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


James Mooney of the bureau of ethnology
When the matter was presented to him, he
said:
There is nothing new or terribly radi-
cal In this suggestion. Or course, the
English language has been changing form
for centuries, but for the past twenty
years there have been serious efforts to
simplify English spelling in this country.
You will find in the transactions of the
Philadelphia Philosophical Society as
much as eighteen years ago paper that
l wrote and that the society printed in
simplifed spelling. l use the form in my
correspondence and in all the publications
where I can. l use it simply as matter
of convenience in my own notes and writ
ing because 1t saves time. In fact l >lake
all my personal memoranda and notes in
even closer code than that because 1 can
save time by it. But that is merely per-
sonal matter HSwsSer as to E.t the ne si ano
words in simple spelling printed in the
back of the Standard dictionary, and has
been there for years, and some OF the
largest publishing houses have done what
they could to help the reform"
1t was then suggested that the change
might mean great deal OF addltionai
labor in composition and proof-readlng'
but Mr.. Mooney said:
Advantages Pointed Out.
II served an apprenticeship at the case
when first started work, and 1 know
something about that end of 1t. Most OF
the eds and double consonants In the
language are superfuous. You know that
the e. box in a printers case is larger
than any other. This is almost wholly be-
cause of the unnecessary ed at the end
Of so many words. When you take the
extra number of motions that 1t takes TO
set and distribute that letter you Will see
that it's elimination would mean great
saving of labor. The same is true of the
double consonant and the diphthong In
most cases"
fIo
pea cemakers" was made to him, Mr..
Mooney said, THAT is not fair lllustra-
ton. The word in that case is an adjective
and it retains the ed. But where it is
verb and pronounced 'blest, 1t ought 10 pc
spelled that way:
There is nothing logical about the spell
ing of English. Take the words hare,
share and mare. We are told that the nnal
e. is there to indicate that the preceding
"a is long But take are and you do not
pronounce it long. You pronounce II as
though it were spelled ar.
Take a good many words In medicine
and chemistry. Chloride has almost dropped
the final 'e' in international writing, be-
cause it is pronounced that way. The
same is true of 'quinine
Other languages have been making al an
effort along the same line toward simplffi-
cation. The Germans have dropped the
silent n in a good many of their words,
and in addition they have adopted Roman
script and type in most cases. The Spanish
have done something toward simplification.
But they did not have so much to DO be-
cause the lan0age is more nearly phonetic
1 am very glad to see this official move to-
ward a simpler and more rational spelling
of English. But it is not new and the
present order is not radical to my thinking.
A great many people have been working
toward the same end for long time"
Lawyers Take Opposite Views.
Different views of the proposed spelling
reform are taken by lawyers of this city.
In the general expression of opinion among
the members of the bar arguments for and
against the method are advanced. Most of
the officials at the city hall seemed indis-
posed to entering into a discussion of the
Presidents order for governmental Observ-
ance of smplified spelling rules.
Former Assistant United States Attorney
]. s. Easby-Smith had this to say in sup
port of the plan:
Some time ago 1 received from the SIM
plified spelling board the six circulars which
the board has issued from time to time, to-
gether with request that sign an agree
ment to use the simplifed spelling so far as
possible. At first l was very much preju-
diced against this movement believing, as
think the majority of people still believe,
that it was an effort to introduce phonetic
spelling; and my love for the English Ian
guage and its history and growth has made
me feel strongly opposed to any such inno-
walton. But after reading the literature by
the spelling board l discovered that this
movement Is not, as 1 tnOuBDC IL 10 De, an
effort to introduce phonetic spelling and to
emasculate and mutilate the language, but
to secure the use of the simplest form
where there is authority for two or more
spellings.
Sanction Of Writers.
"a careful consideration of the 800 words
published in the boards second circular
showed me very clearly that the spellings
recommended by the board are spellings
which the authorities not only of some of
the leading dictionary writer's, but also
the leading English authors, from Shakes
peare to Tennyson, Longfellow and Lowell,
sanction and use. 1 have not space here to
give examples, but an examination of the
specified words and of the circulars issued
by the board will, think, force every one
to the conclusion which l have reached.
Il have been very sorry to see the atti-
tude assumed toward this subject by many
of the newspapers. They have undertaken
to ridicule the movement by writing articles
and spelling many words Theoretically which
the board never dreamed of changing, and
they have assumed that the new SpellingS
have been arbitrarily fixed by the board.
There is an Italian maxim which calls
lawyers, paper eaters This is, Of course,
based upon the fact that lawyers do an
enormous amount of writing. Unquestion-
ably the movement to simplify spelling and
to shorten words wherever standard au-
thorities sanction it, will be an enormous
saving Oh time ana ldDOr TO lawyers and
their clerks, especially for the reason that
very large proportion of the simplified
spellings are of words which are frequently
used by lawyers"
Mr.. Armstrong; Approval.
Attorney w. Spencer Armstrong, chief
examiner Columbia Title Insurance Com
pany, believes that the reform is sensible
He said: "In spite of all the fun poked at
it. and in spite Of the fact that, because of
the slight strangeness to the eye, the new
forms lend themselves easily to the tricks
of the word humorist, the spelling reform
movement strikes me as a sensible thing
mo reasonable argument has, as vet.
been advanced against the real movement
Objections have been made to sweeping
change in our spelling. But that is putting
up straw man, for no sweeping change
has been proposed.
There is bound to be some change in
forms of spelling. The trend is to brevity
and simplicity in construction, and when a
conservative and reasonable plan is put
forward which will save some little time,
however small, in writing or printing, and
even in the eye-labor Of reading, it certain
ly ought to appear to the practical man.
Some men seem to fear that in the
changes that may follow we will 6nalIy