New-York tribune., 1905-08-15
PROGRESS OF ENGLISH.
adoption by Peace Conference An
other F0rzcdrd Step.
The Editor Of Tbe Trihune

10 uhe EGttor OF The Tribune
Sir: The decision OF the peace plenipotentiaries
10 continue their negotiations in both French and
English is most interesting step in the progresS
OF the English language. l am not aware that Eng
hsh has been used as the official medium, in a1v
previous international meeting of so great fnpor-
'ace- some facts on this subject may be of inter-
est at this time
1t is generally understood that French is the din
lomatic Language Of the world while English has
become the commercial language Of the world b,,+
Ut NlchaeI r Sadler, director 4 special inquiries
and reports for Great Britain, assured me in 1902
that English is fast becoming the diplornatic Ian
guage of the world Perhaps no expert on aduca
uoha matters is better able to advance an opiniop
on thls subject than Or. Sadler whom Dr. Butler
OF Coigmoia University and DR.. Lane ex-superin-
'ehueht OF Chicago schools. both characterized to
me as the w T Harris OF Great Britain -
Whether not the English language viii soon he
come the language Of European courts there Is no
Question that 1t VIII carry a person in foreign
Ua'ei further than any other language at the
present uIne- When nearly twenty years ago I
was IN emma found that English the point
oI meeting Tor many natiOnaIties In Sha ugtaf
ana Hong Kong the Russians communicate with
the Chinese by means of 'pidgin English" so called
mongrel in which English predoninates It used
French before going abrSad IOr person S som 10 study
4ost desirable TO do but it is BY no means in
rs In .d5Ta BTander der Matthew's American Literature
tayso SG1e most interesting facts regarding the
guages during the nineteenth century In $500 the
IiulIpet o. people IN the world VINO spoke FreuFh
as their native tongue 81 900 600 While go 900
1yQ spoke German, and only 90 900 900 spoke Eng
~ doo IN a 1909 the figures stand follows French
2u'UVuuVV, German, 100 900 English l25 OON 600
~ LTD tne last century. then English Speaking popua-
ttoIIS nave come TO number than French and
SIeIIIan speaking populations combined Accord
Is 70 thls test OF vitality the French language has
EdIleu a little over per cent. the German Ian
suage l5S per cent. and the English language 525
per cent In other words. the German has in
creased twice as fast the French and the Eng
tish tour times as fast the German, or eight
times as rapidly the French
FROM a personal letter from Meyr. Austria
select the following quotation: Are you aware
Nu5l a Iaq II IS nowadays upon the Continent to
study English? The last ten years, they tell me-
Las maze tremendous strides in this respect and
especially the last two or three years have heard
teecners complain bitterly Of the fad-those who
Wisned 70 teach French, for instance One lady
VINO Is remarkable linguist and competent 10
Ieacn french Italian and English. yet aware tina ?
she Is FAR more proficient in the first two than the
iatef-ls IN TACT just as much at home in them as
IN ,her German mother tongue but not so in Eng
ls9-irnagfne her disappointment find that every
body wanted English lsssonsr'
With such facts s these before us there zbouId
pc greater enthusiasm among teachers of English
and this enthusiasm should be shared bv feachers
or the ancient classical languages
CHARLES 9. HARTWEII.
Hiram Me, Aug 10. 1906