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1 r Jf-'V . . Mr . ' I 10? It On(y 54 Z?ay in 1918 in Which the World's Busi nesM la Not- Interrupted Somewhere by Holidays and Sundays. CURIOUS HOLIDAY FACTS. There It no national legal hol iday In the United States. Massachusetts does not ob serve New Year's Day. as a legal holiday. . Five Christian countries do not observe Christmas as a le gal holiday. New Year's Day Is the only holiday observed throughout the world. Eleven different dates are ob served as New Year's Day In different parts of the world. International business will be Interfered with by holidays or Sundays on 25 i days In 1918, of these 261 days being holidays. This leaves only 84 days In which universal banking busi ness Is possible. November, with 26 holidayc In different parts of the world, leads the months. March, with 19, has the few est holidays. Brazil leads the nations of the world with 84 holidays. The United States comes next with 54. By GARRET 8MITH. i WHILE man plays or prays the world's business will be In terfered with on 281 days during 1918. In other words, there will be only 84 days in this coming year that are not Sun iays or special holidays in one or more Important commercial regions 9t the earth. Nor is this an unusual condition created by the war. We are accustomed to jump remarkable renditions Into the category of war rila these days. On the contrary, Kme of the fighting nations have for the time being stripped their decks of minor and unusually superfluous holl lays. Erer since man was condemned to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow he has been putting In a lot of pare time trumping up methods of beating the game. Next to working Into the boss's job the invention of the holiday has been one of his ablest little achievements this line. Like wise ever since bosses and holidays evolved, along about history's sun rise, the former have , been cursing the latter as troublesome breaks in the year's work. By the Middle Ages holidays had become so numerous that they seriously Interfered with Industrial pursuits. A valuable re sult of the Reformation not generally appreciated was the abolition of a large portion of these holidays. But as time went on political and religious milestones accumulated again. Today, while the year's over load In any one country is by no means as serious as in the Middle Ages, the growth of international in finance has made the world's aggre gate of closed days a serious factor TTh 77 m -j m. m t.-Jt v '-n V 9 xxV T-'X f" S vS y$i VS&& ''S''?'" ' EI 17 77 Jul y an i wa-iiiiiii . r. and an expensive one. Not until now. however, has any attempt been "made to compile an exhaustive list of holl- J days for the guidance of bankers and merchants. This task has just been completed by the Guaranty Trust Company of New York city. The re sults have been published In a book let that should be a valuable addition to the reference library of every bank the county doing more than a pure ly local business. Importance of Bank Holidays. Suppose a bank has a commercial paper collectable in Peking or Athens or Cape Town on January 5. It is important to know whether the bank in that particular city will ba open that day. Does any one around the place know whether January 5 is a bank holiday in Peking or Athens or Cape Town? Usually no one does. It's hard enough to keep tabs on the 54 holidays rampant in the? United States. It therefore becomes neces sary to send an expensive cablegram to get the information. This sort of thing happens not once, but many times, in every banking house with an extensive foreign business. The Guaranty "Trust Company found it was spending several hundred dollars a year in telegraph and cable tolls to get this information piecemeal. That is probably true of all the larger in stitutions doing similar business; hence the value of having this infor mation compiled in advance. Contrary to the popular notion, the new democracies of the west enjoy a greater number of holidays than their sister nations of the eastern hemi sphere. Of the 87 natio 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. a " MX? i sir s mm Derby Day, One of the Holidays of Sport-loving England. A Quaint Chinese New Year Parade. New York City declares a Holiday When Troops Start for the Front. Carnival in Nice - . French Citizens celebrating the Fall of the Bastile. New York City's Financial District Decorated in Honor of h Fareisrn Var Mission. Feast of Corpus Christi, Cathedral Square, Bogota. A Venetian Holiday Regatta on the Grand Canal. encies listed Brazil leads, with 84 holidays. The United States, with 54. is a close second, although she. unlike Brazil, practically ignores the church days. Another popular delu sion 13 shattered when we find that France has only 18 formally observed days and Italy only 23. We had sup nctfui th Latins alwajr" outdid us m 77 w7 5" ! ( " il ."3 fj ft 3rfc li 6 IN this particular. Among the other bel ligerents Germany, it is presumed, will observe 20 days next year. Great Britain 16. Japan 15 and Russia 17. In most of these countries numerous local Jnolldays ordinarily " observed have been abandoned during the war. The study of holidays Is fascinat- A Q fV5 irigJi. T1" of our r Aft ? '3: 'Ft fUSf O I - : - : - : - : - : - :: - :: 1 own country offer a particularly rich field. If one knew the meaning of all the half a hundred days celebrated in the United States, with the collateral events connected with each, he would be well versed in the nation's history. One of the first surprises in store for such a student is to learn that the United States has no national holi day. The reader will at once think of Fourth of July, and of the Presi dent's Thanksgiving proclamation. But noi even these are national. Acts of Congress and Presidents pro nouncements in this respect apply only to the District of Columbia and the - territories. The states'-usually follow suit, but as a matter of cus tom only and not of law. Here Is a chance to win some' beta from your friends. ' Of the 54 holidays of the United 7 ma a jb?ok f.'.i..., is it CI s' It i'r . M4 - : - : - : - : -:-'-:'.x-:-' .