The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-05-06
The Babel Of Tongues.
CFrom the Boston Herald.

rom the Boston 1tefalu.t
An Esperanto congress Just opened at
Geneva under the management of the
league of nations, with 90 delegates pre-
sent representing "a countries, IA of
them officially, marks the most ad-
vanced step yet taken towards furnish
ing the world with an auxiliary Ian
guage. - The need of some such prOvi-
sion is eloquently suggested by the lat
est statistics of the ''foreign language
disclose the striking fact, that 22,754 pub
LEGATIONS are here. issued in tongues
either than our own-dailies, weeklies,
semi monthlies and monthlies included
and that their total circulation per
issue reaches nearly 100000 copies
strongly by the war through the meeting
of multitudes of men who could not I'M
derstand each other s speech.
Take also the illustration given in No
vember, 1920, when the International
Trade Union Congress. with member
ship of 100000 widely scattered work
ers held its many days sessions in Lon
don. The problem at that congress was
to deal with the II languages spoken in
way to make the addresses delivered
ineligible to the largest number. For
this the delegates had to be segregated
according to the countries from which
they came, each group being provided
the nationality Seventeen interpreters
were present, and as fast as a speech
was delivered it was translated into one
or other of the five tongues which had
been chosen as the official language OF
the cengress-Enghsh, French, German,
| Italian and Scandinavian In this
| fashion fair degree OF intelhgibihty
was given to the proceedings. On the
other hand, some of the delegates knew
nothing of the five key languages, and
| for them the congress went into history
az little more than a babel of tongues.
- 1t is to dispel this babel on a far larg-
er scale that the Esperanto congress is
now at work under the leadership of Sir
Eric Drummond. Before the war only
private individuals and language So
| cieties were concerned Since the war
ended the subject has been taken up by
governmental, scientific and lnterna-
| tional organizations the world over
| Last September, at the instance of ten
states, the league of nations referred the
| auxiliary language question to its score
| tariat for study; about the same time
| the two associations for the advance
ment of science in the United States and
| Great Britain appointed committees
one of which has definitely recommended
! the choice of an artificial language, but
without attempting to decide between
| tho rival tongues now in the field
The action taken by the league has
! the official support of countries as widely
apart as Belgium, Poland. South Africa
| Finland India. Janan. Czecho- Slovakia
| Venezuela. Columbia. Persia, China and
| Roumania. Meanwhile Esperantists point
to the growing frequency of their con
crosses both here and abroad. The new
| language - being taught in the schools
| If five European countries; a. dozen
Euronean cities have eommittee s at work
/ for its use in commerce; Esperanto Is
even ACQUIRING recognition as a. subject
for examination in the United States
| Methods by which Esperanto may be in
trOducpd as a teaching subject in schools
everywhere are now to be formulated
| by the congress at Genoa. The move
ment once regarded as . fad had thus he
come q matter of world concern. and its
! STRENGTH consists largely in the under
standing that. whatever choice is made
! between Esperanto. lido and Latin. the
rev tongue viii be treated strictlv as
| an auxiliary and in no sense as a substi-
tnte for the existing languages.