Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1904-09-14
THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE.
With English Person Can Make His
Way About Any of the Worlds
Beaten Tracks.

English is to-day what French was in
he eighteenth century and Latin III the
middle ages, the language chosen by
common consent for intercommunlcation
between statesmen, savants and fashion
able and literary persons Of different ma
tions, says the San Francisco Bulletin.
With English one can make his way con-
veniertly along any of the beaten tracks
in Europe. More people now speak Eng
lish as their vernacular than speak any
other European tongue.
sign of the growth in importance of
the English tongue in the recent action OF
the school authorities of the German gov
eminent in making English an optional
study in the public schools of Saxony.
This action was induced by petition ad-
dressed to the government by the Ores
den Schoolmasters' association. The Pc
titiOn was an excellent syllabus of the
arguments in favor of English as sub
ject for study in the German public
schools. A portion of it was as follows:
l. English is the most widely used
civilized language in the world.
2. tits the most important language for
Germany's international trade relations.
| In Dresden especially the knowledge of
English is of great advantage to shop
keepers and commercial men owing to
| the important Arglo-American colony
| there
3 English deserves preference over
| French on account of its literature
| which (a) excells that of France both
| rom the artistic and moral point of
| iew; OBJ appeals more nearly to our
| continent and understanding as that of
Germanic people; (c) has played a
| 'rominent part in the development of
| 'ur own literature
| 4. English is not inferior to French in
| ,0ucative value.
5. In the teaching of English the read
| ~ learned grammatical forms of the
language enable the time allotted to its
study TO be spent in attaining the most
important object in teaching a foreign
tanguage-the power of its free use in
speech and writing. This is not possible
in the case OF French. owing to the diff
ticulty of its grammar
1t is only within recent times that
English has been taught carefully even
| in England and American schools. The
old theory was that a student learned
English best by reading the Latin and
Greek authors. While the benefits of 8
| knowledge Of Latin and Greek are veSy
great and certainly assist in acquirine
the accomplishment Of using English
correctly and elegantly. the close atten-
ton now given to English in our Owl
schools will improve the average qualit,
of English composition.
| We scarcely appreciate what treasur,
we possess in our English tongue. The
vocabulary of English has been enriched
by plumber from every land and ever,
language. It is flexible tongue. adapt
able to any idea. and a tongue which
welcomes accessions when those ar
necessary. 1t is not by its intrinsic vir
tue. however, that the English languag,
is spreading and is becoming the cosmo
politan medium of communication bu
rather by the increasing importance O
the people that speak English The Brit
ish and the Americans control a larg
portion of the worlds trade. Their infiu
ence is felt everywhere. They sell /
everybody and everybody wishes to sci
to them. Verify, the English languag
has come forward since the time whel
Bacon, despairing of the perpetuity O
the English tongue, translated some @
his works into Latin.