San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-07-15
ENGLISH AT THE HEAD.
spoken by More People Than Any Other
Language of Civilization.

spoken by More People Than Any Othe,
Language of Civilization.
More people speak English than any
other language now in use in the
civilized world, and the increase in the
use of English is so rapid that it may
ultimately outstrip all the European
languages collectively At the begin
ming of the present century French
stood at the head OF languages in gem
eral use. Then 20 per cent. of the peo-
pie of Europe and America spoke
French. Then followed, in the order
named. Russian, 10 per cent; Ger
man, is per cent; Spanish, 16 per cent;
English, - per cent, and Italian, y per
cent French was the language of
treaties, of fashion, of international
correspondence, and, to a con siderable
extent, of commerce. At the begin
ming of the present century twice as
many people in Europe spoke French
as English, and twice as many spoke
German as English. More persons in
Europe spoke Italian that English,
and, in fact, English had a subordinate
rank.
Colonization in America and Austria.
liza, and particularly the enormous in.
crease of population in the United
States, favored the extension of En-.
glish Colonization in South and Cen
| trail America favored Spanish, and in
Brazil, Portuguese. One reason of the
| rapid and general extension of the En-
| glish language has been that COLOMBIA
| ton from Great Britain has been very
much larger than from other countries,
and the English have made their influ-
ence felt more decisively than have the
| people of other nations in colonies.
| Thus, for instance, Holland has to-day
| extensive colonies in various parts of
the world. The present population of
| Holland is 1000, 600, and of the Dutch
| colonies 24,OOO,0O0 The area of Hol-
land in square miles is 10000, and of
the Dutch colonies 100000. But the
Dutch language has never been ex-
tended to any great extent by reason
! of these colonies, the inhabitants OF
/ which have never learned Dutch.
| The French, Italian and Russian lam
| guages have not been extended greatly
through colonization. As a consequence
/ of the changes through colonial
tion and otherwise ITO, 600, 900 people
now speak English instead of 1000, O0C
as at the beginning of the century.
German has held it's own without vari-
ance for nearly 100 years, and is still
spoken by Is per cent. of those speak
ing any European language. Russian
has fallen off little, not in numbers
but in percentage, and so have all the
Latin languages. The number of per
sons speaking French at the beginning
of the century was 1000, 900, and now
it is 81, 100000 The number of persons
speaking Spanish at the beginning OF
the century was 26,000,O00; now it is
| As, 000,0 00 The number of those per-
sons speaking Italian has increased
from 5000, 900 to 81, 900, 900 just double.
In Europe to-day German stands at
the head. 1t is the language of IS,
900, 900 people, Russian follows with
60,e0o, 900, French with $4,000. 900, En-,
glish with $4,000, 600, Italian with 81
100000, and Spanish with 1900, 900.
In the United States the growth OF
English has been, and continues to be,
most rapid, and the two countries
which are gaining most by the increase
of population, the United States, AMI
Australia, are both English-speaking
countries, and bid fair to keep English
at the head.-N. Y. Sun.
Il