Columbus Day

One of the first decree laws to be issued since Parliament was adjourned (TIME, June 29) established Oct. 12, the day on which Columbus is supposed to have discovered America, as a national holiday.

The measure was ignorantly alleged to be an act of courtesy toward the U. S. Government. This seemed far-fetched : 1) because Columbus, on his first trip west, did not discover the land which is now called the U. S.; 2) Italians have always been at some pains to insist that Columbus was an Italian.