Evening star., 1944-07-26
Letters to The Star
Calendar Reformer Denies Plan
Is Irreli&ious' in Effect

AOuA 1oouC 1ui July printed OUJSC.
tions Of Carlyle B. Haynes to the world
calendar Of IL months and equal quar-
ters as being "irreligious." He deplores
| that In the postwar planning there
| should be projected so disrupting
| factor as calendar revision To replace
| changeable, disordered and confused
calendar by one that is stable, ordered
and equal. is certainly not disruptive at
| any time. The armed forces unhesi-
family accepted the 24-hour clock to
| avoid the confusing method OF am.
and pm. time, and the World Calendar
Association. Inc, also advocates a time
plan Of greater simplicity, order and
stability than We have now.
Mr.. Haynes says that the World Call
endar Association carries on highly
financed propaganda. On the contrary,
the organization is maintained by vol
untary contributions from individuals
and groups. 1t is a nonprofit and edu-
cational corporation.
Does Mr.. Haynes realize that the 364-
day year with the one or two extra days
was devised by Roman Catholic priest,
Able Mastrofini, in 1884. received his
bishops Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur,
and that this plan never was repudiated
| by the Roman Catholic Church?
The plan devises no blank or zero
| days. 1t contains an extra Saturday
at the end of the year and another
extra Saturday in leap years at mid
year These days are dated December
| w
Notwithstanding days. Far from
being blank or zero, they have the sig
| nif1cant purpose of stabilizing the CAL
endar and in their celebration uniting
the peoples of the world on one and
the same day. Therefore it is most un-
| just and unfair to stigmatize these days
as IAN insidious attack on the worlds
great religions-Catholics. Protestants.
| Jews and the Islamic peoples"
Fourteen nations ofhcially approved
| the world calendar In their respective
| answers to the League OF Nations in
| quiry on the subject: Brazil, Chile,
| Mexico, Uruguay. Spain, Panama and
Peru, Catholic countries; Norway,
Esthonia and Hungary. Protestant
countries; Greece of the Eastern Ortho-
dox faith, Turkey and Afghanistan,
| Moslem countries, and China, Hindu
Taoist country. OF the Jews, one of
the great Jewish leaders of America,
DR.. Julian Morgenstern, President of
the Union Hebrew College at Cincinnati,
is in favor of it.
Among the churches, the Protestant
| EniccnroI
Gil OF Bishops and the Universal Chris
tian Council for Life and Work, OF
| which the Federal Council of the
Churches Of Christ in America is a
member. all have advocated 1t. This
array of religious approval answers Mr..
Haynes contention better than words
of mine.
Furthermore, he has said that in the
world calendar plan, Sunday. December
| 81, 1914, shall be blasted out of the
calendar altogether, and that no Sun
day thereafter shall be religiously OBJ
| served until 1850" He then explains
that it would move Monday, January l.,
1s45, the second day of the week, up to
take the place and name of Sunday.
and then in 1946. Tuesday, the third
day of the week. would take the place
| of Sunday, and so on.
We concede that there are believers in
| the alleged unbroken continuity of the
seven-day week since creation. They
| feel therefore that the extra Saturday,
the Year-End Day World Holiday. De-
cember w, In common years, and an
other extra Saturday the Leap-Year
Day World Holiday, June w, in leap
years, would cause one or two eight
day weeks. For them the result would
be wandering Sabbaths.
There is evidence according to DR..
Morgenstern, who wrote detailed study
of The Three Calendars of Ancient
Israel" that the internal revision of
these calendar systems were of more
than passing significance and each in
all likelihood of thorough going ma
ture.' Furthermore during the period of
the priest code (550-400 BCD there was
revision of the Hebrew sacred books.
| the Hebrews allocating the Sabbath to
themselves and having 'it ordained of
| God at the time of creation" C"The
| Israel Saga" by Brooke Peters Church,
The Macmillan Co., 1922 Therefore
the world calendar cannot recognize the
unfounded urbroken continuity of the
| seyen-day week since time immemorial.
Mr.. Haynes claims that the world holi-
| days in the world calendar set the fixed
| religious days wandering throughout the
| week. ut is anti-Catholic, anti-Protes-
tant, anti-Jewish, anti-religious, anti
God he says. Such epithets are denied
by the support given the world calendar
by Protestant leaders such as Bishops
| Manning and Stires, Lord Bishop of
Chichester. DR.. Adolph Keller, Eastern
Orthodox Bishops Germanos and Iren-
| aeus; Mohandas Gandhi and Swami
Omkar, DR.. Ralph w. Sockman, DR..
| Henry S. Leiper and DR.. H. w. B. Dom
egan, the late DR.. S. Parks Cadman, Dr.
| William Adams Brown, Roman Catholic
Archbishop Leopoldo Ruiz Y Flores and
Archdeacop Belisario A. Phillips, Prot
| estant Bishop George Craig Stewart,
Greek Orthodox Archbishop Chrysos-
| tonos and many others. They, like all
| reformers and leaders, recognize the
natural progress of evolution and
+ growth
To link the world calendar with the
French Revolution when it adopted the
| Today week and with Russia when it
| adopted the five-day week, later the six
day week, is untenable; there is no COM
parison. The world calendar of 12