St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-03-22

SpelllnS. Iney nave enacted q social
statute against misspelling, making it
misdemeanor, punishable with liter
airy ostracism. This is but natural, and
the feeling that inspires it is seen in
other social phases. Naturally, too,
such resist any removal of the diff
culties they have overcome lest it i'm
pair the Importance of their achieve
ment. They come to regard the mon
strosities as being something admir-
able and aesthetic, as some tastes find
beauty in golden rod and mushrooms
and the cat-tails Of the swamps.
Arrayed among these promoters Of
photographic inertia are, inevitably. our
school teachers. Whatever may be their
private opinions, their public duties
obllge them to abhor, with Holofernes,
in Loves Labor Lost" "such hackers
of photography as to speak dout, fine,
when he should say doubt; Diet, when he
should pronounce debt-d-e-b-t, not
Diet" and like him there are doubt
less teachers in whom such "fanatical
phantisimes" "insinuate to insanitie,"
A teacher who does not perceive the
forces at work in the direction of sim
plification of spelling may we'll feel
shocked when high school class have,
like Claudio, in much ADO" turned
photography" and present, in their pa
pers, words which "are very fantastic
banquet. just so many strange Dishes"
spelling "beans" for beings, ''fgers"
for figures, "helth" for health, or met
afer" for metaphor, and so on through
a list appalling to the educated eye
Of the teacher. And so the teachers all
over the land lend strenuous effort to
the maintenance of the absurd and
resist to their utmost the unseen, stub
born and resistless, if impeded proc
esses of growth.
1t is to these hackers of orthog-
raphy" in and out Of the schools in
all these generations that the progress
towards simplicity in our spelling alone
is due: The phonetic spelling Of the
student is but another illustration of
the fact that human activities, like mo-
ton in nature, run on the lines of least
resistance. 1t is the tendency that cuts
corners, uses the inventions that lessen
labor, sets brains to work to save mus
Gle. 1t is the same motive that forces
expressions that are terse, forceful, stig-
matized at first as slang, but finally
finding legitimacy in the dictionaries
It cuts "pantaloons'' down to pants"
and rejects strOyyca,,s ~ &c tha c+1,h
born insistence of the Anglo-Saxon
strain of our blood on brevity. Uncon-
sciously the youth of the country de-
flying rules and precedent and custom
and teachers, and Drawing the scorn
Of the adopts are the force. that has
brought our photography up out of the
Chaucerian depths and is forcing it
on toward Teutonic simplicity and
ease. Let us not be too caustic. then,
in our structures of school methods
and training that fail to overcome this
helpful movement.
POPULAR ELECTION OF SENATORS.
The most encouraging sign of prog
ress toward the election Of United
States senators by popular vote is the
approval of a bill proposing a consti-
tutional amendment to carry this
change into effect by the majority of
the elections committee of the senate
itself. The only obstacle in the way
of the reform for some years has been
the attitude of that body. The house
has long been ready to sanction the
new method. Nobody questions that
If such a constitutional amendment
were submitted to the people it would
be adopted by big majorities not only
in three-fourths of the several states.
| but probably in every single state Of
the Union. The theory which under
lay the method of electing senators
by vote Of state legislatures has utterly
failed to work out in practice. On the
contrary, the system has developed
evils that were unforeseen by the franz
ers of our constitution. Rightly or
wrongly, the people have an unshak-
able conviction that the great power
of corporate and capitalistic influences
in the United States senate is not only
founded upon, but buttressed by the
method now in use in choosing it's
members.
They are destined, of course, to seri-
Gus disappointment if they imagine
that a change to election by popular
vote would be a cure-all for these evils.
No devices Of machinery can secure
the selection of able and honorable
men if the people are careless. But it
u.s. we think, an obvious fact that it
is an easier task for those who wish
to control the course of legislation to
sway a legislative body composed of
a few score, or at most of hundred
members, rather than to force their
favorite upon the thousands or hun
dreds Of thousands of voters among
the people. We believe that the aver
age of responsibility to the popular will
would be raised in the senate by aban-
doning the antiquated failure which
now directs the choice of senators by
the legislatures of the several states.
In addition to this there is a constant
increase of dead-locks and disputes in
different legislatures over the great
prize of the senatorship which indicate
the necessity of change.
Only few years ago three states
were represented at one time by only
one senator, each because of the failure
to elect. Kentucky is now in that sit
uation; and all legislation failed at the
recent session. the fame of the state