Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-01

Express Regret That No One
Abroad Was Consulted.
Special cablesram to The Star.

Special Cablegran to The Star.
LONDON. October 1.-The English still
continue to discuss with the greatest IN
terest President Roosevelt's position in the
matter Of spelling reform. Says the Lon
don Times in editorial leader:
I'VE appear to be threatened with a
revolution In the matter of spelling at
the hands of those sturdy iconoclasts. Mr..
Roosevelt, whom perhaps We must hence
forth accustom ourselves to recognize I'M
der such form as Rusevelt' Mr.. Andrew
Carnegie, whose Christian name must sure
ly hereafter be spelt .Andru, and 0Pro-
fessor Brander Matthews. who will ap-
parently have to part with super1uous
t. In his surname. The last named, who
Is a well-known professor at Columbia
University, Is also the head Of simplif1ed
spelling board, which has issued prelim-
mary list Of three hundred simpliied spell
ings. This board enjoys the financial sup
port of Mr.. Carnegie, who, having found
ed innumerable free libraries. now seeks
to do all he can to render their contents
obscure by making their spelling uniformly
obsolete. Yet the weight Of usage might
still have resisted for some time longer
the reforms Of Professor Matthews and
the gold of Mr.. Carnegie. but for the ac-
ton of the third and most important per-
sonage in this revolutionary triumvirate.
Express Regret.
The London Times also expressed a re-
gret that the President had thrown the
weight of his powerful personality in IA
vor Of this movement without consulting
any one on this side Of the water. Reply
ing to this plant, Brander Matthews. In a
communication written in New York, said:
You have expressed a regret that no one
e,f-l 40 h. IN ho0 hnoy
suited in regard to our proposals. This re-
proach will not lie against our future rec
concentrations. Desiring to express their
sympathy with our aims. DR.. Murray and
Mr.. Henry Bradley, the editors of the Ok
ford Dictionary; Prof Skeat the editor of
the chronological Dictionary, and DR..
Wright, the editor of the English Dialect
Dictionary. have accepted election to the
consult with these distinguished British
scholars. Perhaps it may be well to note
that the board numbered among its original
members the editors Of the three most i'm
doubted whether any board could be Sc
lected which should be animated by a more
reverend regard for the language, or which
was possessed of more vigorous loyalty
to the principles which have governed the
growth Of English
Statement by Mr.. Carnegie.
Mr.. Carnegie himself replies to the Lon
don Times as follows:
Our aim is not to destroy the language
Of Shakespeare and Milton. but to continue
and, II possible, to hasten its further de-
velopment. that it may become a more and
more efficient instrument. It has admitted
ly become such since the great master
time, he being himself, as understand, the
greatest coiner of new words. new mean
inss and new spelings who ever enriched a
language. There can be little doubt but
that after another four centuries English
will be even more efficient than it is today.
not, however. through the action Of those
who resist, but Of those who welcome duly
considered changes from time to time.
knowing that human language must grow
or wither."
Madame Patti has arranged with Mr..
Percy Harrison of Birmingham to bid fare
well to the London musical public at the
concert which he is organizing at the AL
bert Hall on Saturday afternoon. December
1. OF her admirers in the provinces the
Queen Of Song will not, however. take leave
until the autumn Of next year. when she
has promised Mr.. Harrison that she will
appear in several Of the more important
cities. Statements having been made to
the effect that the highest remuneration
she had ever received for her services was
1000 per night. Col. Mapleson at once re-
piled: Permit me, however. to state that
when was associated with my esteemed
father we paid Madame Patti in America
the record sum of 5000 per performance"