Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-11-17

to express our wants or convey our
thoughts. A third of these from abbrevia-
tions degenerate into contortions. A fif-
teenth or a twentieth Of this limited
vocabulary consists of unnecessary words,
the disuse of which would purify our
speech and make our meanings clearer
We accord large measure of attention to
our attire, and are scrupulous concerning
our food, the cleanliness and health of the
body, and the comfort Of our surroundings;
yet most of us are careless of the offensive
ness of the vehicles we employ to convey
to each other our thoughts and desires.
Speech is divine gift, but we have sadly
abused it, for bad habits are easily formed,
and none more so than those of speech.
We know the power of rightly nodded
language, but we. give it utterance
in very many misshapen forms.
Words, said Mathews, are not
the dress, but the incarnation of
thought of the man of genius They
should be the pure white raiment of the
thoughts of all men. Despite Byron's
condemnation of our ''whiStling, granting,
gutteraP tongue, it is marvelously ex-
pressive, and its vocabulary ample in pure
and correct forms for all the needs of hui
man speech.
The teachers in the Berkeley conference
were wise in urging the practice in schools
of enlarging the use of this vocabulary on
the part of pupils. The meager number
of words in ordinary use, distorted by con-
traction and weakened by adulteration;
the substitution of vulgarisms for power,
and of slang for force Of expression; these
demand remedial drills and guards for the
children, that each generation may move
farther away from the deplorably, shiftless
and slovenly habit that is growing upon
the everyday use of English. There en-
tiers into the demand also the morality of
the question. As we narrow and debase
the forms of expression, we clip the wings
and narrow the processes of thought An
eminent philologist has said with force
and truth that "the language of people is
often a moral barometer, which marks
with marvellous precision the rise or fall
OF the national life" As our vocabulary
in use is narrowed, we seek to supply lack
of force by rude superlatives and extrava-
giant and ill-applied adjectives, and thus
debase by effort to intensity the very
speech we endeavor to make forcible.
BOTH Dakota and Washington Terri
tories will, the coming winter. knock again
for admission to the Union of States. And
why should they not be admitted? They
have the requisite population, they pre-
sent Constitutions conforming to that of
the United States and guaranteeing repub-
lican forms of government. If they are
refused again, it can be for political rea-
sons only. But these were never contem-
plated as factors of such questions by the
scheme of the Federal Union. When,
therefore, they are projected into the issue
of admission, they are in the nature of in
tolerance, and tend to deprive portion of
the people of sacred rights. The only
consideration of Congress should be the
fitness of the Territories for Statehood,
measured by constitutional guarantees and
the best interests of the whole people of
the republic. 1t is useless, however, to at
tempt to conceal the fact that the most
potent causes that will operate to prevent
the admission of these Territories are
those that are related to party ascendancy.