Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-12-01
PROFESSOR MARoH's PROTEST.

Professor F. A. March, the distinguished
philologist, in the Forum for December
enters anew his protest to the tyranny of
printers and editors, but he should
have added of custom and of lex
icographers. "Write as we may
they (the printers and editors) will spell
for us, and their spelling is the worst in
the world" says the essayist. In every
thing we are making rapid progress except
in spelling. In that tradition binds us
hand and foot, and whoever attempts to
loosen the shackles is pounced up and
denounced as a reform crank by the class
of people who insist upon going to mill
with stone in one end of the bag For
that reason we wish Professor March's in
yincible protest and argument could be
read by all men and women who speak and
write in English.
There is no more reason for pronouncing
a very large class of words one way and
spelling another than there is in the use
of glasses for perfect eyesight. Professor
March calls attention to the fact that Pro-
fessor Newman, distinguished man of
letters, and of the faculty of University
College, London, in his great work, "Chris-
tianity in its Cradle" has the courage
to drop the final in all words in which ii
is mot only superhuous. but misleading"
Why not? Why should it be used in
genuine" or engine" or " imagine" or
infinite" " composite" protective" or
"enable?7 The New York Tribune years
ago dropped " me from the adopted word
programme, and the readers of that jour
nal have never complained. Would
they enter protest if it should
treat catalogue to similar curtailment?
These are but mere whifis of the gale of
reform in spelling that will some day sweep
over the English-speaking people and
eradicate from our system all superAuous
letter and syllables and give us English
spelled in nearly all cases as spoken. Pro-
fessor March is of the opinion that it will
not be very long before the reform will
set in with resistless force, and he cites
many evidences in support of the forecast.
The Pathological and Spelling Reform As
sociations of America and England en-
brace as active workers many Of the best
linguists and most polished writers and
learned men of the age. The standard
dictionaries of the day exhibit many evil
dences of the .encroachment of the reform,
and of graceful yielding to the dictates of
common sense instead of submissive en-
sIavement to absurd and ancient rules,
each one of which is said to be necessary
because another is adopted. The new
spelling will sweep the whole lot out of
use, and we will get down to the bedrock
of English, and spell in way that will
clear the path to learning for youth of a
thousand obstacles. We shall the cease,
for example, to spell Controller" Comp
troller, or "tho' though, or "iland" island,
or "preacht" preached, or "yello'' yellow.
1t is something, as the plilologist observes,
very encouraging to know that Worcesters
Dictionary sanctions many spelling re-
forms that Webster's still denies, and he
might have added Nuttall and number
Of later photographers. Even the later
editors of Webster have yielded to econ
omic spelling in very many cases, and
have justified many phonetic invasions.
Bu: they are not yet sufficiently out of the
| tolls of tradition and prejudice to give to
COX" any other symbol than ough, or "of''
any other than ough in such words as
cough, but they will "eome to it, in due
time as matter of self-defense, for the
dictionaries that stand stubbornly in the
path of progress will assuredly be swept
aside.