The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-07-15
ESP ERAN
ANEW TONGUE
Eminent Scholars have Found
1t Easy to Learn.
rs TAUGHT IN EUROPE
Contains About 1000 Root Words and
Thirty Preflxes and Affixes. With
No Irregular Verbs to Con-
fuse Learners.

cabman, the railway porter and the board
school boy can read and write In one
month. and can converse In In three
weeks; language that brings one into
relationship. not with the people OF one
nation. nor of one tongue. not with Eu-
roreans only, but with the inhabitants OF
every continent and alltof this at cost
oil u few months study. is' surely worthy
OF this name This Esperanto can do:
this Esperanto is doing to-day. Tens OF
thousands of Esperantists all the world
over, literally from Japan to Peru, give
ample proof OF this.
II found Esperanto very simple II Is
so easy to learn that. having received
grammar and a dictionary Of the ian.
guage. / could at the end of two short
hours, II not write, at least read the
language iuently." So writes Leo IolslVl.
And Max Muller: II should certainly
place Esperanto very high above all It's
rivals.
QUESTION AN OLD ONE.
For centuries past the question OF an
International language has occupied me
attention OF some among the worlu
greatest savants. Bacon Pascal, Lelp-
n,tz. Descarics, Burnouf. Grimm. Max
Muller and others. whose names are lana.
marks on the great highways OF the wofid
OF letters did not deem the serious con-
sideration of such a problem one I'M
worthy of their great intellccts scores
OF attempts at a solution have oeen put
before the world: they have been tried.
and all have been found wanting. Iney
lacked those great salient characterisucs
which must form the raison retire Oh any
International idom
These vain but we'll meaning attempts
have lost caste: but the central idea that
IS, the importance-nay, the necessity-or
n common n neutral. language stu ex-
lists. Esperanto has galvanized this idea
Into life. 1t Is among US. young, lnoeeo'
but full q. lie. Young. but It's roots have
struck deep down. Silently and almost un
noticed. they have spread far ana "loe.
That which was but yesterday a puny
plant, shaken by many an adverse storm.
har. grown and gathered strength. and is
to-day a stately tree. verdure crowned
and bearing goodly fruit. In every prin-
society and Its faithful adherents; Peru,
Brazil. Montreal, Ottawa and Siberia have
also their societies. or "groups
THE SPREAD OF ESPERANTO.
In Paris alone there are at this moment
twenty classes for the teaching OF the
language. and no class has less than 100
students. In many OF the schools OF
France and Sweden 1t Is a special sub
1ect. Upward Of dozen journals In the
language are published In France. Ger
many. Sweden. Holland, Bulgaria. RUS
sia. Canada and elsewhere. Within the
past few months England has fallen into
line Societies are now established In
i
chester. Portsmouth, Plymouth and Bour-
nemouth. Other societies are In
process OF formation In Birmingham,
Liverpool, Brighton. Leeds and Wake
field In Ireland and Scotland societies
have been founded. How has Esperanto
accom- plished this?
Before these questions can be answered
we must first of Gil see what are or
rather what should be. the dominant
characteristics OF language which as
sumes the role OF internationality. will
put them briefly:
LEADING CHARACTERISTICS
/. Its alphabet must be such that tho
pronunciation OF the letters comes natu
rally to all peoples-Europeans, Asiatics,
Africans, etc.
alt must be phonetic Ianguage-that
IS. there must be no silent letters. and
each letter must have one immutable
sound-one letter, one sound, always and
everywhere.
8. Its grammar must be simple. there
must be no exceptions, no irregular verbs
no Irregular plurals
I. AS far as possible It's vocabulary
should consist Of words familiar to the
people of different nations. The greatest
good OF the greatest number should be
the principle of selection.
S. 1t should be a language not for the
savant nor the man OF letters only; 1t
must be equally adapted for commerce.
literary. art, science, for, the purposes
of everyday correspondence, and as an
easy and simple means OF conversations
Esperanto has succeeded because 1t full
Nils In the most pienary manner all
these essentials. It's alphabet does not
present a shadow of difficulty to the stu
dent, no matter what nation he halls
FROM The EnglIshman, the Frenchman,
the Russian. the Laplander the Czech
nd f1,a To-
nounce every Letter right off at reading
The language is essentially phonetic. 1t is
written as read, and read as 1t Is written
Its grammar | can dismiss in word
Give me class of board school boys-say
IN the sixth standa rd-and l guarantee
20 teach them the grammar In one hour.
IN Esperanto there Is no such thing as
an irregular verb, nor an irregular plural
NOR Is there single exception to any
rule from beginning to end
EASY FOR ENGLISH SPEAKERS.
.nats vocapuiary consists of words for
s we mest a paars familiar to the Of
knows at the very outset fuiiS 70 Der
cent OF the words, and If he has a 1
Freneh nfG%ledge q either Latin
% per cent. of them, The language con- 4
Sists s Of about l,o9o root words: BY means
fully and logically expressed OF these
root words, one.thlrd are Identical with
corresponding English words. one-third
are easily recognizable from the English
eynonyms, thus leaving only one-third to
Do memorized by the student
ESPERANTO LITERATURE.
The language is adapted for every re-
aurement Of modern life. Transitions
OF .Hamlet; Cain" (Byron), the "Iliad,"
and several of the shorter works of Toll
stoi and Ruskin have been published as
we'll as scientific works BY Leibnitz,
druoy, and the latest addition to Es-
peranto literature is a commentary on
the fifth book of Euclid There are at
least 200 X9lumes Of al kinds of literary
many Of the various systems of interna-
tlonal la;ng .n None Of these reached
Of the problem as hopeless In Esperanto'
however. have found at last the realiza-
tion Of my hopes. ! have been a student
Of 1t now for the past six months and