Arizona republican., 1906-03-12
SIMPLE WAY
 OF SPELLING
An Organization of Men
 of Letters
nr. Carnegie Financially Interested in a Movement to Slightly UntangIe English OrthOgraphy.

New York. March 11.-Announce-
 ment was made today that ar organi- zation including prominent men of af- fairs as well as leading men of letters,
 has been formed to urge the smplifica- ton of English spelling. This new
 body is called the simplified spelling board. It will appeal to all who for educational or practical reasons wish to make English spelling easier to ac- quire. MT. Andrew Carnegie has long been convinced that English might be made the world-language of the fu-
 ture. and thus one of the influences leading to universal peace; and he be-
 lieves that the chief obstacle to its
 speedy adoption is to be found in it's contradictory and difficult spelling.
 The Simplified Spelling Board con
 tains some thirty members, living in
 various parts of the union Some of
 them are authors of wide reputation;
 some are professed scholars connected
 with leading universities; some are
 editors of the foremost American die
 tionaries; some are men distinguished
 in public life; and some are men of af-
 fairs. prominent in civil life. The mem bership is not yet complete. but it now
 includes Chancellor Andrews of the
 University of Nebraska; Justice Brew
 CT of the United States supreme court; ;
 President Butler of Columbia Univer- sity; O. c. Blackmer of Chicago: An drew Carnegie; :. l.. Clemens CMark Twain) Dr. Melvil Dewey; Dr. Isaac K. Funk, editor and publisher of tha Standard dictionary; Lyman J. Gage. ex-Secretary of the treasury; Richard Watson Glider editor of the Century Magazine; Dr. William T. Harris, United States commissioner of educa- ton and editor of Webster's Interna- tional dictionary; Professor George Hempl of the University of Michigan: Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higgin- son; Henry Holt: Professor William James of Harvard; President David Starr Jordan of Leland Stanford Uni versity: Professor Thomas R. Lounds i bury of Yale; Professor Francis A March of Lafayette; Professor Brand CT Matthews of Columbia; Judge Nor
 row of the United States circuit court | California; pr. Benjamin F. Smith | editor. and Dr. Charles P G. Scott | etymOlogical editor of the Century die | tionary; President H. II. Seerley of the | Iowa State Normal school. Cedar Falls; | Colonel Charles E. Sprague. president
 of the Union Dime Savings Institu- T lumbia; MT. E. O. Vaile. lately editor Ward, editor of the Independent, and
 President Woodward of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
 ] The establishment of the Ssimplified 1 Spelling Board is the result of an ef- fort made within the past year to se-
 cure the use, by men of position, of i certain simplified spelings, adopted some years ago by the National Educa- tional association and now used by several important publications. The response to this request was very cor dial. Hundreds of signatures were re- ceived pledging the writers to use these simpler forms in their personal core | spondence. The members of the Sim ! plified Spelling Board believe that the l time is now ripe for a forward move
 ment. They have learned the nature and the strength of the opposition to be overcome. They will not advocate change merely for the sake of change
 They do not intend to urge any violent
 alteration in the appearance of famil- 1 far words. They will not advance any extreme theories. They will not ex- | pect to accomplish their task in a day
 Or in a year. They are willing to make haste slowly. in the expectation oi | overcoming by degrees the prejudice
 existing in favor of the present cum
 bersome Orthography. They wish ir
 brief, to expedite that process of sinI-
 plification which has been going on 't
 English, in spite of the opposition oi
 conservatives, ever since the invention
 of printing, notably in the omission oI
 silent and useless letters. Not so long ago, almanac was speIt almanack, anC
 music was musick. In the last few years technic has been winning ac- ceptance in place of technique, pro gram has been substituting itself fol programme. catalog for catalogue ana tho for though. These shorter form!