El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-02-20

1.-TWO million of the 10000 peo-
pie in Canada speak only the
French language. The 100000
who speak English are in a prepOnder-
ating majority in numbers. but as far
as the dominion of Canada is concerned
the two languages are on an exactly
equal basis. The liberation of any Ian
guage other than English is so foreign
to the spirit Of the institutions of the
United States that Americans are al
! most unable to appreciate the troubles
our northern neighbOrs have with their
bilingual system.
1t is true that there are more per-
sons in the United States who speak no
English than there are in all Canada,
but they are nearly all recent immi-
grants. Their children will go to Eng
lish schools and English will be their
language; their grandchildren will
know no other tongue than that Of
Shakspere and George Ade This IA
cility for assimilating immigrants and
forcing them to forget even their mo-
ther tongue is the most astonishing
| thing about the United States in the
| eyes Of foreigners. Americans take it
as matter Of course. The German
| emperor once said that he could IN
| derstand every action Of Germans in
America except their failure to teach
| their children the language Of the
| fatherland.
/ French In Louisiana.
The one portion Of the United States
| in which a foreign language persists
| is in Louisiana and the southern part
OF Alabama and Mississippi, where the
| French language still is largely used.
But these southerners nowadays also
speak English, for in every local COM
| munity the English speaking people
4 far outnumber the French. In Louis
| lana English was made the official Ian
guage almost as soon as the territory
was purchased from Napoleon. and it
| so remains.
In Canada the course of events has
| been entirely different. The French
| speaking people have insisted upon
/ keeping their own language. a>majority
Of them have refused to learn English,
! they have French schools and in many
| parts of the dominion utterly ignore
/ the language of the majority
Both Languages in Parliamenf.
| When parliament sits at Ottawa the
/ governor general reads the speech from
| the throne first. IN English and then
/ all over again in French. The speaker
/ of the house of commons puts every
motion and question first in English
and then in French. The proceedings
, of parliament are published every day
! in both languages. A jury must be
! bilingual, and a witness ia court in
some provinces may speak in either
| language as he pleases.
| A debate in the Canadian house Of
| commons is a very interesting spec
| tacle. The two parties sit facing each
/ other after the British fashion, the
| premier and the members Of the cab
! met on the front benches Of the gov
| eminent side, the leader of the oppo-
] sition and his whips on the front
4 benches opposite. The speaker sits on
| q throne between. wearing his robes
! of state and facing a table on which
! is laid the mace
! The speaker puts a motion, first
/ speaking English and then French A
member of the opposition side rises
1 and makes a set speech against the
! proposition, speaking in English The
| American visitor, who speaks /only
| English is interested to know how the
| government will reply to the arraign-
! ment. The tory member resumes his
/ seat member on the. government
! side arises to reply. And he speaks
| in Frenchl Whereupon the American
visitor is at sea-
! Presently the tory who started tS1
! debate interrupts the torrent of French
with a question. The question is IN
| English. Back comes the reply-in
French. And then succeeds an inter-
| esting colloquy in two languages.
Each man understands the other per-
/ fect1y, but each prefers to speak in
i his own tongue.
Hard On the Reporters.
The stenographic reporters must
| translate this mixed debate into two
reports, one all English and the other
| all French, both of which are printed
next day in The Hansard," which cor
| responds to our Congressional Record
The press gallery shows the same
division. The gallery is quite small
and barely accommodates half the cor
respondents. At one end are the
French writing. French speaking re-
porters of the French newspapers At
the other are the English In the lobby
of the press gallery one end is sacred
! to the French writer's. the other to
their English cOnfreres.
Statesmen from the earliest times
| have recognized the fact that no bond
| Of political union is as strong as the
| tie Of common language. The pan
/ Germanic agitation is based wholly
| upon that theory. Latin-America is
| separated from English speaking Am
| erica by the almost insuperable bar
| rier between the English and the Span
| ish tongue India and China are I'M
| able to cultivate q true national feel
| ing because theiF people speak divers
| tongues and dialects and have no COM