Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1914-08-14
WAR TO A CLASH OF TONGUES
Professor Dorsey Of Chicago Field Museum Finds Austria's Atti.
tude Sequel to Pan-German Versus Pan-Siav-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 the wars of Eu
rope have been fought by parties mu
tually unintelligible.
Broadly speaking. all European Ian
guages belong to the Aryan group
The most important exception Ia the
Magyar, a dialect Of the same Ian
guage spoken by Turks and Firms
How Divided by Language.
or the Aryan tongue 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 Ia spoken by
$4,000. 900, of which 10000. 900 are In
Austria and 100000 in Hungary.
There are 100000, 900 Slavs in Eu.
rope.
From this 1t appears that the pres.
ent political boundaries are not coter.
minous with linguistic groups.
Right here in this fact we have the
seed Of present and future trouble
and a clue to the cause of most of
the wars in eastern Europe through
1000 years.
SIav Situation In Europe.
To get before us the full signin-
cance of the fact suggested by the
map let us consider the linguistic COM
plexion Of these countries.
Russia Is a veritable h~odgepodge Of
tongues, but of her Slav population
alone we have at least two Distinct
elements today bitterly opposed to
each other. with tho possibility, ii not
the probability, of q third. which will
seek recognition.
AS against Russians proper there
tire over t0,00O.OO0 Poles, and Of the
remaining Slavs there are 5000, 900
Ruthenians. OF Little Of White Rus
SLAMS, as they are sometimes called.
OF the general Polish situation | shall
speak later.
In Germany there are over 1900. 900
Slavs, chiefly Polish.
OF Austria's 100000 900 population
only about a third is German, the re-
mainder being Slav, of which there are
over 10000 900 Czechs or Bohemians,
5000, 900 Poles, 3,500.00 R%uthenians,
and a million and q quarter Slovenes.
Many Tongues In Hungary.
Hungary is even more diversified
in tongue. The Magyar element
10000, OO0) is equaled by the
Magyar made up roughly Of 2,000,0 900
Germans, 2,000,O0O Slovaks, one-half
a million Ruthenians. 5000, 900 Serbo-
Creates. all of the Slavonic tongue,
and about 100000 Roumanians who
do not speak Slav at all, but a Ro-
nance language.
We need not here consider the lin
guistic afinities Of the Balkan states.
It is enough to say that Servia 10 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 a million, are Slavs Of the Ser
Wan branch. Roumanians are Of
mixed origin, but the Roumanian
is spoken by 100000 people,
Of which FIVE and a half million are
In Roumania (S2 per cent Of its total
the remaining millions
are found in the Duel 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 Ia. a Slavonic literature;
30 years ago no one even thought OF
such a 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. It was not SO
very long ago that the language Of
the Hungarian parliament was Latin;
Magyar was held At only for peasant
talk. Today the bitterness between