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

IL
guage and recommend its comprehensive
improvement
1.-THE suggestion of such a body of experts
would be received by progressive thinkers
with desire to give them fair trial
Many of the words which appear in the
published list of 800 might be materially
abbreviated without impairng them in any
respect. Some of them contain number
OF silent letters, and one as many as four
The elimination of those useless letters
would have removed the ground for much
Of the criticism the list has received.
Need Table Of Values.
1.-The first need In a systematic simplifica-
ton of spelling is a table of the phonetic
values to be given to vowels where the
same vowel is used in different words. To
be sure. the context will in most cases in
dictate to a native the pronunciation to be
| used, but that would mean little to for
eigner unused to speaking the language.
1.-The piecemeal method of going about 1t
will lead to much confusion and increase
the incongruity of the language by adding
to the different ways of spelling. 1t would
be easier to adopt a whole dictionary of re-
vised words. arranged for convenience of
reference, than an innumerable number Of
small patches of words immaturely treated.
many of which obviously must be revised
again.
"As matter of real progress such a con-
vention should take into consideration the
revision of the entire language, with view
to eliminating the Irregularities of its verbs.
While this would practically place the pro-
auctions of the old masters in dead Ian
guage, the gain would be greater than the
loss, as the masses use language as nee
essary implement of business and social
intercourse, and are not particularly inter-
ested in the refinements of literature, while
the daily press would soon again fill the
world with maXims and rhetorical figures
in the new tongue, just as the standard
authors have stolen them from some pre-
| decessor, they had been in turn flched
from the musty lingo of an earlier age
q. S. officials Reticent.
Officials of the State. War and Navy de-
partments show decided reticence regarding
the proposed new form of spelling. Nearly
all the principal officials are out of town at
this time and those left in charge are dis
inclined to discuss the matter Among
those away are Secretaries Root, Taft and
Bonaparte and Assistant Secretaries Bacon,
Oliver and Newberry.
Col. DENLY, chief clerk of the State De-
partment, when asked his opinion on the
subject said facetiously that his views We're
made at Oyster Bay" He then explained
that he had received no orders in regard
to the spelling of official correspondence or
documents and that consequently it would
not be proper for him to enter upon any
discussion of the subject. From all he had
heard, no radical change was in contempla-
ton. and he saw no reason why there
should be any difficulty in putting the plan
into operation. He said he realized. how
ever, that 1t was delicate subject, and
therefore preferred to say nothing about 1t
one way or the other at this time.
Mr.. Scofield, chief clerk of the War De-
partment was similarly noncommittal. To-
gether with many other officials of the gov
eminent, he said he had received several
circulars from the simplified spelling board,
but the fact was, he added, that he really
hadn't had time to give the subject the care
full consideration it demanded. Therefore he
asked to be excused from expressing any
opinion on the subject at this time.
Mr.. B. F. Peters, chief clerk of the Navy
Depa rtment, said: Il have not seen any
executive order directing a limited use of
phonetic spelling in printing departmental
documents. and prefer not to express my
views on the subject other than to say that
letter of the order into effect when 1t is
promulgated"
Favor Cautious Attitude.
DIR. Chancellor superintendent of the Dis
trict schools, and DR.. Stuart, formerly su-
perintendent, while advocating caution in
spelling reform. do not oppose the Presi-
dents order.
Dr. Stuart when asked for his opinion on
the question said:
II have been interested in the discus
sion of phonetic spelling reform in the
National Education Association for a num-
Der of years, but have hesitated to accept
any of the proposed reform plans until in
dorsed by a representative body of scholars
from among the English-speaking peoples.
But 30 far as teaching scholars is con-
cerned the list already submitted by the
simplified spelling committee involves so
few changes that 1t would not be difficult
task to incorporate the words in our lists
for teaching purposes If we began with the
youngest children. In view of the attitude
of the President 1 believe the plan is worth
trying, but do not see where We are to
stop. We do not know what future changes
are to be recommended and with what
wisdom. nor whether we will be asked by
high authority to accept them"
Commissioner Cooley says that the civil
service commission will not pass upon the
advisabilty of adopting the reform methods
Of spelling until Commissioners Black and
Greene return to the city. An official stated
that he thought the tendency for several
plifed methods of spelling in the service
and he saw no reason why the ideas of the
Carnegie board should not be put into effect,
as 1t would be only going slight step
farther in the matter.
DR.. Elmer E.. Brown, commissioner of
education, Is in favor of the reform, as
has been stated in The Star. He believes
the first result will be a greater liberty in
will have to be tolerated.
An enthusiastic local advocate of the re-
form is Acting Postmaster General She'll
enberger, who has been interested for some
time in spreading the new ideas. He be-
lieves the newspapers Of the country ought
to adopt the reform methods and aid in
the work.
AS heretofore stated in The Star, Superin-
tendent Chancellor of the public schools
will allow the use of the new spelling in
the local schools, though he will not pre-
scribe it. Personally. he says. he is not a
radical spelling refOrmer. but respects the
| Presidents views and will not oppose
them.
Other Words of Approval.
John E. Wilkie, chief of the secret serv-
| ice. in indorsing the method said: II
certainly am not an extremist In the mat
ter of simplified spelling. and the adoption
of the lit of 300 words approved by the
committee having the matter in charge does
not seem at all radical. Neither does 1t
8 / I