Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1915-01-06

It's systematic replacement at that
time. A."
And while this settlement of the
country was in progress the urban
camps Of the first phase of the councils
activities were rapidly developing, part
~ through the inherent forces Of the
situation and partly through the coun-
ellis direction, into modern type of
town.
1t Is characteristic of the manner in
which large enterprises forced them
selves upon the Brissago council, that
1t was not until the end of the first
year of their administration, and then
only with extreme reluctance, that they
would take up the manifest need for a
l1ngua franco for the world They seem
to have given little attention to the
various theoretical universal languages
which were proposed to them. They
wished to give as little trouble to haSty
and simple people as possible, and the
worldwide distribution of English gave
them bias for it from the beginning.
The extreme simplicity Of its grammar
was also in it's favor.
1t was not without some sacrifices
that the English speaking peoples were
permitted the satisfaction of hearing
their speech used universally. The
language was shorn of number of
grammatical peculiarities-the distinc-
tive forms for the subjunctive mood.
for example-and most of it's irregular
plurals were abolished. Its spelling
was systematized and adapted to the
vowel sounds in use upon the continent
OF Europe, and process Of Incorporate
ing foreign nouns and verbs commence
ed that speedily reached enormous pro-
portions. Within ten years from the
establishment of the world republic
the new English dictionary had swell
ed to include vocabulary of $50, 1000
words, and man Of 1900 would have
found considerab BILE difficulty in reading
an ordinary newspaper. On the other
hand, the men of the new time could
still appreciate the older English liter
allure. Certain minor acts Of uniform
ity accompanied this larger one. The
idea Of common understanding and a
general simplification of intercourse
once 1t was accepted led very natural
~ to the universal establishment of the
metric system of weights and meas
ures and to the disappearance of the
various makeshift calendars that had
hitherto confused chronology. The
year was divided into thirteen months
of four weeks each, and New Years
day and Leap Years day were made
holidays and did not count at all in
the ordinary week. So the weeks and
the months were brought into CORE
spondence. And, moreover, as the king
put it to Firmin, it was decided to mail
down Easter" In these matters. as in
so many matters. the new civilization
came as a simplifcation Of ancient
complications. The history Of the CAL
endar throughout the world is a his
tory of inadequate adjustment. of at
tempts to fix seedtime and midwinter.
that go back into the very beginning
Of human society, and this final recti-
fcation had symbolic value quite be-
yond it's practical convenience. But
the council would have no rash nor
harsh Innovations, no strange names
for the months and no alteration in
the numbering of the years.
The world had already been put upon
enc universal monetary basis. For
some months after the accession of
the council the worlds affairs had been
carried on without any sound currency
at all. Over great regions money was
still In use, but with the most extrav-
agant variations in price and the most
disconcerting fluctuations of public
confidence. The ancient rarity Of gold
upon which the entire system rested
was gone. Gold was now a waste
product in the release of atomic ener-
gy, and it was plain that no metal
could be the basis of the monetary sys-
tenn again. Henceforth all coins must
be token coins. Yet the whole world
was accustomed to metallic money,
and vast proportion of existing hu-
man relationships had grown up upon
cash basis and were almost incon-
ceivable without that convenient liqui.
dating factor. 1t seemed absolutely
necessary to the life of the social or
gan1zatlon to have some sort Of cur
| rency, and the council had therefore to
| discover some real value upon which
| to rest It. Various such apparently
stable values as land and hours of
work were considered. Ultimately the
government, which was now in DOS
yession of most Of the supplies of en-
Irgy releasing material, fixed certain
number Of units Of energy as the value
of a gold sovereign, declared a SOW
ere1gn to be worth exactly 20 marks,
70 francs, S., and so forth, with the 9TH
er current units of the world and un-
| dertOOk under various qualifications
and conditions to deliver energy upon
demand as payment for every SOW
| ere1gn presented. On the whole this
worked satisfactorily. They saved the
face Of the pound sterling. Coin was
rehabilitated, and after phase of
price fluctuations began to settle down
to definite equivalents and uses again.
with names and everyday values IA
mll1ar to the common run Of people.
AS the Brissago council came to
realize that what it had supposed to
be temporary camps of refugees were
rapidly developing into great towns
of new type and that it was remold-
Ing the world IN spite of itself, it de.
cided to place this work of redistrib-