The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-07-18
LET US USE ENGLISH.
A Very Interesting Discussion Over n
Worlds Fair Inscription.

The narrowing influence of mere pedan-
try has been illustrated with fresh force
in relation TO the Latin inscribed on pedi-
ments and monuments of the worlds
fair. Prof Hatfield of the scholastic in
stitution at Evanston published in the
Dial of this city a letter declaring that
he had copied the inscription on the
Egyptian obelsk at Jackson park, and
that he hoped the fires reported there
had carried the obelisk off. so that its
illiteracy should not longer cucumber
the earth. or words to this effect. Prof
Hatfield reproduced the offending inscrip-
zion as he read it and added that if
freshman student in one of his classes
should write such jargon he would send
him out of his room for gross ignorance
Prof Hatfield thought the fair commits
sioners should have got themselves
edited" before they set UP a monument
of their ignorance to be read "by the
nations of the earth.
1t would seem that inasmuch as the
fair was over and the inscription on the
obelisk had been read by the nations of
the earth without protest as to its Latin
ity Prof. Hatfield might have had pa
triotism enough to let the inscription go
unrebuked but the desire to advertise
the fact that he was engaged in pedantry
doubtless overcame all larger and more
ideal considerations. 1t was noted al the
he did not venture to substitute correct
Latin for the jargOn against which he
protested. 1t is known even among good
readers of Latin that to write it is quite
another matter. and the professors dis
erection in refraining from correcting the
bad Latin was out of all proportion to
his rashness in denouncing its badness.
But comes along one of the commission
ers whom the professor regretted had
not got himself edited" and he shows
that Prof. Hatfield, instead of reprOduc-
ing the obelisk inscription correctly, as
he claimed, committed eleven errors in
the transcription.
The real question remains. however.
The commissioners VINO are supposed TO
be responsible for the Inscription were
not chosen because Of their pathological
attachments, but for reasons totally de-
tached from schOlarship-We may as well
be frank. 1t was doubtless intended as
courtesy to the assumed culture of other
portions of the race that Latin was used
on the architectural supports or inciden-
tai sculpture of the fair. 1t was under
stood that counsel had been had with
distinguished experts i'm a famous insti-
tuition of learning near Boston before the
Latin inscription were approved for jack
son park and it is candid to add that the
entire geography at jackson park was
carefully examined by more than one
trained scholar before a line was adopted
In fact. in the English of Prof. Hatfield
the fair got itself edited"
Without censuring those literary embel-
lishments which were more or less unin-
telligible on account of distance and some
what irrelevant, nothing, it will be ad-
mitted, was more evident during the fair
than that the use of words not rooted in
our own speech was Intellectual and there
fore iniudicious. The fair was for the
people. Its language should have been of
the people 1t was humiliating. if laugh
able to hear the question necessarily
asked about the lagoon" To be sure,
the word is English but it's significance
Is not commonly familiar. Some people
Thought il an animal 1t is true that APP
nlications were often made to the guards
for admission TO the lagoon and for the
privilege of seeing the lagoon fed. Lake
would have been quite as beautiful
word and would have been universally
understood. Even Boston itself does not
lagoon its pond. and we do not attempt
tn lagoon" the little waters in our parks
when not associated with a worlds fair.
There were other terms equally affected.
One of them ante-dates and survives the
fair. but Midway plaisance" has ac-
ouired a new character. a distinct parti-
colored and multiform robe, and its YER
hal bravery we shall tolerate without
hardness of heart or mind hereafter.
IL has come to be chief glory of the
nodern age TO use English well. Long as
the polished French held pre-eminence
as the language of diplomacy. supplant-
ing Latin in courts as English supplanted
Latin in our common literature. Intrench-
ed as French is still in even the official
publication of the German empire, AL
manac de Gotha-monument TO the in
fluence of Noltaire; rich as is German
and never mightier than today, for music
is bearing its sonorous verse to all lands
that love grandiose song-the progress
of English alone is keeping pace with
advancement of frontiers of civilization.
In the far North, in the south Pacific
at the equator, il is becoming the para
mount tongue In Australia il is taking
the place of old held by German. In
portions of what We're originally Dutch
settlements II has succeeded Dutch to a
large degree. In Russia and in Germany
il is second only to the yernacular, and
the next international conference will
doubtless adopt it as the most expedient
medium.
What legislation cannot do commerce
has done. All artificial efforts to pre-
serve old or to propagate new vocabu-
laries have proved and must continue to