Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-08-28
lis TOO RADICAL
Or. e. r. Bartholomew Enters Oh.
lection to RooseveIt's SPELL
ing Reform.
BREAKS DOWN STRUCTURE
Renders it impossible to Trace Frame
work of the English Lam
guage.

DR. e. F. Bartholomew, professor OF
English literature and philosophy at
Augustana college and the leading au-
thority on the subject in this vicinity,
does not approve of President Roose-
velt's officially adopted innovations in
spelling While conceding that some
changes in favor of simplicity are add
visable he contends that the Carnegie
committee has gone too far. Discuss
ing the subject with an Argus repre-
sentative today, he said:
THE history of phonetic spelling re-
yeals many great difficulties lying i'll
the way of its adoption Radicals who
advocate phonetic spelling assume that
the ear is more important than the
eye; that a word should sound a GER
tain way rather than be spelled GER
tain way. This is wrong, for spelling
has a greater claim on the language
han sound The history of phonetic
spelling it not new, and its advocates
have never been able to agree just how
4 word to be phonetic should be spell
ed because what sounds right to one
ear does not sound right to another
so there would constantly be a differ
ance in the way a word should be
spelled and there could be absolutely
40 uniformity in spelling.
Is Composite Language.
The English language is composite
language, more so than any other, for
Is origin is from all possible sources
md it is in the spelling of the word
that its ancestry, its birth-marks, are
preserved. These distinguishing marks
would be obliterated if spelled according |
% sound and the history of words could
lot be traced, which in itself is in |
ensely interesting and full OF informa- |
ion. The sound of words is constantly |
changing. for there is as truly a style |
in pronunciation as there is in dress |
md custom, so that by and by there |
could be no standard either in pronun- |
citation or spelling. and this is an inn |
)oTtant point, for there would natur- !,
lily follow a lowering of scholarship. |
t is not a matter of fancy alone, but |
If patriotism, for words are sources OF
'istory OF a country and in learning |
he language the history is learned, !,
% once destroy the etymology and pa
riotism suffers.
''Tlie point is made by the advocates OF
phonetic spelling that children would |
earn TO spell in half the time now re-
Iuired, but the point is not we'll taken,
or as long as there was no standard in |
pelling, pronunciation and definition, /
here was endless confusion and delay. |
But there are some changes neces-
iary and desirable as a reform in the |
present system of spelling and certain
,hanges should be made to restore |
words to their original form. Words |
nay be changed SO far as to eliminate
Useless letters which have crept in. |
out never belonged TO the original |
word, and they may be changed so
sar as not 10 destroy their original
forms. Many words have a final G
which was never part of the original
word. but added merely to represent
he long sound of the stem vowel as
or instance the word time which
night be pronounced with a short Il
we're in not for the added 'e' which
ook the place of marks to represent