Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-06-28
ATKINSON ON SOCIAL SCIENCE.
He Gives q Short Lesson in Words
Averaging 3 1-2 Letters Each.

At the annual meeting Of the Phi Beta Kappa
Society of Dartmouth College the Grafton was
delivered by Edward Atkinson, LII. D., Of Bos-
ton. His subject was 1.-The interdependenc
OF men," In one part Of his Grafton he said:
IF one wishes to bring the relations Of men
which are covered by this long word, 'interde-
pendence,' fairly before his mind, it may be
the best way to treat the subject in few sem
fences in which the average number OF letters
per word shall not exceed four. As am speak
ing to students who may be assumed to have
excelled in literary work, venture to bring
before you this suggestion in regard to style.
Write or dictate in your accustomed way; then
revise your copy. strike out every long word
and replace it with one or more short ones
The effect is curious.
"What is this conce ption of the iuterindepeud-
ence OF men and of nations? What are the benefi-
cent results which ensue from the elimination
of time and distance in the conduct of COM
merce? will try to put this lesson into very
simple words. This man lives on a good bit OF
land from which with little labor he can get
big crop. But he cannot put upon it the kind
OF sheep that will yield the sort of wool that he
needs to make his clothes of. The next man
can dig ore out OF the side of hill and can
dump coal with the ore from the side of the
next hill into o furnace. He can make pig
iron with little work at low cost but he can't
raise wool or grow hay. The next man can
cut wood; he can also put iron and wood into
tools, and he can put up mill to grind wheat
or to weave wool in. Over the way that man
lives on bit OF land where he can grow only a
little wheat; where he can make no iron, but
where he can clip wool of the right sort to be
put into the best kind OF cloth. OF course
these nen all swap, each with the other; each
gets more of what he wants than il he tried to
be independent and to do all his own work
Modern science has shown men how to Law rails
and to lay wires, SO that it does not matter
much If the next man is 100, 1000 or TO- 900
miles away. When these men swap they are
interdependent' What shall be said of the
common sense Of the men who try to stop them
from swapping?
What kind Of money do those men need?
The best kind. No one gets money in order to
keep 1t. unless he is fool He gets money in
order to spend it. He wants the best money
that he can get, in order to get the most out
ct 1t. What shall be said of the men who try
TO force him to take poor money in place of
good money? This man wants fish, but he
doesn't want to catch the fish; he had rather
make shoes. That man wants shoes and likes
to fish. What shall be said of the common
sense of the man who sets himself up as wise
man who says: You had better make your own
shoes and be independent And you had bet
ter catch your own fish and also be independ-
emit. Ii you don't we'll send a ship OF war to
stop you from swapping fish for shoes. That
Is the kind of work that our members OF Con-
gress and Senators are now doing in Washing
ton; and they are trying to make people be-
heve that such is the way to be independent
II submit this short lesson in social science as
an example of style which is not fine writing
or OF newspaper English. 1t is given in AIS
words, averaging 81 letters each"