Putnam patriot., 1908-07-31
THE PUTNAM PATRIOT July 3r 1908
A World. wide Language Needed.

| HefE t1 au Instance where t1e u-'
 of Esperanto proved is great adyaD Ia
 ges, and that, too, where it would ieas
 te expected to be found as a part 0
 the individuals education. \ poo
 woman arrived at Nliiimantie recent ly. wifh four small children. The so
 man appeared lost, and some Of ths
 railroad men went to her to learn wher'
 she wanted to go. she could not speat
 English and therefore did not under stand what they said. The Italian bootblack was called in, but she could not understand him. nor he what she i said There were some foreigners o several different 1aiionalities al the sta ton, and each In turn tried her in hi. native tongue. but with no avail. Fl naiiy officer Manley. who was stand. ] ing by, went up 10 her and said some. ] thing fo the woman in queer tongue that lighted up her face, and she took I from basket she had, a bandana oi many eoiofs and nnstapped leather wallet. from which she extracted q piece of paper, on which was written in English that her destination was West Wilmington, where there are many Bohemians. She was soon sent 10 her destination apparently greatly relieved.
 No one knew that officer Manley was Iingai.t, and when asked what lingo he had used that the woman under stood, he replied ''Esperanto, which he had been studying Al spare hours, and in desperation, had hurled qnes- ton at the woman, and WAS astonish- ed to get Ell answer in the same ian- guage, which he supposed she had ac- quired In the same way he had.
 That k another demonstration of the utility of language that can be uni vefsally understood. A language that k easily learned, unfailingly prononn- ced, and which k pleasant pastine to leafn.
 Bfandef Mathews, in an article in the July 'tGentury," faVoring uniYer- sal language, refers to the Latin a. used among the learned classes for ma- ny centuries, although II required several years of close study to speak or write II fuentlY. This k what he says "'The advantages of world ian- kuaRe arc indiSputabie. Without it every man must be content to express himself in his awn tongue and every mnn who needs to know Wilat has been said upon the subject in which be ls specially interested must of necessi- Y master halfa dozen other languages. And thisis the disadvanlage of the in- diyidual only. eNenlmore faf-feachiHg and significant are tue disadvantage of the several communities eash of which has only the speech of its own stock. In the absence of cofnfaon tongue they may fail to understand may lead to bickerings, and bickerings may bring them Ia open strife. When We see how much easier Il k for the British and Americans to understand each other than II k for the French and the Germans, We perceive al once how much the existence of world-language would make for peace
 We should not speak to encourage the study of Esperanto Il only taken np by those not entitled to advocate so great m undertaking II is the sehot- arlV men of the world, heads of insti- tatons ol learning, statesmen and the great business men of the world, that are the strongest adNocatcs for making Esperanto world-language and not alone fer tse ia the higher ranks of fife but for every elass ot people. None of the dead languages can ever become q wotld-language again, even for schol- arly purposes, neither can any of the modern.tongues be made a world-lan- guage, as none of the nations of the world will consent to yield it's own to make another nations language a world language. \ century or two ago the French wa, the polite language tn kingIy courts, but Il k So no longer The English today Is nearer world language than any other, but that k too faulty to become acceptable to the oth- ei nations having widespread Ian yuages. Therefore, ah entirely new language, that does not disrlaee any other language, constructed on sound principles, easily acquired and suited te heathen as well aS ci iiized peoples, k the unly kind that will te accepted. And that i> what Esperanto k claimed to be,