Plymouth banner. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1852-1855, 1855-01-25
Gon1mruntcateO.
For the Blnner.
"InnoVatiOn not Improvement Reviewed.

| their gloomy imaginations.
An article that appeared in the Banner
| of Jen. lS. clearly shows the author Of it
/ 10 be one of that class who looks with
suspicion upon everything that was not
advocated while he was in the cradle.
! Although the title OF his article intimates
possibility of improvement, yet the
sentiment Of that article is. that we can
not advance a step towards reform with
out running into miserable extremes.
That reforms reach 90 far, We have only
his ipsc Dirt.
But, who, l ask. is to dictate where
reformers are to fix their limits? Shall
"Satis Bonum?" We have had persons
to circumscIibe us. and we have found
them equally fsllibls with ourselves.
We no longer place any confidence in
them; we fix our own limits, and the in &.
fallibls " Salts Bonum tells us we are
I wrong. We turn to the history Of the
past. and we find that these Salts b.
NUNS" have always been very free to
oppose everything in the shape of reform,
that has sprung up since God separated
the land from the water. They told US
that printing was an innovation. but who
now would do without it2 They told
Columbus that il was entirely useless
for him to start on such an enterprise as
that which discovered to the Eastern
World our glorious Continents; but the
world returns thanks 10 him for engaging
| in such an enterprise. They told us tina,
it was impossible TO propel vessels by
steam, but experience fatty contradicts
such an assertion. They sold us ths,
our telegraph were innovations; but ,he
lightning itself, answers in tones of thun-
der. and with the speed of electricity. that
such an assertion is false. And now.
forsooth, they have the sudacity TO come
ND again and dictate TO rs what is re-
form. and what is not. Oh, shame! But.
perhaps, ny ideas are too excessively
refined" to dictate for myself to wha,
measure should go.
1t appears TO me- that "Satis Bonum ~
is certsinly in want OF proof Of the evils
Of Phoaetics. when he has no other resort,
bat TO assail the opinions that may be
held by some Phonsticians. Suppose
there are some such among US: what OF
it? Are there not such among every
class OF persons! He certainly could no.
have taken a moro successful step to be
tray the weakness OF his subject, withou;
il is Withholding his true name.
| Next, he names out, Zone class in par
,icular. who are striving 10 overtime
our entire system OF orthosrsphy. which
is certainly based upon ss pure principles
OF Historic az that of any other language
now in use" Indeed, this is terribl. bus
your "entire system Of orthognphy" gill
fall Of itself. and vain are your props.
know nothing abou, other languages, but
yet have seen enough of different or
lhogrs phies to know that the French,
Germans and Greeks are governed BY
more uniformity than we are. But, sup
pose our system OF orthosra ply" is bet
ter than the orthosraphy "of any other
na!ion:" does that make i, perfect? By
no means.
Pure principles" indeed Shall We
take the ipse dirit of Salts Bonum." OF
shall we resort TO what educa tionists have
said? In OPPOSITION to Salts Bonum's'
assertion ! make the following extracts
Sheridan said, ''Such is the State Of on;
written language, that the darkest hero.
glyphics, which the ar. OF man has hith-
erto invented. were not better calculated
to conceal the sentiments Of those who
used them from all that had not the key
than the state of our spelling is to con
ceal the true pronunciation Of our words
from all except few we'll educated ma
tives." Walker, ia the preface to hi;
rronouncing Dictionary, says. "Unfor
tunately for the English language. lis
orihosraphy and pronunciation ere Sc
widely different: that DIR. Watts lays i
down in his treatise on spelling. that's
words which can be sounded different
ways must be written according to thai
mode 1chich Is the most distant from thu
true pronunciation. DR.. franklin
could net see the "pure principles OF oul
orthograpby. and advocated change
"Sooner or later. says he, sit mast b,
DONE" What pure system il is! How
tinmdCuldtc Out NY lucas are 10 eA
cessively refined to see its pureness
So it was with DIR. franklin, Sir John
Herschell. Sheridan, Walker. DR.. Watts
DR.. Jones, Dr.. Latham. and LiudIey
Murray.
Again he asks. sWho would introduce
o hofrid system Of cress.'ines. dots, ane
scratches for our beautiful and symetrica
chirography?" have in my time seer
persons fly off of the handle and com
mence arguing without knowing what
they were opposing. and have long been
OF the opinion that they had better saw
their breath till they understood more
about the subject they argued. For thu
, benefit Of "Satis Bonum" L will stat.
, that Photography is only a branch O.
Phonetics. Our Phonotypic (printing
6 alphabet is composed of % letters of TIT
old Romantic alphabet (esving cut C. q
and ~. to which are added II more, which
makes Phonotepy SO nearly like our Ro
y manic reading that any person of ordina
~ capacities acquainted with the latte
can learn the former in fifteen minnteI
time. The same may be said of the chi
biographies. Phonography is another sys