The times., 1899-05-31
NEW oRTHoGRAPHIcIDEs.
A Reminder of the Murder of Park
mnu lN Webster.

The New York Sun on principle is the
enemy of crime and criminals. and is not
famous for its toleration toward cranks.
Its satire, if not its ire. has been recently
excited by a feeble attempt in Chicago to
start propaganda, the object of which is
to incite the populace to murder-the MUIR
der of the Queens English. Editorally,
the Sun says:
L. benjamin Andrews. at one time pres
ident of Brown University and now the
superintendent OF the public schools OF
Chicago. yearns TO improve the spelling
OF English words. DR.. Andrews is at his
best when he is trying to improve some
thing. 1t does not matter that he does
not always succeed. The inspiration is
there all the same. and DR.. Andrews will
never succumb as long as, in his opinion,
something yet remains to be reformed or
improved Just at present it is the English
language that keeps DR.. Andrews awake
o nights. He suffers from insomnia when
he contemplates the fact that there are a
few words, possibly several, in the English
language that might be spelled with fewer
letters and in less time. He is sad in his
meditaions over the precious moments lost
in spelling 'demagogue with the final 'ue,'
when it might Just as well, in his opinion
be spelled demagog.' Rather than have
insomnia and gloomy medtations, DR.. An
drews proposes to improve and renovate
the language, chopping off syllables and
dropping letters here and there as one
would prune the decayed tips of a twig.
In order that his reformation of the
orthography CT she language might be ef-
iective, DR.. Andrews has enlisted under
MS banner the cultured pork packers and
the intellectual wheat dealers of Chicago,
VINO have taken to his new propaganda as
eagerly as they once took to Browning,
and as they have always taken to deals
and bargains. In addition to the fact
that phonetic spelling comes naturally to
the Chicago man, who spells "just as he
feeis, the new crusade attracts because of
the natural yearning of Chicago to lead in
the procession. whether it be spelling or a
new method Of killing hogs. 1t is natural,
therefore. that DR.. Andrews should feel
much encouraged by the widespread in
terest shown in his go s-you-please''
method of spelling. The business men OF
Chicago are fairly wild with the novelty
OF it. and each moment of leisure is taken
up with practice in the new way of SPELL
ing. An unnatural glee seizes the Chi
cago man as he spells through" with
three letters "tru'' and a Bowery accent
He goes out Of his way to introduce into
ms correspondence such words as "cata-
log. program thoro' and "pedagog,"
and he fancies. with Dr. Andrews, that he
is revolutionizing the spelling of the Eng
lish language and is knocking orthography,
etymology. sense, sound, and philology
into a cooked hat.
The Chicago attempt is not the first
that has been made at so-caIled effort to
change the spelling of English words, nor
VIII 1t be the last, And yet the language
retains the good old-fashioned words that
have done such excellent service. and are
guiitless OF any intent to deceive or to rob
one of valuable moments. Somehow or
other the new-fangled 'catalog'' and pro
gram seem to be the cheapest and
shoddlest OF limitations. They look cheap,
There is Chicago atmosphere about
them. They do not invite ones confidence
or ones sympathy. They are paste jewels,
and they will not do for eyery-day u.s.