New-York tribune., 1876-02-26
A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE.
ENGrisH OR GFUM.N '-UsEGESs LETTER, IN THE
ENGLISH I,NGUAGE-A LANGUAGE 10 HhIP

ENttfi-H OR tfHMtN u Stl - lIilLiAo ~ i"F
FNGLsH I,NGUAGE-A LANGUAGE 10 HhIP
CoMurLCE.
TO the Ed,ior OF Ths TribHnr.
SIR: Germany is alive in all her depart
ment. sadowa and scdpu have renewed her mighty
youth and stimulated every energy II scholars feel the
IMPULSE to conquest. her soldier do Conscious thai
her .eh il "a, set only the second srent language Of
the word. her university professors nro preparing to
make the first And now. you announce 10 day. her
scholars homo met In session to throw out every
a., ,ss letter and give the last porcctHg touch 20
printed rtpr ,ntiton of hcr speech The conquest OF
the lin quail world will be glorious tnan any Stc-
cess In mere phy seal proVe,s material sulJuSon
Tho Tnesh speech has go M start of the linIna world
b tho energy enterprise aud uhiqny ot the nations
who speak U rather than by IT. own Inherent force great
49, tlatis Ia al equally energetic nation sri-e with
mi lion, of population at homo aud other millions mi
aug aud c-taLshng outpost. OF colonies cyerYvh're'
With iypa representation ~ speech conforming eNsCiy
10 tho spoken utternce. thr not only children but
child races can ndopt n readily and We. with our
tongueti,d handcapuiue ~ fourteen silent letters In
,ycry hundred that print aud uncertainty ana lhsta-
M, Of value in every that not silent VII! have to
,tfur,e for IT, and very likely struggle in vain. Our
language has spread over the world In spite Of these de-
fect. ... bat Tor them might have been the spoken
epecch end printed representation OF millions
more Of the human IL English print could
Toe made purely phonetic we should fall heir
10 the Chinese and japanese hnsii' 'ati''.
English speaking children require average ~ three
years In their school learn 10 read with facility and
corr.cn 49, By phonetic methois as has been repeat
edly proved in many schools notably IN those of ~
Ion for the as eight instruction ON one year
Ia wear aud hall advances pupils 10 the same staye OF
excellence I'm hr further progress Of tho human race.
languages will nnd that. Ike commodities they must
ru.tr I'm the markets " tn world for customers; ana
tho dealers in English may dcucud upon II that the ma
lions lnd fihcs w not exchange Their feeble To gnrs
fnr Ingsa m such cost ~ tarc Thrnkagc aud terminal
charges. hen tines can get fcrman the language of
nov crfui people. almost n well rioken and better
printed. delivered FREQ. Fut gige English speech
sr dv rational pcatcd approximation Ia prht
ore letter exactly for sound, and mor ana every
letter presenting the sound at every recurrence,
and on th rock 1t Will be possible Ia sinh deeper and
l,y broader s foundations and send forth mghiier
influence.
such Tesontaon ~ English IL print. a' You have
permit before to state. hc mad" perfectly
WIN h., without the casting of sin e
new type aud without disturbing the H. nature of the
mast "a bui that n mas be read I'm the future respect
inll, fgg :. that In NioW the efforts ~ German com
missioners improve the almost uninproNalr type
representation of German speech An English commission
scholars and uu erslty professors somewhat larger
and with a wider scope than the Connecticut one 10
amend the orh1grlphy OF pubic documents, ht az
pointed II could not get to work too soon io nNesti-
gate ID. whole English silent letter question.
N,.r YORK. 4, II TuLEOS {. LELAND.