The Washington herald., 1921-07-31
The Herald
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SUNDAY. July n. 1871.

oS'oes oSedus ano cohtluenlt a.
matter Of routine. AirpIanes. which
decade ago were purely experI- o.
mental. now carry mail and passen-' '
gers between great cities on regular
schedules Ocean liners more lux
urious and comfortable than dry.
land hotels make the continents Of
today as close as the States were in
the early days OF the republic over I
the steel tracks of railroads that
form a mesh over the continents.
natures products and the ingenious
works OF man are shifted so quickly
that the foods and materials of other
climates become everyday neces-
sities. The world has become smaller
as methods OF communication have
progressed.
So fast and intensive has been the.
development OF means OF transfer .
ing men or messages 20 other parts 10
Of the world, that one can hardly
guess the next mechanical develop
ment that will dwarf the ,sirplane
and the wireless.
But the next step ahead In that.
most common medium OF conhmuni-
cation. language. is confidently pre-
dicted by Ward Nichols, secrettAry of
the committee on an International
auxiliary language of the Interna-
tional Research Council. IL fs an
international auxiliary or help lsn-
guage.
The radio teIephonist Of few
years ahead when he plugs in on.
all parts OF the Torld and hears
dozens Of strange tongues will Aeel
the need OF a simple, common wotld
language which will not interfere
with any national language. but WttI /.
be part Of every educated persoAs
equipment Those modern towers L.
Babel, the international conferenceA
whose talk is slowed, cooled and dis 4
torted by dozens OF translationsl
would use f. Think OF the possibnl
tiles OF sending a circular comze--A
cial letter to England, FrG-ee, Ger
many. Russia, China, japan and the
South Sea Islands or any other part
of the globe ari having Il under
| stood SchoJi children Of different
lands would write simple postcards
of greeting and query to each other
in the international language. And
science, whose facts are universal.
will benefit by an international Ian
cuage. Movie captions OF the future
could be written in the universal
language. and films could be shown
in all countries without the present
expensive recaptioning in national
Languages.
/ Scientific bodies in different coUn-
tries have begun 10 cooperate In the
first unbiased steps toward solving
tho international auxiliary problem.
At the 1919 Brussels meeting or the
] TrN
committee on international auNil-
liary language was formed 20 investi-
gate the present status and possible
outlook OF the general problem Of an
I international auxiliary language aud
to cooperate with other crEaniZa-
tions engaged in the same work.
| 1t is not the intention that this
central committee shall necessarily
of itself enter upon an extensive in
D.. vestigation and study of tho inter
national language problem. but rs-
ther. in the first instance At least.
10 stimulate interest and ccntraIizs
effort in the study of tho question
by and through responsible and coui-
petent academic organizations and
educational institutions in this and
other countries and then TO act As a
clearing house for the exchange ~
information and plans between
them" explains Mr. Nichols. The
first work Of the committee has been
confined to efforts 10 awaken inter
est and TO secure the organization
of committees and working groups
in certain learned societies and uni-
versities, and already a number oc
such committees and study groups
have either been appointed or are
rauthorized."
The idea OF the international Ian
guage is not new" he explains.
"Descartes, the great mathematician.
I'm 1920 considered tho problem. and 70
though he did not devise a language
himself. he formulated the two prin-
cipal methods upon which all inter-
national language projects that
gained a following have been con-
structed These are the "a priori"
method. consisting Of arbitrarily Sc
ilected letters syllables or words In
dicating an idea or group Of ideas In
accordance with a determined classi-
fication. and the "a Posteriori" meth
cd. based on roots already existing
in the natural language.
in the last two centuries there
were over hundred attempts to
solve the problem. hut not until Vol
apuh nlltaltu III AcoV " az Atdl
ress made. For a decade this Ian
guage fiourished, but the death OF
I the project was brought about by
I dissension among its followers,
caused by imperfections Of the Lam
guaCe.'
Esperanto is the international
language project that now has the
largest following. Invented by Or.
Zamenhof in 1887. this language has p
simplifed regular grammer, and
is based on roots common TO several
existing languages.
Among the other international
languages with a following today b
are lido, Espersntida, Ro and Inter
lingua Esperantida is an ingenious.
attempt by DR.. r. de Saussure. the
Swiss mathematician, at combining
selected elements from both Espe-
ranto and lido. and Ro is an a priori
project by the Rev. Z. A. Foster. or
waverly. W. Va. Latin has also
been advocated by classicists as
adaptable to modern international
use"
1T would seem that for world use
a language must be in the nature or
a code" declared Mr.. Nichols 1t
will be the tool Of the scientist, the
business man and the man on the
street. and will be used in writing
and talking 70 other peoples in other
lands so that they may do the
worlds work better and easier. In