New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-05-20
T LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.
"BOIL 1T DOWN"
"BOTL IT DOWN"
THE ECONOMY OF PHONETIC SYSTEM" MILLIONS
IN IT."
IN IN, Edifor Of The Tribune.

boil IL DOWN.
THE ECONOMY OF A PHONETIC SYSTEM hiliioN7
IN IT."
To the Editor Of The Trfbune
SIR: Here comes third person VINO Is MI
in soft spot by that bit OF metrcal WISDOM" Boil
II down" Your late article the same subject pro-
pose to inspect and boil it down" to consistency you
Womb little sspeft BY actual count your article con-
tans 1877 silent eterstha letters that are not OF the
slightest In expressing the written idea OF inc Son
of the words spoken Your article n printed contain"
an average of "a letters to line, and go IL Will DC very
nearly accurate say that these 337 silent letters maHo
10 lines There are n lines in the article Take out
the 10 lines OF useless silent letters AMI yon DOH IL
down" to GA lines OF vital, vocal, effective let
ters-that Is, II per cent of your article conveys
no idea, expresses nothing and Ia worse than
useless because it occupies valuable space III
that ratio holds good throughout the expression oi
English speech In type tOday-and 1t does approx
imateiy-14 per cent Of every issue OF The TRIBUNE
is desert waste. Not twig sprouts nor blade Oh
idea grows in IT, You arc patiently laboriousy and use
lessly putting into type where 1t is expensive, what Is
not uttered in speech where prodgay ia cheap and per-
missblc OF the ~ columns OF your daily ISSUE ii per
per cent or about 10 columns, are devoted 10 thcse
ghosts OF letters who stalk through THE TRIBUNE with
out any SOUL or idea, function whatever If they
would only so much squeak and jbber there might
be modcum of sense which would Justify their parade
but they do not There they stand, stupidity sohdly
silent. The Great Silent Man himself Is not moro va
canty unutterab.e. 40 .n .,,.
be worth to you for advertsngi At 200 lines percOunn
and 80 cents per line your medium rate. the sum woud
equal 81 900, which You contributing every DAY 10
the support OF these shadows. In one year tne sum
would amount to 100000 and in 10 years to $3OOO0OO
for TIE TRIBUNE alone. The oustng oi these cx
parasites IN type Is only question OF time TINS IL an
age that destroys shas and these sham letters are
fed to 90 with the rest Their displacement Is perfectly
practical and representatives OF SOUND may DC
duced instead without enlarug disturbing any OF the
ARRANGEMENTS OF the present style Of printing once
The sorrows OF editors will more and more increase
You will live aud more III cnfOnica.y
crowded condition." You will bend more ana more
"under an embarrassment OF MATERIAL" leaving
out many good thing with regret, bnt
putting in these deadlettcr types with no regret ul
finally the necessity for ecOnomizng space VIII compe
the dropping Of every letter that does not perform an
exact aud positive duty Even the abbrevation OF Few
OF the frequent words would be perfectly pactl,
cable and could be carried to the extent Of saving nall
the space without the least loss OF egbility An abe
man will take hold of this work day and start us on
the road to a general boiling 1t down" And why not
TIE TRIBUNE, which has wrested with 80 many giants,
slain many Rings, and righted so many wrongs
Why In order and for its own vital interest to
grapple with this monster Of waste and aosurdy TINS
stumbling block in the path OF learning ana hurry OUT
OF sight J. " LELAND
NeW- York. May Is, 1875.