The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1914-08-08
TRACES WAR TO A CLASH OF TONGUES
Professor Dorsey Of Chicago Field Museum Finds Ausas A
'ude Sequel to PanGerman Versus Pan-Sav-Con-
test, He Says, Not Economic but Psychologist.
Nations Are Now as Ever in the Past Divided by Language
Source of Trouble Is That Political Boundaries Are
Not Coterminous With Linguistic Groups.

Before flags and religions men knew
friend from foe by the language test
More than half of all the wars of Eu
rope have been fought by parties mu
tually unintelligible.
broadly speaking, all European Ian
guages belong to the Aryan group
Inc most important exception is the
Magyar, dialect of the same Ian
suage spoken by Turks and Firms.
How Divided by Language.
OF the Aryan tongues there are three
great general divisions in Europe-Ro
| nance, Teutonic, Slavic. We are In.
terested only in the latter two. And
OF the Teutonic German is spoken by
so'OOO,OO0, Of which 100000 are in
Austria and 100000 In Hungary.
There are 140,OOO,OOO Slavs in Eu,
rope.
From this it appears that the pres.
ent political boundaries are not coter.
mlnous with linguistic groups.
Right here in this fact we have the
seeds of present and future trouble
and a clue to the causes OF most Of
the wars In eastern Europe through
1000 years.
SIav Situation In Europe.
To get before us the full signif.
canoe of the fact suggested by the
map let US consider the linguistic COM
plexion Of these countries.
Russia Is veritable hodgepodge of
tongues, but of her Slav population
alone we have at least two distinct
elements today bitterly opposed to
each other with the possibility, II not
the probability, of a third, which will
seek recognition.
AS against Russians proper there
are over 100000 Poles, and OF the
remaining Slavs there are 100000
Ruthenians, or Little or White Rus
slams, as they are sometimes called
OF the general Polish situation | shall
speak later.
In Germany there are over 100000
Slavs. chiefly Polish.
OF Austria's 100000 population
only about a third is German, the re-
mainder being Slav, of which there are
over 100000 Czechs or Bohemians,
100000 Poles, 100000 Ruthenians.
and million and a quarter Slovenes.
Many Tongues In Hungary.
Hungary is even more diversified
in tongue. The Magyar element
Q0,O00,O0O) Is equaled by the nom
Magyar made up roughly of 100000
Germans. 100000 Slovaks, one-half
Million Ruthenes, 100000 Serbo-
Creates, all Of the Slavonic tongue,
and about 100000 Roumanians who
do not speak Slav at all, but Ro-
nance language.
We need not here consider the lin.
guistic affinities of the Balkan states
1t Is enough to say that Servla Is pure.
ly servian and Slav, Bulgaria is Bull.
gar and Slav Though the basis OF
blood of Bulgars Is, like that Of the
Magyar, Asiatic).
The population of Montenegro. about
half million, are Slavs of the Ser
Wan branch. Rouman:ans are OF
mixed origin, but the Roumanian
tongue Is spoken by 100000 people,
of which five and a half million are
in Roumania (92 per cent Of It's total
population) the remaining millions
are found in the Dual Monarchy, Ser.
via. Bulgaria and Russia
People Develop Languages.
Millions of people today speak Pol.
ish whose ancestors a few generations
ago weren't conscious of the fact that
they spoke any language at all. To.
day there is a Slavonic literature;
so years ago no one even thought of
such thing. The millions of Bohe-
mians had become almost entirely Ger.
mans, and never before have they
been so thoroughly Slavonic as today
Bohemian hostility to Germany has
been called a passion. 1t was not so
very long ago that the language of
the Hungarian parliament was Latin;
Magyar was held fit only for peasant
talk. Today the bitterness between