The Savannah morning news., 1901-06-03

fessor Mommsen has signilized himself
al his life long by a bitter hatred of
/ France. In the days of Napoleon III he
| worked constantly in Paris, studying In
| the superb Imperial Library the only
| collection in Europe which contained the
| MSS he needed for his work. But though
profuse in personal gratitude TO the en-
peror he never let slip an occasion OF
writing harshly OF French manners and
customs
Into the proceedings of the congress
there Is no need to enter at length; as
a matter OF fact, all that was not high
~ technical was purely preliminary; a
constitution adopted rules framed, Of
ncers elected. But there was one inter
estng question opened. The Congress OF
Academies had determined to tackle the
difficult but urgent matter of universal
language. The need of some means of
written and spoken communication be-
tween members of different races is be-
ing felt more and more every day. As
trade becomes more and more extended
taking in every country in the world
the language question becomes a formi-
dabe difficulty. A large American nrm
will in the course of year, have TO
write and receive letters in every dialect
spoken wherever American goods are
used. Instead of having TO employ a host
of translators, waste vast quantity OF
priceless time and in the end do business
unsatisfactory, it would be Infinitely
better to have one recognized business
language, adopted in every country, by
every one who proposed, either as a clerk
or as a principal, to enter commerce
Several experiments have, of course, been
tried in this direction; perhaps, the most
promising was Volapuk. But Volapuk is
now as dead as the traditional door-nail.
The reason is easily stated. 1t lacked
authoritative sanction; and it was all
constructed in this respect that being
purely fantastic, having no relation to any
existing tongue it laid a heavy burden
on the memory. Relatively few people
cared to learn difficult language when
they were not sure that the day after
they had acquired it, l. new and better
system might not appear and be. more
generally adopted.
A pathological committee of the Congress
of Academies will study the question in
all its bearings, and expects in the course
of a few years to have worked out or
adopted from outside some artificial IAN
guage which will meet the conditions OF
universal success. Such a language Will
have to be absolutely simple in construc-
ton with no elaborate rules; easy of pro-
nunciation on phonetic laws by every race
likely to use il; easily learned by being
composed as far as possible of root words
common to the greatest possible number
of languages. These conditions are not
so hard to meet as it might seem. Pro-
nunciation and grammatical rules are
simply a matter of universal agreement
as for aiding the memory by the use or
roots common to many languages, they
can be found in the Latin words whlch
abound in them; French, Spanish ana
Italian are almost exclusively made up
no a pnOn MANY. Al
ready a language has been formed on
this principle; IL is called Esperanto; is
the creation of a Russian scholar-and
Count Tostoi declares that after only
three hours study he learned to read 1t
as fluently as his own tongue. Any one
that remembered his French roots or
bad a smattering of Latin, would GER
iainly master 1t in week 1t may De thdt
ESPERANTO will be adopted by the united
academies. If it be, the congress Will
use all it's vast international influence
to get it officially accepted by every
country: perhaps even to have it made
compulsory subject in public schools all
over the world. In that case every ehu-
Gated man and woman Of the next genera
ton would be able to communicate with
all the educated people he had to do
with in any land. Trade would be greatly
facilitated. travelling would become an I'M
| mixed JOY. VI course, the UNIV S"i 'o
| que would not kill existing languages;
/ that is as impossible as it would be re
gretable: il would simply be more or
/ less perfect vehicle for the conveying of
| the ordinary affairs of life and of trade
between representatives of different races.
| And that is as possible as it is desirable.
| If the thing is to be achieved in our
| time il will probably be the work of the
| Congress of Academies. And this is only
NOR hn
rennion of sayants proposes TO itself. 1t
&c much to be hoped that at the reas-
! sembly in London next year, the United
| states will take measures to be adequate
| Nv represented in body of such wide
| scope and of such monumental import
V. Gribayedoff