Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-02

furnish an excuse for an eruption of Josh
Billingsgate.' &"
Charles Lyman, appointment clerk of the
Treasury Department. gave the following
as embodying his views on the subject: Il
believe in improving spelling, IL IL is not
carried too far at once. Improvements
will come along with pressure. Most, IL
not all, of the words in the list can be
used to advantage. For time the matter
of a change will have to be discretionary
in the public schools and educational in
situations. 1t cannot be made obligatory
without great loss 10 publishers and
Others.
Thomas p. Kane. deputy controller of the
currency. said: Some of the changes are
good and deserve to come into general use,
but / cannot see how the change Is to be-
made uniform how 1t will come about
without great confusion. Some of the big
colleges have already decided that they
will not adopt the changes, while others
will probably do so. Some public schools
will probably teach the latest methods.
while others will not. Just what will be
the outcome of it all We shall have to
wait TO See
old Troubled Him Enough
Secretary of Agriculture Wilson states
! that he is not qualified to give an expert
opinion of the spelling question. Re
| formed spellingr calculated Secretary VIII
son when the matter was brought to his at
| tention. Il have trouble enough with the
old sort. 1 am not even an authority on
thai
Queries addressed to a number of officials
in the departmental service of the govern
ment ELECTED a variety of expressions.
Former Senator Cockrell of the interstate
commerce commission said:
Not in my line of business. Ask me
something about railroads
Franklin Lane, interstate commerce com
missioner: Officially l do not profess to
know much about IL. / believe there are
| good many words in the reformed list
that We will never have any need to use in
this commissions documents. And there
\ are a good many that We will have to
that are not in the list. But. really, 1 be-
lieve that the railroads will care a great
| deal more about the words we use to them
than about the way We spell them"
Col. ii. c. Rzer chief clerk of the geo
logical survey: Let me tell you some
thing. The other day | was writing a per-
sonai letter and had occasion to use the
word hemorrhage. It's a perplexing word
that l always have had trouble with so /
just spelled it Theoretically and | thought
at the time it was confession of ignorance.
But L now find that | was simply a few
| days ahead of the times.
Reasons for Change.
Seriously, 1 see no good reason for not
simplifying spelling along rational and con-
sentative lines. The various dictionaries are
simply compilations of words with the best
| authority for their use. There is no more
| itdsoH against ouf Improving Oh w epsAti
/ than there was against his improving
| Chaucer. l would not recommend anything
| radical in the spelling line. but there are
| places where English spelling could be i'm
| proved. and the present movement looks to
me like a move along the right line. The
! only thing is that the large number of
| changes coming suddenly and officially is
| enough to make the average man stop and
| think"
| P. c. Warman, editor of the geological
| survey: II think the proposed reform is a
| good thing. 1t Is a matter in which a num-
| Der of our scientists have been interested
and / think there is no doubt that the
authors and literary men in the survey will
take to 1t kindly. ] think it is rational and
acceptable"
Geo. w. Hill, editor Of the Department OF
Agriculture: II have no official information
on the subject. / know that the talk Is In
| the air and l expect to see the Presidents
letter at almost any time. / do not wish to
accept the suggestion offhand merely be-
| cause 1t comes from the President, and l
do not want to condemn any suggestion
merely because it is an innovation. l would
be sorry to see anything, including the
English language, stand still; but when you
come to spelling reform and phonetic spell
ing you can accumulate all the good advice
you need in two words. Go slow