Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-23
DIFFER IN SPELLING
Lack of Uniformity in Regard to
Post Offices.
THE BOARD OF GEOGRAPHIC NAMES
Some of the Principles by Which
It is Guided.
ABOLISHING NONESSENTIAIS

ABOLISHING NONESSENTIAIS
II is said to be a rather remarkable cir
cumstance that the names Of post offices,
| as published in the postal guide. do not in
| all Instances conform to the names used I'm
the official records Of the department. In
the bonding division the name Of q small
post office will often be spelled in one way
and in the Postal Guide I'm another. This IL
because the fourth assistant postmaster
general names the fourth-class offices
| they are established. and II is in this class
| that nearly all the differences occur. while
the Postal Guide. in which these names are
| published is edited in the office NJ the chief
! clerk of the department.
| In 1891 President Harrison established
a board on geographic names. IT was
! called for the purpose OF bringing about
| a uniform usage in the spelling Of geo.
| graphic names Tn the publications OF the
| government. This board Is still in exist
| euce. II its decisions were respected there
| would not be much confusion in the Post
| Office Department. The other departments
| are generally adheTing To the findings OF
| the board. and publishing their maps and
| charts accordingly but the Post office DE
| partment. in one part Of IL at least, has
I ~ en- nj To noe Its own row.
! The most notable case Of late Is that Of
| Puerto Rico" Eight years ago. before
there was any thought Of anneNing that
| island the board Of geographic names de-
Cided without controversy upon this spell
ing. The Post Office Department without
| consulting the board, Is now spelling e.
| Porto Rico" The fourth assistant post
master general. Mr. Bristow. describes
how this happened We spell here I'm
the common-seuse English way-P-o-r-t-o--
Porto. and do not put In any u-e. What
nonsense that is! We take the accepted
| spelings
Combining Names OF Several Words.
1t is said that the work OF the board OF
| geographic names Is misunderstood and in
consequence has fallen into considerable
disfavor by reason Of a mechanical inter
probation Of the principles which ii has
laid down For example. the board decided.
"a the seventh of its principles-not rules
, | that wherever possible names consisting OF
more than one word should be combined in
| to one word, provided no serious Offenss
to public taste was involved. The tendency
! toward simplification in this way has long
been marked. La Fayette' is now almost
universally written Lafayette, a. is FL
dorado" and hundreds Of other words
.. Applied in moderation the principle r. said
to be a good one. But some clerks in the
; Postal Guide office carried II To such an
| | extreme a few years ago as TO discrcdit the
, | principles and to throw rdicue upon the
board. OF all the individual cases that
| were CRITICS al I'm the newspapers at the
time. It is said that not one was a decision
| of the board itself. and they had made
| | thousands of decisions, but rather an APP
, | plication Of the principle Of the department.
! | They did recommended, 10 be sure. such con-
r | solicitations as "TenpOund Island" in place
| of Ten Pound Island" or 'Ten-pound Is
| land" as it has been variously spelled.
! They called a post office I'm Missouri Ten
| mile. and some other cases to correspond.
I But all the absurdties of consolidation
| Snar he h. RI C..HF al ~
u, | ago new post office was wanted short
distance from Palm Beach. Fla. The people
| | in the locality wanted Il named West Palm
Beach" The department objected to
= | three-wOrd name. and so made ft West
1 | pambeach." This aroused SO much reason
: | able objection that the latest editions OF
n the Guide have spelled II West Palm
1 | beach" The consolidating OF words seems
g to be wholly question Of how people are
o accustomed to looking at them. New
E Hampshire was written I'm the constitution
: al papers as one word. and yet no one
: would think of recommending that consol-
Y idation now. People do not Ike the looks "
: 'Westpoint," as the department tried 70
= spell ii, and yet Newton for New Town"
5 has become perfectly familiar and accept
. able. Yet It would never be possible TO
. write New York" as one word.
u Dropping the Possessive aud n.
g Some Of the other principles of the board
r are that. far as practicable the posses
e sive form If names should be avoided.
$ Woods Holt was made Woods Hull.
: This name was originally Woods Hole bu;
y had been changed by summer residents To
I Wood Holl This change had been accept
r. ed in official and local usage. and all the
r board fit to do was To drop the apos-
| trophe, as it had at an earlier date been
cropped in BuZzards bay. This principle Is
II intended merely to hasten a little a ten
= dency which is always operative. The apos-
. | trophe is a useless adOrnment in a proper
= name, and in time by popular consent
"a | slOughs on
y The board also recommended the drop
Il ping of the final Of the termina don
y 'burgh." Pittsburg is good example. The
- city was chartered in 1s16, its name being
| spelled without the IN" and its official
g | form is still Pttsburg. The III appears
IS to have been added by the Post Office De
= partment and through that action loca
usage appears to have become divided.
NJ majority Of the local newspapers print 4
st without the h When the department at.
g, tempted TO cut off the n from New
Oh burgh. n. Y. loud protest was made. Al
re the historic associations OF the town were
IN connected with the ampler spelling. and st
o. the department has put back the letter
1T which il had tried to lop off.
Se Another abbreviatiOn recommended Wa:
s. the spelling of borough ''boro'.". Thi'
IN has not cccasioned much difficulty. tn,
tendency had already strongly set in favo1
of the simpler form.
In the word center usage appeared {,
be about equally divided between that spell
- ing and centre when the board began it
e Investigations. II decided upon the old En-
glish spelling in the interests of uniformity
3: and that may now be said to be official
It. No one objects TO this at the Post Ofiic'
I'd Depa rtment.
in Looping on Non-EssentiaIs.
ed The discontinuance Of hyphens in connect
| ing parts of names was also recommended
re as well as the dropping of the diacrtti
mt characters.
tx Wherever practicable the letters &c. II.
A | (court house, have been dropped. Tht
ad | practice grew up in the south, where often
~ ! times a court house would be established il
-, the center of a county with no village abou
- | ii. The post Office would bear the COUNT
80 name with the word court house attach
" | ed But in time villages have grown up a
iis these court houses, so that that DESCRIPTIVE
=, | term is no longer necessary. Appomat
n | tox Court House is now generally spoke
a., | of as APPROXIMATION.
ny 1t is the same with the words city an
zee town as parts of names. They have bee
in many cases dropped. This practice wa
ioat in mi