The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-06

iVVjoVv, aStoiuiuS tO Nhc dAthpit anu Webster's, the American authority, be- tween 10000 and 115,oOo words. As a test Hamlet" has been translated into Es- peranto. Since Shakespeare had a known vocabulary of 1000 words and the fexibil- ity of his play was unnarmed, the proof stood. Further proof was found in the translation of some of Dickens works, of Euclid's geometry and various French plays. Renan once said that a good vo- cabulary could be based on 800 root words and their derivations, and with its 200o root words, Esperanto expects to stand the test still further.
 It is claimed that with key in ones own language and the vest pocket edi- tion of a combined grammar and vocabu- lary in Esperanto, that any person can now travel over Europe in any section to which Esperanto has found it's way It has been tried by anxious persons and proved true. Some Frenchmen went to Folkstone England. They could speak no English and their neighbors could speak no French. Some one secured a key to Esperanto and in a few days a means of communication had been set up and so- cial and business life was moving along harmoniously. Not long ago a party of Swedes went on a mission to Odessa, Rus sia, and speaking only Swedish were fn- accessible to the Russian reporteds for the various newspapers. They had, how ever, key to Esperanto and some kno~l- edge of the tongue, so an enterprising re- ported secured a Russian key, mastered the language in a day and secured com prehensve report of the mission.
 Army and navy officers of many lands have found the new tongue means Of communication when all others have failed The Pope has commended 1t and paper Is published in that tongue by Catholic society. It is claimed that be- cause of its simplicity the language or fers better opportunities for shading and giving finer distinctions to words than other languages offer. One authority points this out In the translation of the Bible There are keys for Esperanto now printed in twenty-two different languages. Already there are twenty-five journals printed in that tongue, one being or d purely scientific nature, while many daily and weekly papers in Europe have set the pace for America by giving space to news and essays in the easy language A stem ographic course has been compiled Tor It and typewriters with Esperanto key boards have been made. There are many Esperanto societies throughout the world, one in Paris having membership or 30Oo
 In 1905 the first Esperanto congress was held at Boulogne-sun-Mer. There were 200 delegates, representing twenty-two nations interested in the tongue ana the reports showed its successful appli- cation in all the European countries in Australia and some countries of the Ori- ent It was pointed out at this congress that great door of communication could he opened for the blind throughout the world by means of Esperanto that it is easily amenabe to the uses of the tele- graphic code, and that until this or some like language be adopted for internation- al and universal communication, scien- tfic and literary progress would be barred from some people as effectually as old Cathay was barred from the rest of the world by the great Chinese wall.
 At the international peace congress at 1.uzerne one of the addresses was made as Esperanto and was understood oy many present. At the great Christian Endeavor convention at Geneva in 1906, which preceded by month the second in- ternational Esperanto congress Reverend R. P Anderson of Norway offered a prayer in esperanto, for the first time in the history of the world offering petition ina tongue which all might un- derstand. At Boulogne the new language was tried in oratory. poetry, argument and small talk, and prov ed good. A play of Molieres was given at this time, the | seven different countries, each or whom knew not the language of the others. ard the play ran smoothly in Esperanto. being understood and enjoyed by all.
 All the while world congresses are be- coming more necessary and the fact that most of the addresses are given in French. English and German does not place them in reach of every delegate. Scientific discoveries are as characteris- tic of Holland Denmark. Russia. Spain, Italy Sweden and Norway as they are of the Teutonic and Anglo-Saxon lands. and the reports in the congresses should be understandable to their delegates as well as others This became most rc- ticeable at the scientific congresses held in Paris in 1900, and a body of men representing the leading academies or scientific societies of Europe anu Amer ica was appointed to suggest some ex- pedient means of direct communication. The commission meets trienniaily, and whether it will eventually declde on Es- peranto as the official language of their conventions remains to be seen.
 Dr. Zamenhofs first pamphlet on his new language appeared in 1887, and at once attracted attention. From Russia, its birthplace the language travelled Into Sweden, then to France where M de Beaufort generously gave up the univer- sal language he had just devised in fa- vor of this better one and became it's ardent advocate. Austria Switzerland, Italy and England followed in becoming