The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-08-28
ESPERANTO AND THE WAR.
Three Nations Have Used II, But the
Kaiser Gave Il Up.

To THE EDITOR OF THE suN-sir: At
the end Of the war wo shall md a con-
geries of large and small nations. whose
hearts are all beating in unison. but
who, though in full possession of all
their senses. are. somehow, unable to
articulate their feelings toward those
whom they love and respect They will
be tongue-tied.
| For. II members Of all the allied ma
lions and OF those to be emancipated
were by chance to assemble in one meet
Ing room. they would look like inmates
Of deaf and dumb institute, into which
they have Just been admitted, and are
therefore still unable even to communicate
with their fingers. and from the bottom
Of their hearts they must be envying
the deaf mutes.
| Is IL not plain. then. that IL We are
to make Intelligent use Of those new con-
ditions. conditions bought by the sacri-
| fee of millions OF lives, snatched from
every race and creed. that II we are to
give to all Of our newly made friends
the benefits of our skill, and they to
give US tho benefit OF theirs; In short, II
We are to establish a profitable foreign
commerce with peoples OF over score
OF different dialects, must we not have
recourse to a common commercial Ian
guage?
| The necessity OF a common CONNER
cial language being. therefore, granted.
the question arises, which shall 1t be?
| AS 1t would be manifestly unjust to
the other nations to select the language
OF any one OF them. az 1t would give
an undue advantage to that nation, so,
In fairness to all. the language chosen
must be neutral one.
| Many OF your readers are well aware
that Esperanto has been on trial for the
past thirty years and has stood all the
tests called for BY modern society. To
those who are not so well posted may
say that. as the New York represent
alive OF the Universal Esperanto Asso-
citation for the past ten years. have
been receiving almost daily all kinds OF
| requests from nearly every corner OF the
world. my correspondents representing
all strata OF society, have on my MES
letter from compiler Of an encyclo-
pedia. from book dealers and from
dealers In school supplies. as well as
from beer brewers. from saloonkeepers
and from a guardian Of the peace-evi-
IDENTIFY to stabilize the wavering ones.
1t Is fact that on a certain day OF
| 1912 the very same mail that brought
me request from correspondent In
Bahia. Brazil. to procure for him the
STANDARD Dictionary" and the Century
Dictionary and Encyclopedia" TO help
HIM In the compiling OF an encyclopedia
In Portuguese. contained also request
for information about saloon fixtures
from correspondent somewhere In
Germany" And while the latter did
not equal the former In ease and ele-
gance OF style, his ideas were clearly
expressed in correct Esperanto.
| And, by the way. / hate to shock
some of the readers. but there's actually
brand Of whiskey In Europe. named
| Esperanto" ! prefer to remain non
I commitai about its quality.
| While the war has stopped the or
binary correspondence almost to
standstill. 1t helped to give to Esperanto
ar oficid standing The German.
French and Italian Governments have
made ample use OF It during the war.
| $3.50
that Government issue Its white papers
and many other pamphlets OF consider
able size. but 1t used to print separate
edition or its daily war bulletins In
| Esperanto, as well as quite an impos-
ing illustrated bi-weekly. La Inferndctd
Buifeho-for foreign consumption. The
distribution was accomplished by means
OF the yearbook OF the Universal Esper-
anto Association. which has Its head
quarters In Geneva. switzerland. and
network OF information bureaus In al
most every city or any account In the
world. and this yearbook. to which every
member OF the association Is entitled
contains all the addresses or its dele
gates
As nave the honor 10 represent the
first city In the Union. Providence
| simply could not help singing me out
for double thrust OF greatness, and l
used to receive the Esperanto output In
big punches. Luckily, though. the Kali
ser shook me some time before we en-
tered the war, FOR / might also have
been treated to double thrust behind
the bars, and have my name linked with
thai precious pair or scalawags whose
love Tor their, countrys enemies Is only
excelled by their hatred OF their coun-
trys friends
on Esperanto?
Because the would-oe world ruler be-
came possessed OF the delusion that he
~ou'u SUI" "I' ,no o" Vi
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