Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-01
REFORMED SPELLING

i am NOT even q little DIE wrought up,
or even interested. in the spelling reform
controversy recently set raging by the ex-
allied gentleman In our midst who has
such unique talent for projecting him
self on to the firing line and starting
something to disturb the general peace
even during the humid soggy dog days."
observed travelled man who held down
an important consular post in England
Tor several years. 'I Wouldn't care q
hang II they added another 'ough' to
through and the fact that these bright
folk have decided that we've got to write
'accurst and 'damd' and .anemia' and
such likely the way. how often does the
average human being use more than about
q dozen OF the words comprised In that
400 list?-has not. up to the present
speaking, cost me one moment Of my nor.
NAL slumber.
But. speaking from the viewpoint Of an
American who has lived for q number Of
years in England. the tone adopted by the
British press In commenting upon this
little spelling reform matter interests me
a whole lot.
You'll observe that the British press
has worked itself into a veritable foam
over the Oyster Bay pronunciamento rs to
the spelling business. For once the Brit
ish press has dropped the mask During
recent years the so-calIed leading English
newspapers have been sort Of stroking our
verting to Americans and thfnxs Ameri-
can In sort OF pompously patronixing
style: giving US occasional little pats on
the back for things that we've done or not
done; taken US into the family OF nations.
after manner. though not forgetting to
hold out for 1t that we belonged at tho
second table at meal time and that our
bunking place should be somewhere up
around the caves. There have been mo-
ments, even, when they've permitted
themselves to allude quite ponderously to
our cousins overseas as being bunch
and looking over. as it were.
certain element of our American pop
ulation has been deceived by this tone Of
is actually some ock-bottom feeling Of
friendship in Great Britain for the United
States.
But along comes this little spelling re-
FORM breeze, and look at the way the Brit
ish folk suddenly uncover their real feel
ing toward the Americans and their coun-
try! We're an fmpudent and audacious
bunch of vulgar blackguards, 1t seems
for even daring to presume to so much as
change one syllable OF that language
which they frenziedly claim as theirs only
and their very own, in spite OF the fact
that more than twice as many human be-
ings use that language on this side of the
duck-pond as employ 1t in what they
maudlinly call their right little. tight lit
eAS 1910. 4hcy 10 calling IL g. QoSeCratlOn
for the blasted Americans to so much as
dream of fixing their language to suit
american needs or desires. and the Brit
ish press has never. within my remem-
anything as 1t has been over this matter
since 1t was first broached about ten days
ago.
1.-The Pail Mall Gazette. a publication.
you Will recall-and I am sorry to have
to recall it-controlled by an expatriated
American. calls the President an 'anar-
chlst' for his presumption In issuing that
spelling reform document suppose I
am the last man in Washington or any,
where else who could reasonably be ac-
cused of holding any sort of brief for
Mr.. Roosevelt.
'"That doughty gentleman of degree
doesn't need and wouldn't have anybody
hold anything for him. But am here to
admit that this allusion to the President.
together with some other cracks made by
the British press in this connection, GER
tainly have got me on the raw. The COM
ments, II you could call them comments
OF the London Evening Standard are par
ticularly illustrative of the actual feeling
| OF the British toward Americans Of any
and all degrees. 1t asks how dares this
fellow Roosevelt presume to dictate to us
how to spell a language which is ours.
while America Is still savage and undls-
| covered country" 1 wonder what would
| be thought even by decent Americans of
any American newspaper Of the first rank
which would allude to Edward VII of Eng
| land as this fellow. Don't you know that
such a newspaper would be called down
| good and hard by its readers for its rancor-
| Gus incivility? But the Standard gets at
| the real nub and root Of the matter when
| 1t goes on: II Roosevelt likes to NEEDLE
| with spelling, well and good. SO long as 1t
| Is clearly understood that It is merely an
| American language he is creating
| There's where the rub comes in with
| your Britisher. He hates to think. it gals
| and chafes and almost kills him to admit,
| that the empire of English speech, SO to
express 1t. has actually and forever passed
overseas to a country that he, in his heart
| of heart, despises. But, all the same, that
| suggestion Is good one. If they're going
| to change the language on this side Of the
water. why don't they come out boldly and
! call it the American language, just as our
| scrappy forefathers called the land they
| fought for the United States of America
The right to do whatever we Internally
pleased with anything and everything Eng
lish on this side Of the big water came to
| us, 1t seems to me. when we made Corn
| wallis surrender at Yorktown. When that
| event took place little old rundown and
| pauperized England lost the right and lost
| 1t everlastingly, to dictate to us about any
\ thing on earth or in the waters beneath
| the earth. and II we elected to spell every
English word backward. Chinese fashion
| they had and have no kick coming
"A language follows the flag that wins
1t. to do with as they blamed please. We
won the English language, among other
things. by force of arms, and since the
| hour we won 1t we've possessed the right
| to do with it just as we pleased When we
! knocked the useless u out of color and
'harbor' and honor and words Of that
sort. we merely used our hard-wrung pre-
| rogative to do with the Language that came
| down to us as freemen as we chose. We've
been sneered at and scoffed at for many
| decades by the British because of even
| that little bit Of change in their Ian
| guage. but, all the same. happen to know
| that there are many Rritishers who secret
| ly envy us the initiative which prompted us
| in making that change, and I am perfectly
| certain that that same change would have
| been made In Great Britain years ago II
| we hadn't made it first. Pure headed
| ness alone restraints them from making the
| change now and thus tacitly admitting that
| the American method of spelling such
| words Is the right and sensible one. Why
| not an American language, then? 1 guess
! we're big enough and strong enough and
factors enough in the worlds affairs to
have an American language If we want one.
are we not? Hooray for the American
| language! I'm for that!
| 1.-THE London Globe takes a large, thun-
derous, puffy wallop at this country for it's
! blawsted temerity in even dreaming of
| changing one syllable of the English Ian
guage,' and adds that we must venture to
point out that in literature the United
| States still remains province of England