The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-06-06
THE WORLDS LANGUAGE.

Interesting Facts About the Various
Tongues of Men.
The New York Morning Advertiser
of recent date says: English is un-
doubtedly the nearest approach at pres
ent to universal language, although
Chinese, in its many widely different
dialects, is spoken by a larger number
of people. The English language is
spoken by about 10000, 600 people; its
nearest European rivals. German and
Russian, by about rs, 600, 600 each"
We are at a loss to determine where
the Advertiser finds $4,000. zoe of people
who speak the German language The
population of the German empire is a.
42S, 470, but of these there are at least
4 1923, 500 who cannot speak German: as,
for instance, the denizens Of Posen, Sic
lesia, West and East Prussia, the Wall
looms, Lithuanians, the Danes, Wends,
Moravians, Bohemians and French,
none of w HON speak German, to which
may be added the larger half of the
population of Alsace and Lorraine.
Austria and Hungary have a popula-
ton of Al, ,342, but of this number
there are only s,461, $50 of the popEla-
ton of Austria that speak German. and
of Hungary, 1872, lis. The rest Of the
Austrian empire is divided up, clinical
ly speaking, into scores of different
tongues, the principal ones being Bo-
henian, Polish. Slovsk, Servian, etc.
This gives total of 10, 43S, 965 German
speaking subjects of Austria. Austria
has no colonies excepting Bosnia and
Herzegovina but in these it is Turkish.
not German, which Is spoken
The German empire has practically
no colonies excepting few semi-bar-
rem Pacific islands here and there, and
Togaland, Cameroons and East Africa,
IN all $50 square miles: but these
possessions contain seven times as
many square miles as they do German
speaking people, so that, at the high
est, the German population of the
world cannot be placed at more than
So, 500, 900. Whether Germany will
spread her tongue, is problem of the
near future. Certainly there is no
other place left in the world for the
German tongue to extend itself, save
and except an occasional patch in the
United States of America, such as
portions of Wisconsin and lover the
Rhine" in Cincinnati. German statistics
report that in the seventytwo years
ending 1892. some 1900, 900 German emf
grants left Germany for the United
States, of which number 1,579,0 600
sailed since 1891. It is proba bic that
there are in the United States to-day
5000, 900 who can speak German, and
$50, 600 who prefer to speak in that
tongue. OF Austrian Germans, not to
exceed $50, 900 have emigrated to oar
country. It IS dying language in
America; not per cent. of the chill
eren of German parents born in Amer
lea can speak German
The total population of Russia is said
to be 113, Bill 1t is difficult TO give
the clinical elements of the Russian
population. For instance, the Jewish
population IS nearly 100000 but few
of them speak the Russian language, and
the Poles NUMBER nearly 1000, 600. the
Persians large number, the Finland
ers $500, 900. In the Caucasus there ara
800. 900 people, less than 2,0o0. 600
speaking the Russian language. The
Greeks are more numerous in Russia
than the Irish are in America; the
Armenians count nearly million. and
more than fifty other distinctly differ
ent tongues enter into the ca lculation,
so it is safe to say that not half the
subjects of Russia speak the Russian
language.
The amount of transformation about
the Chinese is simply enormous. The
heretofore accepted version has been
that China had a population in excess
Of 400, 900, 900. but the more careful sta
tisticians Of to-day place the population
OF China not to exceed 2s2, 600. 000 1t
is quite probable that no single Ian
cuage Is spoken bv 100, oeo. 600 OF them.
The divergence is quite as great in
China as in Russia. so that IN all proba-
bility the English language is to-day
the medium Of communication between
more people than any other language
on earth. and excluding China II prob
ably more than equals anv other two
languages.
When Canada becomes part % the
nited States and or southern bonnd-
airy has been moved 20 the other side Of
Warner Niller's Nicaragua canal and
a little time i given for the assiniia-
tion % our Spanish speaking southern
neighbors. the English language viii
be spoken on the continent NJ North
America by I20. 0oo, 600 Of people. this
before 1910
England and Spain practically are
the only countries since the Moorish
invasion Of Europe which hare given
birth 10 now nations The total pogu-
Iafion o. the v8rious countries IN which
the government y conducted IL the
spanish language abeut equals The
number 81 people ysho spssk German
or tn IL exaet, -. 81. 17z---Sno~.
church 5, Go. Report
Certainly No;.
Mrs Whifetie y nsf sre roa think
iur - hsr, 3 soatz
Rev AAite1ie-I am wondering