Evening star., 1926-04-11


I'm the last decade I am aware
that there has been a great increase
in knowledge of and in acquaintance
with the people of those countries, but
there is still a wide field for improve
ment Travel acquaintance, and
commercial intercourse broaden the
vision and tend to allay susnicion and
Jealousy"
Handicap Is General.
OF similar interest is the statement
Of q well known business man, victor
NJ. Cutter, president of the United
Fruit Company:
Ever since construction stopped
on the Tower of Babel the various
races of mankind have been handicap
ped by their inability to communicate
freely one with another. The uni
versal brotherhood toward which we
are all struggling could be advanced
several hundred years if every one
were familiar with two or more
languages.
ITO be more explicit. the young
American today who hopes to make "A
brilliant success of his business career
can best serve his purpose by learning
to speak and write Spanish fluently.
for next to English it is the language
most extensively used in the Western
Hemisphere.
IF we except Brazil and the
Guianas. Spanish is the well-nigh uni
versal language of South America: IL
| is the one method of communication
| in Mexico and in Cuba, and in the
Central American states of Guatemala.
| Honduras, Nicaragua, Salvador, Costa
| Rica and Panama. over 40,000,0Oh
| people to the south of us employ
| Spanish as their natural vehicle of
expression.
| Year by year. we do more bust
ness with South and Central America.
and we know that the greatest OBJ
stacle to transacting that business
| is lack of familiarity with the Span
ish language. Ignorance of the Span
ish tongue prevents that understand
ing of Latin American life, manners
and business customs which is 81
| essential to the establishment of
| friendly relations.
| Is Trade Resistance.
| Language offers a trade resistance
| which is almost insurmOuntable. You
can't do business through an interpre-
| ter; misunderstanding inaccuracies
| creep in, and there is a lack of con
fidence and conviction when an Amer
lean tries to do business with Latin
American and is unable to speak the
latter's language. Experience has so
! impressed this upon our officials that
familiarity with Spanish is considered
essential on the part of employees who
desire to advance in our company.
II regard instruction in Spanish as
an absolute necessity in every public
| school and college in our country.
We are the leading nation in the
Western Hemisphere, but we must
not overlook the fact that TO do bust
ness and retain the friendship of our
Latin American neighbors. we must
read and write their language fiuently
and correctly. The United States, as
a nation of tremendous manufactur
ing power will need export business.
and Latin America is the nearest and
greatest potential market for our
goods In return we will need the
tropical fruits. coffee, sugar. nitrates.
minerals and other products that
Latin America has in vast abund-
ance.
For political and social reasons. as
we'll as economic, it is of the utmost
Importance to us to have the closest
relations with the nations to the south
of US. No subject studied in the
schools today pays as big dividends as
do foreign languages, and since Span
ish is the language most needed in
this hemisphere it should be the am
| Dltlon OF every Stu0ent 10 master u.
Other Advantages Cited.
I'm addition to the practical. business
side of life, there are realms of his
tory. romance, the drama and science
which can be explored through a
knowledge of Spanish. One of the
greatest books of our era, The Tragic
Sense of Life by Miguel de Una
muno, appears twice in the sympo-
sium on the 10 best books of the
twentieth century. The works of
ConCbc ESpina, leading woman novel
ist of Spain, twice mentioned for the
Nobel prize in literature, of Blasco
Ibanez, of Ramon d. Peres. of Ruben
Dario, Villaespesa. Marquina, etc.
make an endless list, for there has
been in Spain a great renaissance, and
the literature of the world has been
improved and strengthened by the in
fluence of men and women who eX-
press their thoughts in Spanish"
| Finally, we have the recent teSti-
mony of one of our greatest architects
and incidentally one of our genuine
cultural leaders, Ralph Adams Cram:
zone would suppose that the practi-
cal and commercial value of Spanish
would justify it's inclusion in any
modern curriculum. Apparently
[blank] is unaware either of its
unique beauty as a language, its i'm
menSe cultural value, or the world
of literary beauties it opens to the
student.
with the clamor now going up in
favor of an extension of our CONNER
cial activities in South and Central
America, and the perfectly justified
statement that the first step toward
such an extension lies in working
familiarity with the language of all
~ .s-l. - Il
seem that no argument is necessary
to prove the practical value of the
language.
Language Has Beauty.
Apart from this. however, Spanish
makes its unanSwerable claim on
wholly different ground. 1t is GER
tainly one of the most beautiful liv-
ing languages. combining the dignity
and force of Latin with the supple
ness and musical quality of French
and Italian. 1t is the language in
which some of the finest literature of
the world Is enshrined, much of it still
untranslated, and 1t is also the verbal
voicing of one of the most vital and
constructive and far-seeing civiliZa-
tions of present-day Europe.
'Personally-and from both a prac-
tical and cultural point Of view-I
| SIlOuIu Sdy ItldI Spanish WdSs Will lIt
possible exception of French, the liv-
ing language most worthy of inclu-
sion in any system of education which
aims at usefulness, cultural develop
ment and the building up of charac-
ter"
With such testimony from public
officials, business men a2d leaders in
the arts and learned professions for
these are only few of the many
| StAtarnanfC
quoted it is no wonder that Spanish
occupies such favored position in
American education. Add to the
points brought ont by these gentle