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Show 7M&Z MankfJre dored holidays that V . JBU1 W 1 rssMmj- that I 1 tf If if ? !j m I : s Apfl'' a I J u & In K ' M j . Onj. M Day .n 1918 in Jfa A W, ' I Which the World'. Bu,i. I eAj&LgJ ; ( ' new Mf Interrupted l 4 SiS j- Somewhere by Holidays 1 ' New York City's Financial District I Decorated In Honor of a Foreign ! War Mission. Only 84 Days in 1918 in , Which the World'i Busi. nest Is Not Interrupted j- Somewhere by Holidays j and Sundays, French Citizens Celebrating the Fall of the Bastlls. with 2(1 out of Us possible 30 days. May comes next, with 23 and an an-ditional an-ditional Sunday not otherwise celebrated, cele-brated, thus actually tying November In the number of days closed to business. busi-ness. March, on the other hand, Is the longest all around business month, having only 19 holidays. Thus at least two-thirds of every month interferes in-terferes with the free play of International Inter-national business. Even such generally observed festivals festi-vals as Christmas and New Year's Day can't be depended upon by the banker without consulting the International Inter-national calendar. New Year's Day Is the only holiday universally observed. P.ut, 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. Where Chlstmas Is Not Observed. Christmas Day, due to its religious significance, Is not so generally ol-served ol-served as New Year's Day. It has. moreover, only three different dates. It was not generally observed on December De-cember 25 until the fourth century. The early church, lacking any authentic au-thentic knowledge as to the date of Christ's birth, celebrated It without uniformity In May. April and January. Janu-ary. The Armenian Church still observes ob-serves January 6. Why the December Decem-ber uate was finally selected Is uncertain. uncer-tain. Some see In It a displacement of the Roman Saturnalia; others declare de-clare It a survival of the Feast of the Winter Solstice, and still others point to Its coincidence with the old German Ger-man Yuletlde Feast. Countries where ! ' I i CURIOUS HOLIDAY FACTS. i w 1 w There Is no national legal hoi- 1 j iday In the United States. ' Massachusetts does not ob- serve New Year's Day as a w legal holiday. w f Five Christian countries do , not observe Christmas as a It- ga holiday. j New Year's Day Is the only w holiday observed throughout the world. Eleven different dates are ob- j w served as New Year'e Day In different parte of the world. International business will be w Interfered with by holidays or w Sundays on 281 days In 1918, of w these 281 days being holidays. This leaves only 84 days In w w which universal banking bust- w ness is possible. w November, with 26 holidays w In different parts of the world, j w leads the months. I March, with 19, has the few. est holidays. w Brazil leads the nations of the world with 84 holidays. w The United States comes next w with 54. w ' By GARRET SMITH. j W111LK uiau plays or prays the world a business will be la-1 lettered with on 2S1 days j during 1U1& lu . otiier' words, there will be only 84 days la i this coming- year Uiai are not Sun-' j -days or special holidays in ouk of, ! biow Important coruiiieix-ial regions of (he eaiih. Nor is this an unusual : exMiiiitiou created by the war. We are aivusioiued lo Jump remarkable eoiHtltlotiH into the category of war evi! Hi cue daya. On the contrary, some of the lighting nations have for the time being stripped their decks of minor and unusually superfluous Holidays. Holi-days. Ever since man was condemned to t caru his bread by the sweat of his brow he has been putting in a lot of ; spare time trumping up methods of j heating the game. Next to working Into the boss's Job the invention of the , holiday has been one ot his airiest . little aculeveineuts in this line. Uke- wise ever since' bosses and holidays ' evolved, along about history s suu- rise, the former have been cursing ' the latter as troublesome breaks lu important to know whether the bank in that particular city will be open that duy. Does any one around the I lace knew whether January 5 la 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 rnmpant In these United States. It therefore becomes necessary neces-sary to send an expensive cablegram to get the Information. This sort of i thing happens not once, but many times, In every banking house with an extensive foreign business. j Among the holidays established by 1 custom the occasion la generally the anniversary of an Important political went or the birthday of a national hero. Such holidays are therefore local, lo-cal, while church holidays are for the most part general. The former class prevails In the newer and more democratic dem-ocratic countries, while the older ones confine themselves largely to the church fasts and festivals. ' Where Holidays Are Thickest. Contrary to the popular notion, the new democracies of the west enjoy a greater number of holidays than their sister nations of the eastern hemisphere. hemi-sphere. Of the 97 nations or dependencies depend-encies listed Brazil leads, with 84 holidays. . The United States, with VI, Is a close aecond, although she, unlike Brazil, practically ignores the i-hun-b days. Another popular delusion delu-sion is shattered when we find that France has only 18 formally observed I days and Italy only 23. We had sup-I sup-I posed the latins always outdid us In this particular. Among the other bel-, bel-, liKeienis Germany, It la presumed, will observe 20 days next year. Great r.rltuln 16, Japan 15 and Russia 17. I In most of these countries numerous I local holidays ordinarily observed have been abandoned during the war. The study of holidays Is fascinating fascinat-ing to (he historian. Those of our ivn country offer a particularly rich Held. If one knew the meaning of all i he half a hundred days celebrated lu the Culled Stales, with the collateral event connected with eHch, he would be well versed In the nntlon'a history. 