Connecticut western news. [volume] (Salisbury, Litchfield Co., Conn.) 1871-1970, 1918-03-07
TOO MANY TONGUES
Language of the United States Is
Urged for All.
Suggestion Is Offered That All OF the
Earth's People Learn to
Speak English.

The next thing that must be done in
the way of world efficiency is to get
rid of a lot'of languages that are float
ing around to the restraint of trade.
1t will be the most difficult feat Of
all, but it must be done, just the same.
This thing of every bunch of people
across a river or over a mountain
speaking a different language from
their near neighbors is the biggest
handicap the world has to contend
with today, asserts a writer in the Los
Angeles Times Magazine.
Moreover, this surplus of languages
is the one thing, above all others, that
has caused misunderstanding wars,
strategies, spoils, hell-raising, and
hatreds generally.
The biggest bar against the friendly
relations of one people with another
has been the difference in their mode
| of human speech. 1t started with the
building of the Tower of Babel when
the Lord confused the people on pur-
pose because of their wickedness, and
he took the best way possible to &C
complish the result of the divine will.
But, now that Gods people have been
making fairly good stab at getting
| right with him again-all of us, and
our fathers before us for centuries-it
is reasonable to suppose that God will
let US ditch that Tower of Babel stuff
IL we make real good honest try at 1t.
America itself-the melting pot of
| nations-is a striking proof that the
thing can be-.done. Here have they
| come from every land and all the seven
seas, the children of all races, speak
ing every tongle known to man, and
before they know 1t they are all speak
ing good United States.
Then, why not start serious move
ment to get the whole world, here and
elsewhere, speaking United States-or
English, If that's a better way to say
1t?
1t won't be easy, but it certainly can
be done. And when it is done, this will
be happier, more peaceful, and
more prosperous earth on which to
| live.
We recommend English-that is to
say, the way we speak it here in Amer
| lCd-dS the universal lduSudSe, DeCduSS
it is, without doubt, the best language
| of all, if only for the reason that it is
made up of almost all the others.
In French, Russian, German, Span
ish, Italian, and all foreign tongues it
usually requires II words or more to
say& what we say in one. The Welsh,
for instance, have a word with 10 let
tiers in it that we can put in four let
tiers. These other folks fog up their
larynges and wear out their nasal pas
sages saying things what we say better
with mere breath and touch of the
tongue against the teeth.
Unless you were born to it, or unless
they caught you very young, you might
as well try to learn to be a circus
| tumbler as to learn French or German
and earn living in the bargain. The
thing will take up all your time while
the potatoes go to pot and the cobwebs
grow across the store door. And, in
the end, you will find that you haven't
learned these lines of talk, anyway.
The thing to do is TO make yourself
! AS nearly q master of English as pos
sible, and then force the other fellows
to speak our language for their own