The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1900-11-04
Al DISTINCTION WI MAY GAIN

TO the United States her proud position as
the literary center OF the English language,
which she has developed and held for nearly
scyen centuries is a question that has rarely
been discussed; aud II Is bold ironoclast,
indeed, who would state such as a fact and
attempt to prove it, Americans have been
busy for hundred years and moro reclaim
ing n continent and have not had time 20
give much thought TO art, philosophy and
literature. Science has been nurtured 1t is
true, but from tho fact that We needed II In
our business, and America has furnished
the old world many surprises Ia that hcld.
While this country has furnished some writ
trs OF brilliant attachments the group Is
email when compared to that body OF illus
trious men England has given to the literary
world.
That the wrsaths which adorned the brows
OF Chaucer and Spenser and Jonson and
Shakespeare and Milton and numerous others
are to be transferred to the new world seems
far cry but il is not impossible and the
future may bring forth a golden age in
America equal, but hardly surprising, the
palmy day Of literature In England.
That such change will take place and
America become the mistress Is believed by
Brahder Matthews, who contributes an ar
tcle tc the November Bookman. This writer
tells us however, that 1t Will be long de-
laycd but thinks he plainly sees the begin
ming OF such change.
lilo says: "If we wish TO perceive the
change of the relative position Of Grent
Britain and the United States in the course
OF the centuries. nothing can help us better
| to Arm grasp of the exact facts OF the case
than a comparison OF the population OF the
two countries at various periods.
In 1900, the inhabitants OF Great Britain
and Ireland numbered between S,O0O goo and
| o 900 600 while the inhabitants of what is
tna Mi Gfutn .arA 500 n
800, 00V In 1900, the people III the British isles
are reCkoned at some 81 900 900 more or less
and tbs people Of the United States are almost
! exactly twice as many, being about u 600. 600.
To project n statistical curve into the future
| is an eXtrahazardors proceeding and nc
man can now guess at the probable popula-
ton either of the United Kingdom or OF the
! United States In the year 2OO0 but as the
rate ot increase Is far larger in America thar
in England there is little risk in believing
that 100 years from now the population o
the American republic Will be ut least foui
or Ave TIMES MS large as that OF the British
monarchy,
Just as the center of population OF tn,
United states has been steadily working iu
way westward, having been In 1900 in Mary
land and being in 1900 in Indiana, SO also
the ceiter of population of the English
speaking race has been steadily moving to-
ward the Occident. Just as the first of thes'
has had to cross the Alleghauies during th
Nineteenth century, so will the second o
them have to cross the Atlantic during tn
Twentieth century. Whether this latte
change shall take place early in the centur!
or late is not Important; one day or anothe
1t will take place assursdly.
inevitably It will be accompanied o
speedily followed by another change OF al
, most equal Significance London sooner o
, later VIII cease TO be the literary center o
tho English speaking race. For six oehturie
s the town by the Thames has been the hear
of English literature; and there are nov
visible very few signs that the days OF 1t
. supremacy are numbered, Even in the Unite
y States today the old colonial attitude, no
Il yet abandoned causes US Americans oiten I
Q b. al we'll acquainted with second-rate Brit
= ish writers as the British are with America
Il authors of the first rank Yet II is not with
Z cut significance that at the close of tn
- Nineteenth century the two most widel
= known authors OF the language should b
.. one Of them an American citizen and Oh
d other British colonial, owing no local allie
II stance to London-Mark Twain and Rudyar
n Kipling.
u 1.-The disestablshment OF London az u
n literary center of English will be retarde
+ by various circumstances only very II
l. luctantly is tradition Of pre-eminen
- consecrated by the centuries overthrow
!, The conditions of existence in England al
N likely long to continue to be moro favorab
" to literary productivity than are tho cond
= tons in America. In new country liter
4 all its myriad opportunities Tor sell-eNpre
81 sion. No paradox IS It to say thai mo
10 tnan one American bard may have pr
t, ferred TO build his epic in s.eel OF in stol
r rainier than IN words. Tno creative imagln
D. tun has outlets here denied II IN long sc
&c tea community residing TRANQUILITY IN
o. little island whero even the decoTous Ian
ho scape seems TO belong TO the Establish
d. cnufch. But the Eastern STATES arc aire1d
CT mauY of them as Orderly ana as pldetd
es Great Britain has been for century
no conditions in England and In America a
no constantly tending toward equalization
e. "a time will come, and probably long .
he lore the close of the Twentieth century, wh
h. there wilt be in the United states not on
cd leyeral times many people as there q
b in the British Isles but also Tar Gloro !
", erary ACTIVITY In other words, tho M
n OF the leading authors OF English literatu
he will be American and not British In IN
e- training. In their thought, IN lheir luea
'st That is to say, the British in the mleuie
an the Twentieth century will hold 10 the Amt
'st leans about the same position that I
Americans held toward the British IN :
Is middle of the Nineteenth century:
OF group OF American authors between lSi0 u
nd 1850 contained Irving and Cooper h'uefa
re- and hawthorne Longfslow and Lowell !
and Whitman and Thoreau. These are nan
ne endenred to us and highly important 10 a.
All and not TO be neglected in any consloS
M tioa OF English literature; but II Is tOoi
om for an American TO seek to set tn"ih
ro- as the equal OF the British group hourli
49, ing during tue bhlhe sNviN VI
sht the middle Of the Twentieth century
air British group will probably not lack strlk
old mathematics; but as a whole II wiz pr
Cd ably be surpassed by tho American gro
10 The largest portion OF the brain as Y
yes as the largest body OF the English speak
os race, will have It's residence on ths "esu
mo shore OF the Western ocean.
the 49,
tho
IN What will then happen to the Eng
ere language in England when England awak
ser to the fact that the center OF the Eng
by breaking race Is no longer within the
We ders OF the little island? Will the spe
en-, of the British sink into dialeoue eorrupu
UNI or will the British resolutely stamp out u
e. n undue local divergences from the nor
'ad English of the main body OF the users
ter the language in the United states? Z
ply now. at the end OF the Nineteenth cent?
-, re more than half OF those who have ENG
ise as their mother tongue are Americans,
"a at the end of the Twentieth century
~ numerical superiority of the Americans
Irg be as overwhelming as was the numeI
lid superiority OF the British AT uhe uebIh1
." OF the Nineteenth. VIII the BRUSH lrai
.accept the inevitable? Will they race
-. facts as they are? VIII lhey lol0"
~. lead OF the Americans when We shah l
the leadership of the language, as the Al
ard leans followed their lead when they
.raI IL? or will they insist on an arbitrary
ls.v.s slfu. I'll, huN