4me of the 'first surprises in store for such a student Is to learn that the I 'tilted StHtes has no national holiday. holi-day. The reader will at once think of Fourth of July atid of the President's Presi-dent's Thanksgiving proclamation. But not even these are national. Acts of Congress and Presidents' pronouncements pro-nouncements In this resect apply only to the District of Columbia and he territories. The states usually follow suit, but as a mntter of custom cus-tom only and not of law. Here Is a 'bailee to win some bets from your friends. the old style calendar prevails still celebrate January 7. In the Puritan days Scotch Presbyterians Presby-terians and Kngllsh Non-Conformists rejected Christmas Day altogether as "savoring of papistry." and In New England Thanksgiving Day was devised de-vised to replace It. It seems a curious curi-ous thing that there are today Christ-tlan Christ-tlan -countries where It Is not observed ob-served legally. Such are Norway, Pnnnma. Pern. Portugal and the South African Union. The last named, however, still observes ob-serves the old Kngllsh Institution of I Boxing Day on December This was the day when the English gentry, having had their own Christmas cele-bratlon cele-bratlon the day before, turned their attention to the poor by presenting them with Christmas boxes. The day later became the dsy for general giving giv-ing of Christmas gifts. Portugal Drops Traditions. The only country on earth a study of whose holidays reveals little of its political, racis! or religions origin Is Portugal. The first attempt to establish estab-lish a republic In Portugal was made on January 31. ISM. This Is reflected reflect-ed In Its calendar of holidays, which runs: "January 1. dedicated to universe! uni-verse! brotherhood; January 31. dedicated ded-icated to the memory of all those who fought and died to establish the republic re-public In Portugal; May a, In memory mem-ory of the discovery of Brazil by the Portuguese; June 10, municipal hol. day at Lisbon; June 'J4, municipal hull lay st Oporto: October .", the d;ite of llie establishment of the Portuguese Por-tuguese republic; December 1. Fla? Iuy. to commemorate the Independence Independ-ence of the country; December 25, Family Hay." These hrlf notations on holidays nihil only their distribution and dates. I'lck of these lies a wide field lllled with (piaint and curious Information Infor-mation relatlrfc to the manner of eel-ehriltlli'; eel-ehriltlli'; litem . 'a the year s work. By the Middle Ages holidays had becotu ao numerous 'i that they seriously interfered with i Industrial pursuits. A valuable re- 1 suit of the Reformation not generally ' appreciated was tiis abolition ot a large portion of these holidays. But as 'time went on political and religious milestones accumulated a'gnin. Today, while the year's over-, over-, load In auy one country is by no j means as serious as In the Mldrtlt I Ages, the growth of International finance has made the worlds aggre-' aggre-' gate of closed days a serious factor and on expensive one. Not until now, however, has any attempt been ma te ,10 compile an exhaustive list of holidays" holi-days" for the guidance of bankers and tvieiehnnts. This task has Just been .completed by the Guaranty Trust Company of New York city. The results re-sults have been published in a booklet book-let thot should lie a valuable addition to the reference library of every bank In the country doing more than a purely pure-ly lol business. Importance of Bank Holidays. Suppose a bank has u commercial pafer collectable In 'eking or Alliens cr Cape Town ou January 5. It la Amarica'a Red Latter Days. American local holidays are rich In historical significance. Of such are the commemorations of Hunker Hill and lletuiliigtoii and New Orleans and San Jacinto; the all but forgotten Fast Iay of New England, still surviving sur-viving In New Hampshire; Patriots' Duy in Maine and Old Defender's Day in Baltimore, I'loneer Day In Idaho uttd the various Admission Days popular pop-ular with otiier Western states. Confederate Con-federate Memorial Day In the South, together with the birthdays of Lee and oilier heroes of the Confederacy. Two states have Independence Days f i heir ow n. Texas observes her separation sep-aration from Mexico on March 2. North Carolina commemorates the Halifax Independence resolutions on April 12 snd the Mecklenburg declaration decla-ration on May 20. It remains for Frederick county. Md., to celebrate nil alone the repudiation repu-diation of Hit Mmnp act, one of the mon local celebrations of an Important Impor-tant national event on record. Among the favorite mouths for hol- fdays the world over November leads, |
