The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1904-03-05
BIOGRAPHY OF: ...:,-.,
KUSSO-J APP WAR
From the New York Sun. -.

T We may expect fine ass ortMel1S Of
spelllngs tor place names in Japan,
Korea, and China. 1t is not a matter
that need worry the painstakingy per-
sons SON who revise the war dispatches: be-
fore they are put in type. The other
day a publisher suspected that lie mad
paid too dearly for a map complied
for him because the name IF a Korean
treaty port was spelled Mokpo. He
discovered the, loom M"k- pho on an
other good map, anI it seemed more
impressive But wh3 shall decide
what is correct when the doctors dis
agree?
!: No uniform system Or The trans]it-
GRAFTON Of these Eastern names into
either English, ..ierman o1 Freneh has
ever been adopted. We are not much
enlightened even when W.. consult the
best German maps, which, N their
spelling Of Oriental place Names per
haps comes nearer to representing ma
tive pronunciali.,ns than those of a1.y
other country. If we consult the Kie-
pert maps we shall find many spell rgs
maps, and in hat coutl IF last resort,
Stielers Hand Atlas many srellings
are discovered that differ from them
both. If we are perplexed between
Win and Win we may turn Ia wcll
written English monthly published n,
the apital If >orea. Surely. This
magazine. should give the accep7sd
TRANSPORTATION oi the name of the
Korean. town: but here we are CON-
fronted by an "ithogrnpLical ,.un-
strosity Eitciu. anu prefer m!.aIc
ment on one Of tins other horns Of shc
dilemma.
Several attempts have been made to
secure uniform spelling OF THESE t.stst-
ern. names, and they have helped the
map makers TO a considerable. .Atert;
but the outcome has rot resulted in
uniformity and IS confusing
kiepert adopted rules t. which he
regulated the spelling Of these place
names on his maps. ID late !?ich,-
hofen suggested rules f:l1' the spt,lJ s
of Chinese names: but the Ger:?1ans
today mix up the two systems. and the
geographers Ct Other .Western ccun-
tries, while conforming with some of
the principles laid down by these
authorities, do not adhere to either of
them.
There are many difficulties in tie.
way. The broad foundation % atHe
best geographic photography in Anlsri-
ca and Great Britain is. as stated in
the rules of the Royal Geogra phical
Society. that. veWels should. be pro-
nounced as in Italian, consonants ais in
English and that. ::the true sound of
the word as locally pronounced shall
be taken as the basis of spelling." But
what is the true sound of the word as
locally pronounced? Metchnikov in his
Language map of China, for example
gives eleven principal dialects of the
Chinese language as~spoken in China
proper. A foreigners idea of the correct
spelling Of a Chinese place name US
ually depends upon the particular
group of natives with whom he confers.
II ne adopts the Cantonese pronuncia-
tlon OF the name Of China's capital he
Will say that .Pekin is the best Eng
!lsh approximation Of the sound. If he
learns the pronunciation from the in
hab1tants of the province in which the
capital is situated he will say that the
best English rendering is Peking He
may add incidentally that the. name Of
this province appears on American and
British maps as Pe-chiE or Pechili. or
Chilli. or Chilli.
few years ago our board on geoe-
raphlc names ruled that, the spelling of
f 'e.f should be. used in all govern
ment publications.; but the boards was
even Violently .assailed with weighty
objections to this photography, and last
year 1t telt constrained to reverse it's
earlier decision; so Picking is now the
governmental usage in this country.
announcer difficulty is that all the ORR
entail RECOMMENDATIONS seem to Western
ears more or less vague and indecisive.
AS Reclus remarks. Americans and Eu-
Iopeans are constantly struggling to
distinguish between l. m, and b. between
len and ian and between an and in.
1t is sort of so as you please SPELL
ing match. The best way for Western
ers who are not orientalists is to adopt
the simplest spellings used on good
maps. Hyphens have their significance
but they are better omitted than mis-
placed: Pipg-Yang represents the cor
rect sound more nearly to the ordinary
reader than P-hjo1g-Yang Chifu is
perhaps better than Che-foo and no
one need feel injured if the hyphen be
omitted.
We can understand what places are
meant and worry along very we'll even
though some Of the spellings be truly
wonderful. Some day order will be
brought out of the chaos: but it may
net be until the whole question of the
proper local RECOMMENDATIONS and the best
phonetic representations of them is sub
mitted to a committee of competent
Orientalists whose decision shall be
generally adopted.