays whereby a
three-day vacation would be OBJ
tanned would be of general benefit
to every one Of us. Not only would
these extended holidays be an aid
to the economic world but to the
tuuCdGlOildl do NCll. fAllll Jul
social and civil life would receive
certain desirable order in the PLAN
ming of days.
Tradition MinimiZed.
Tradition does not play a vital
part, as Christmas is not celebrated
on the exact day of the birth OF
Christ. Neither are we celebrating
the exact day of the original
Thanksgiving. The first real
Thanksgiving of feasting and turkey
was held Friday, November 8, 1921,
whereas the first Thanksgiving
service was held year earlier, Sat-
urday, December 9, 1920
Our Thanksgiving is actually 800
years old and should be reverenced
and cherished as the great Ameri-
can day. The last Thursday in No.
vember, however, is only II years
young, having been so proclaimed by
President Lincoln in 1858. 1t is
thus hardly correct to call it a
tradition.
MANY business, scientific organi-
cations and civic bodies, including
church groups, have favored calen-
dar reform but primarily on the
World Calendar Plan of II months
and equal quarters The large busi-
ness house of Sears, Roebuck and
Co.. after ten years trial. rejected
the 13-month calendar for their
sales accountings as it proved quite
impractical for general usage. In
their internal accounting system,
however, they are still retaining it.
Thus it has proved to be very lin
tied in its scope of usage: a statisti-
cal auxiliary for our present change
able calendar.
"a poll of the radio world, to
whom the calendar is of great i'm
portance, by Mark Hawley, showed
that 81 per cent of answers received
advocated the World Calendar with
its exact number of 13 weeks or
three months or 81 days in each
of the quarter-years.
Favored by Church Group.
"The Universal Christian Council
for Life and Work, central body Of
all non-Roman churches, at Cham
by, Switzerland, declared itself un-
hesitatingly and most emphatically
for the 12-month equal-quarter plan
of calendar reform. Members of
this great ecclesiastical body in
clude the Eastern Orthodox Church,
the Church of England, and all the
large Protestant churches of Europe
and America.
I'm our Government, for example,
the United States Naval Observa-
tory and the Division of Weights
/. and Measures of the Department of
Commerce have definitely and con-
sistently approved the perpetual
World Calendar. The General Fed
Grafton of Women's Clubs and the
National Federation of Business and
Professional Women's Clubs have
overwhelmingly Endorsed it. And
when woman speaks she usually
knows what she wants and goes
after it, to get it.
when we have adopted the stable
World Calendar, for which peoples
all over the world are working
through the various 35 calendar
committees in the different couu-
tries, to become effective December
81, 1914, then the change to a gen.
eral observance of Monday hoi'-
DAYS would be more feasible. Mon
dav holidays can only be observed
always on the same day and date
in a stable calendar which, of course,
is the chief aim of calendar reform.
GAS calendar reform affects the
entire world, it is hardly a subject
for one country to decide, although
It is very wise that one country take
the initiative. Thus 1t is highly
desirable and proper for our coura-
eeous President to initiate the re-
form by calling an international
conference in Washington on the
subject. The United States in
augurated standard time for our
clocks, now observed throughout the
world, and so there is justifiable
precedent and reason that our coun-
trv do the same for an improved
calendar.
ITO obtain order and conformity
In the calendar would exert a tre-
mendous influence in our lives"
Many Calendar Proposals.
There are, of course, many pro-
posals for calendar reform and they
have been brought forth at various
times but apparently the plan of
equal quarters has received a wider
response than any other. In the
proposed calendar the first month
of every quarter-January, April.
July and October-would have 81
days, but all other months would
have only 80 days, with the two ex-
ceptions mentioned aoove-the extra
Saturday on December 3lst and the
extra day of June 31st which would
occur in leap years.
Incidentally, in the proposed