Weekly journal-miner., 1917-01-31
AS A COMMERCIAL
 LANGUAGE
ITS ADVANTAGES POINT ED OUT BY FAT H E R FLAMENCO IN SPEECH TO LUNCHEON CLUB.
(From Sundays Dailv.)

their annual smoker, over 40 were able to be present and partake of the regular Friday luncheon, which was
 held at the Yavapai Club. Chairman
 Frank O. Smith announced that the
 program for the next six months will
 be made known at the next luncheon,
 rcmarking that the same will include
 some very instructive as we'll as en-
 tertaining numbers.
 Rev. .Father Flamcnco's address on
 the History of the Spanish Lam
 guagc," proved one of the most inter esting talks which has been delivered
 at the club in many months. He
 dwclt upon the early history of the Spaniards their language, carrying it
 down to the present day and cmpha-
 sizing why Americans in particular should take an active interest in learn ing language which IS spoken so universally as Spanish. In part,
 Father Flamenco said:
 The subject on which propose to
 address you IS that of the Spanish language, as a commercial language. I have chosen this subject and if you ask me why. 1 answer, that being
 native of Spain, and knowing that it
 was my privilege to address an andi- encc composed mostly of members of the chamber of commerce., thought 1 could ind no theme more fitting than that Of commercial Spanish. For
 you will remember that at Canada, city of Spain, in the year l+92, the Spanish King Ferdinand and Queen i Isabella ratified with Christopher Columbus the compact which was to
 result before the end of that year in
 the discovery of the great American continent You remember also the
 notes of the sonorous language of CaStilc were the first of all European
 languages to rcsound through the then wilderness of the new world and com ing nearer home, you remember that Ithc Spanish missionaries, that cour- agcous phalanx of the soldiers Of Christ, were the forcrunncrs of our glorious Southwestern civilization. Spanish, the romance language, is the speech of the larger part of the lbcr
 ian peninsula. By colonial operations
 Spanish was brought to this western
 hemisphere and over 40,000,000 of per
 sons use it in South and Central Am erica. Mexico, Cuba and in parts oi
 the United States, such as Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, the Philippines and Porto Rico. The cx- pulsion from Spain for political req
 sons, of the Spanish-spcaking Arabs
 and Jews led 10 the extension of Span iSh to various parts of Northern Afri
 ca, to Turkey and to other places. On
 the whole, no fewer than 60000,0O0 of people use Spanish as their native
 tongue, in widely separated parts of the universe. The importance of the
 Spanish language in literature is well
 known to all. \ knowledge of Span
 ish opens to the student the treasures
 Of one of the greatest litcraturcs in
 the world. Spanish is also very use
 ful for travelling. The American peo-
 pie like very much to travel through
 the world to see the wonders of na-
 turc and the marvcls of art. The countries where the Spanish language is spoken arc beautiful and abound cs- pccially in works of art. Take, at random, any of the old Spanish cities or any of the Spanish-Amcrican cities
 founded by the Spaniards; we can truly say that they arc all standing museums of art of permanent value.
 But l said that my intention was 10 speak of the Spanish language as commercial language. To the gcncr- alton that is passing it might seem al- most as incongruous to associate commerce and Spanish as to associate commerce and music Spain was looked upon by our fathers as the land of sunshine and romance, the type of courtesy far surpassing the best that our civilization had attained: ! yet, d land, withal, of dccadencc, q ! drowsy, lovely land of prctty-soon-i d nation of barbarous amuscmcnts. of 1 bull lghtcrs-outsidc the domain of civilization or of commerce, which, 10 most of Us. means the same. Hence ] we arc not surprised to find these !, words written by the American his : torian, Harrison: 'Spain,' he says, is | still a medieval, not a modern coun- ] try. All-powerful as she once was. ] she retains today only the shadow Of i her former greatness and lacks her | own vigorous dcSpotisnI When our fathers spoke of Spain, they included. ! unthinkingly, every land where the i language of Castillo is spokcn-from | the Rio Grandc 10 the Horn. from Havana 10 Manila This state of I mind was rudcly shocked in 1898. when we found ourselves thrown into the sudden intinacicS which war be- gets, with two worlds of Spanish speaking pcoplc-onc was friendly. the other hostile; neither, VIC discov- cred was asleep or dccadcnt. but en- ergetic aud progressive, quite ready for business, if we would only con T