The Llano colonist. [volume] (Llano, Calif.) 191?-1937, 1922-12-09
YOU MUST NOT UNDER
STAND ONE ANOTHER
By Etienne ST. Cyr

opinion that the more human beings
are able to converse together, the less
chance. there should be Of their falling
out, such is hardly the view Of official
and intellectual France. On the con-
trary. peril, deadly and International
peril, turks in the spread Of any such
lingua libra as Esperanto. by recourse
to which" to quote Alfred Capus Of
the French Academy, ''one can only
express primary ideas such as Com
munistic ideas"
Esperanto. proceeds Capus, is a
language without shading or niceties
of expression. How absurd to attempt
to fight revolutionary propaganda with
Esperanto! It is always the same:
communistic ideas are primary ideas,
hence one can express them in Esper-
anto. But our ideas, the product of
finesse of thought, can be expressed
only in our own language, which near
mates them.
Secretary Colrat, Premier Poincare's
right hand man at the Quai d'Orsay, is
of approximating opinion:
Those ingenious souls who dream
of an International language imagine
apparently, that language is merely
a vocabulary. Once in the long ago,
a monk of erudition chose Tartar as
the simplest language extant, yet |
doubt if it would serve to express
French culture. And that is what we
demand of our language. A national
tongue is not list of words, but
specific habit of mind, of sentiment,
and Of will. Leave to the Tartars that
which is Tartar!"
Conforming to the above viewpoints,
drastic executive action has been taken
by Leon Berard, Minister of Public
Instruction. In widely-circulated
to all schools subsidized by
the government, Berard formally bans !
Esperanto from the curriculum en- the !
ground that the ease with which it may
be acquired would tend to promote
sloth among the youth of the country,
that the glory of French literature
would be- jeopardized and that the pro-
of an International tongue
might be put to subversive use in the
present state of Europe. Which Of
fetal ban bids fair to loom largely in
future political campaigning in France.
Ernest Archdeacon, protagonist of the
French Esperantists, stresses this aspect
and comes out boldly with the asser-
ion that the enemies of universal
tongue are the reactionaries who, in
he press and on the platform, vigor-
ously supported the Berard decree.
But perhaps Prof Aulard of the Sor-
oonne has made out the strongest pro-
Esperanto case, at least in French eyes,
n arguing that unless Esperanto be
and speedily, the International
language of the world will at no distant
late be English. Aulard's program is.
therefore: Let France rest satisfied
With keeping French as the language
If the educated classes, as it will all
ways remain, and develop Esperanto
as the auxiliary and international Ian
guage of the working classes, 'fthe Ian
guage of work and peace. Proceeds
Prof. Aulard: French is too difficult
and takes too long to learn ever to be-
come the language of the working peo-
pie, who need to understand one anoth- I
er that the peace of the world may be
assured. Esperanto is easy to pick up,
even by the stupidest, Aid, therefore,
N propagating it, else bastard Eng
ish, in no way the pure tongue of
Shakespeare. but barbarous offshoot
At present being invented daily by the {
Yellow races and in America. will b.
,ome the preponderant vehicle of CON
The result Of the whole business is.
# course, a tremendous advertisement
or the forbidden tongue, hitherto spo-
zen only by scattered company own
ng allegiance to an obscure headquar-
ers in Geneva. People are beginning
o go about talking Of Esperanto
veil, just as you go around talking |
about something else that is forbidden
IN Manhattan. Societies are being
ormed whose members are out to ac-
luire the banned tongue as rapidly as t
possible. All along the walls Of Paris
ind other French cities one finds scrib- t
lied in chalk. Learn Esperanto!" and i
pecial patrols have to be sent out to S
wash the offending words awav.>