San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-05-07
THE LANGUAGE OF THE FUTURE
The Ceaseless Working of the Inevitable
DEGREES What 1t Must lie.


DEGREES What 1t Must lie.
We believe most heartily m the unity of
language being mighty element in ma
tons progress and power, and that anything
which can be done fairly and reasonably TO
secure such unity is not only permissible but
dutiful and right. Nothing can be more evil
dent than that English is to be the lingua
communis of this continent, and all strug-
Cling against this inevitable will be of quite
a Partingtonian character. The Celt clings
to his Gaelic, but it must 60 and none knows
and feels this more clearly than tao Cet him
self The dear old Scottish Dorio is doomed,
though the canny I.owland Scoo may be able
to prove to a demonstration that it is tho
most copious and expressive language which
has come down from Babel, even Greek
itself, perhaps, not eXrepbol. The German,
the Swede, the Italian or the Dane if at all
sensible, never dreams Of the dOFnlnanCy Of
his dear old mother tongue III this New
World of ours. He knows the scholarly will
always use what in his heart will ever be
precious, but he is as certain as that he lives
that his grandchildren will talk in another
tongue, and that his great-grandchildron
may never know what Ia him WIS best,
1t is pity, but it can't be helped, and per
hapS it would he a greater pity if it could.
In the same way our French friends must
face the inevitable They may fancy In one
of their dreamy moods that their beautiful
language is to he that in which men will bar
gain and make love from the North Pole TO
the isthmus of Panama. But their better
Judgment must tell them differently. The
Gaelic, without prescription and without
any hostile effort every year recedes, even
in Scotland. 1t cannot stand against the
business hustle and railway rush of the day.
Condemned to its exclusive use men are left
far behind in the race of life, and they won't
consent to be so left. So is it here. Some
foolish, unreasonable people are afraid that
in Canada French will supplant English, and
that the French Canadians will become the
dominant race. The fear is foolish, and that
coming time is in dreamland
And is the French language really not
making that dreaded progress which some
affect to deploref We are convinced it is
not. The active and enterprisng of Lower
Canada are all learning English. They can
not help themselves unless willing to be lag
CARDS in the race and nowhere in the upward
struggle Is it too much to say that for
every child of English parentsge that can
speak French there are twenty French who
can speak EngliShf
The business of Canada is every year I'M
creaSingly done in the common tongue. Is
there in one speech in six heard in French in
the house Of commons at Ottawa compared
with what was common thirty years agO'
We shall not speak with certainty, for we
don't absolutely know, but we venture TO
affirm that among the French members at
Ottawa there are not six who do not under
stand English, though quarter of a century
since there were three times that number,
and more, in utter ignorance of even the
rudimentS of the English tongue What
fierce has been used to bring round thi,
chauge3 No force at all except the ccasaless,
nOisclcsS working of the inevitable Not
only 50, but we may safely add, and without
the slightest otfense to any one, that those
who are bound that neither themselves nor
their children shall know English are by
such a resolution determining that they and
their sons shall be hewers of wood and draw
ers Of water amid the mighty fer1nent and
varied opportunities that are in full opera
ton Oh every side.-Toronto Globe.