Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-09-23
REFORM IN SPELLING SLOW
FOllies Cannot Be Driven Away by Lash
Welded by Man.
CHANCELLOR ANDREWS ON oRTHoeRAPHY
Movement for Better Spelling Must
Proceed Slowly IL il 10 to BE of
Any Real Service to the
Language.

LINCOLN, Sept. A-CSpecial. l-This
morning Chancellor Andrews delivered his
annual opening address to the student
body OF the University of Nebraska. His
subject was Sane Spelling" and he dis
cussed the present movement for a reform
In photography in detail. Among other
things the chancellor. who is an advocate
of the proposed reforms. said:
Follies in spelling take their own time in
passing away You cannot hurry them
with the lash No step in the progress of
photography IL made possible or easier by
efforts at coercion or dictation. The move
ment has always been spentaneous and viii
any more than you can stay it by jest
If a man wishes to write though for tho
paper and ink than necessary, il is of Of no 10
museum.
Wisdom is justified of her children
Thoughtful men and women become inn
pressed with the uureason of such spelling
and little by little change their practice.
is voluntary. Innovators and laggards
alike are derided. The first spelling re-
former who wrote music for musick was
who added the were considered cranks
And so the reform has spread, never
swiftly enough TO pacify faddists. Laughed
retarded by any of it's opponents.
Were one with a sense for sane spelling
20 write without reference 10 MS readers,
his spelling program would be simple
enough. Remembering that a letter may
be silent and yet OF use TO tell the sound
OF a near letter or TO distinguish one sense
of a word from another, he would proceed
!. When a letter or COMPUTATION Of let
tiers Is in no sense helpful or necessary,
2 When a letter or combination diner-
ing from the usual one renders the sound
better than the usual one, substitute 1t
for the usual one
But such a program, simple as II Is.
would II carried out all at once. pro-
duce odd and surprising changes, which.
30 many OF US write for non-reformers
and Philstines. would give much offense
and hinder progress In spelling instead of
speeding II. Real reform must, therefore,
perforce, be moderate, not attempting too
much at once. Advocacy OF the use,
forthwith, Of many new spelllngs, or Of
spellings over which men need pause to
ascertain their meanings, Is the sign OF
the doctrinair. A speller who as a good
beginning. simply writes tho, and keeps the
tail on prolog and its eognates. helps the
cause much more.
To make the two rules workable, real
measures of reform, therefore saddle each
with the proyiso that the new spelling must
not in context necessitate study or oc-
casion doubt, uncertainty or ambiguity re-
spectng the word II denotes.
TO he used in place OF the old we should
ask:
j. Is It more economical either (al in the
learning Of il, or Oh In the using OF it7
.. Would H. IL employed In a context,
involve ambiguity or occasion hesitation or
study in respect to its meaning? II am
biguity Is going TO result. the spelling Is
not TO be reoommended, as i cannot prove
step in reform. Thus, sithe Is not so
good reform word as svthe, which. more
over. Is Shakesperc's preference even II II
Is not the form exclusively used by him.