El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-03-31

boast a record so filled with use
full achievements as the American
Oriental society which holds its 69th
annual meeting at Johns Hopkins uni
verisity in Baltimore today and tomor-
row.
The society was founded in Boston in
1912 by the learned John Pickering and
a few of his fellow scholars. 1t was
incorporated by the Massachusetts leg
islature for the purpose OF the culti-
walton of learning in the Asiatic. Afri-
can and Polynesian languages" The
journals of the society testify that the
OF ganization has fulfilled the purposes
of its foundation to "a degree far beyond
what John Pickering could have hoped
The incumbent president of the So
cfety is the Rev. DR.. William Hayes
Ward. editor of the Independent, and
one of the most eminent orientalists now
living. He was the director of the Wolfe
expedition to Babylonia which was con-
cerned with the finding and translation
of Inscriptions written in a language
the very existence of which was un
known to the founders of the American
Oriental society.
The great progress made during the
6S years of the society's existence is
forcibly illustrated not only by the sue
cessful reconstruction of dead oriental
languages, but by the wonderful spread
of knowledge concerning the living
speeches of the orient
Work In Foreign Field.
When the society was four years old,
in 1916, 1t already had become an insti-
tuition of more than nation wide inter-
est and Importance. The roster of its
membership in that year includes the
names of three great American mission
aries, who. in their respective fields. ac
complished more than any other agen-
cies in bringing together the east and
the west
One was Hiram Bingham. the apostle
to the South seas. who had carried chris
tianity to the Hawaiians and other Poly
nesian peoples. He had given the island
ers of the South seas alphabets and
printing presses and had converted their
spoken dialects into orderly and gram
NAUTICAL written languages. Another was
Adoniram Judson. a missionary in Bur-
ma. who was practically the father of
the modern educational movement IN
Farther India.
1t was Judson who invited the
scholars of the world to a consideration
of the living languages of those interest
ing buffer nations which separate the
indian and Chinese civilizations. The
third was Peter Parker the pioneer mis-
sionary at Canton. 1t was Parker who
brought to the attention of American
scholars the vast storehouse Of phi
1CcOPHH, pOCN1y anu EiSlOIL cOluLti iScU
nese students. were largely responsible
for commodore Perry's success in open
Ing up Japan
Japanese Language.
The last annual address of the first
president OF this society. delivered
shortly before his death. is striking IL
lustration of the Ignorance of even the
most eminent scholars of that day con-
corning Japan, and all things Japanese.
That was seven years before the Amer
lean naval expedition persuaded the
Shotgun OF Yeddo TO establish communi-
cations with the outside world.
Mr. Pickering in his last address
sought to correct the popular prevailing
impression that the japanese written
language was the same as the Chinese
although the spoken language was quite
different He said that it had been
lately discovered that the japanese Ian
guage was written by the use of a syl-
liable alphabet. entirely different from
the Geographic system of Chinese writ
ing
Last year count Okuma formerly
prime minister Of japan. and one Of the
elder statesmen. presented 70 the Amer
lean Oriental society through DR.. Kan
Ichi Asakawa- a Japanese who Is
professor in Yale university, a COM
plete set of Japanese printing types.
These consist Of the Chinese telegraph
characters tOSetner with the Japanese
syllable alphabet which is used in ia
pan in connection with the Chinese writ
ten language as a system of diacritical
marks.
The Japanese language is now ia
miliar to thousands OF Americans. and
its literature has long since yielded
up all its treasures to the readers of
English The Japan whose language
was unknown even to great scholars IS
years ago. is the same, Japan which
today is looked upon as probable mar
tial rival of the United States.
Key to Dead language.
In the year 1916, when chickering's
last address was delivered. he announced
TO the society the then recent discov-
cry by Maj. Henry Rawlinson of a key
to the dead and unknown languag es
of Mesopotamia Since that time the
cuneiform inscriptions have become the
common property of all scholars. and
every high school boy and girl in the
United States is familiar with their ap-
pearance, and has been possessed of
translations which have brought TO
modern America the codes of laws es-
tablished long before Abraham left Ur
of the Chaldees.
President Pickering in that same adj