-w?: ::: jr-,t:-.. States only 12 are observed generally, and some of those, like Memorial Day and Arbor Day, fall on varying dates in different states. ; Thirteen South and Central American countries share our Columbus Day with us. There are 29 other countries with Independence Days, though not one falls on our Fourth of -July. In fact, that date la unique In not being celebrated any where else on earth for any occasion. excepting little Panama, which shows its grateful friendship by observing our Independence Day as well as two of her own. Several other countries have more than one Independence Day on their calendars. America's Red Letter Days. American local holidays are rich la historical significance. Of such are the commemorations of Bunker Hill and Bennington and New Orleans and San Jacinto: the all but forgotten Fast Day of New England, still ur- viving in New Hampshire; Patriots' Day In Maine and Old Defender's Day In Baltimore,, Pioneer Day In Idaho and the various Admission Days pop ular with other Western states. Con federate Memorial uay in tne Boutn, together with the birthdays of iee -4- . and other heroes of the Confederacy. Two states have Independence Days or their own. Texas observes her sep aration from Mexico on March 2. North Carolina commemorates the Halifax Independence resolutions on April 12 and the Mecklenburg decla ration on May 20. f f. Y; It remains for Frederick r county! Md., to celebrate all alona the repu diation of the stamp act. one of the most local celebrations of an Impor tant national event on record. Among the favorite months for hol idays the world over November leads, with 28 out of Its possible 30 days. May comes next, with 25 and an ad ditional Sunday not otherwise cele brated, thus actually tying Novembei in the number of days closed to busi ness. March, on the other hand, la the longest all around business month, having only 19 holidays. Thus at least two-thirds of every month in terferes with the free play of inter national business. Even such generally observed festi vals as Christmas and New Tear's Day can't be depended upon. by the banker without consulting the Inter national calendar. New Year's Day Is the only holiday universally observed. But, alas. It falls on 11 different dates In different parts of the globe, and some countries observe more than one of them. An exhaustive study of ..these New Year celebrations would give one a pretty fair knowledge of the ancient history of the world. Curiously enough, one of our own states, Massachusetts, does not make this a legal holiday, though her citizens generally observe it. . Eleven New Year Dates. January 1 is observed as New Year's Day in every country In all Europe except Bulgaria. Greece, Rou mania, Russia, Servia and Turkey; in all European colonies In Africa and . in Liberia and Morocco; in every 1 country and colony in North, Central and South America and in all parts of Asia except Asiatic Turkey and la Australasia. " In Bulgaria. Greece. Roumanla, Russia, Servia and Turkey the old style calendar prevails and. the. New Year begins accordingly on January 14. The Japanese New Year-does, in deed, begin onJanuary-l, but It Is also celebrated on the 3d and Sth of that month. - ; - Then" there are the Hindu .New Year, on April 13; the Chinese New Year, February 11 to 14 (which, by the way, is a legal holiday In a part of the United States Hawaii); the Annamite New Year, February 1? and 18. and the Second Annamite New Year. June 19; the Tarsi New Year, September 11; the Persian New Year. March 21 to 24: the Moham medan New Year, December 10 and 11, and the Jewish New Year. Sep-- tember 12. 13 and 14". It is a ur- prise to learn that the only nation on earth making the Jewish New Year a legal holiday is Turkey. New Year's Day was celebrated among the moet.ancJent nations Th-- old Roman New Year began March 1. but In reforming the calendar Jultu Caesar designated January 1 a tin year's beginning. I Where Christmas Is Not Observed -4 Christmas Day, due to Its rellgioui- significance, is not eo generally ob served as New Year's Day. It haa. moreover, only three different dates It was not generally observed on- De cember 25 until the fourth century The early church, lacking any au thentic knowledge as to-the date of Christ's birth, celebrated.lt without uniformity in May. April and Janu ary. The Armenian Church stilt o serves January 6. Why the Decem ber date was finally selected Is uncer tain. Some see in it a displacement of the Roman Saturnalia; others-de clare it a survival of the Feast of the Winter Solstice, and still others point to its coincidence with the old Ger man Yuletlde Feast. Countries where the old style calendar, prevails still celebrate January 7. In the Puritan days Scotch Presby terians and English Non-Conformisti rejected Christmas Day altogether at "savoring of papistry,' and in New England Thanksgiving Day was de vised to replace It. It seems a curi ous thing that there are today Chris tian countries where it is not ob served legally. Such are Norway. ) Panama, Peru. Portugal , and ths South African Union. :, 1 : : The last named, however, stU ob serves the old English Institution ol Boxing Day on December 26. ThU was the day when the English gentry, having had their own Christmas cele bration the day before, turned theit attention to the poor by presentlni them with Christmas boxes. The day later became the day for general glr In of Christmas gifts. Portugal Drops Traditions. The only country on earth a study of whose holidays reveals little of 1U political, racial or religious origin li Portugal. The first attempt to estab lish a republic in Portugal was made on January SI, 1891- This Is reflect ed in its calendar of holidays, which runs: "January 1, dedicated to uni versal brotherhood; January 31. ded icated to the memory of all those whe fought and died to establish the 're public In Portugal; May . 3, in mem ory of the discovery of Brazil by thl Portuguese; June 19. municipal holi day at Lisbon; June 24, municipal holiday at Oporto: October 5, th date of the establishment of the Por tuguese republic; December 1, Flat Day. to commemorate the Independ ence of the country; December 25 Family Day." These brief notations en holldsyi touch only their distribution en dates. Back of these lies a wide deli filled with quaint and curious fnf or matlon relating to the manner of eel ckratlnx them. ' - 1 - n