Part 40

And this great entity, the written English language, the chief medium of scholarship, literature, history, law, and even business ... is what it is proposed to change. Perhaps it should be done; perhaps the times demand an heroic sacrifice of the organ of scholarly and literary communication and tradition, in the interest of increased efficiency on the part of the average man for whom the language of scholarship and literature is negligible. But we should not mistake the meaning of the effort. It is not the mere effort to do better what we are doing already--writing words so-and-so because they sound so-and-so; for we are already doing nothing of the kind. It is the effort to transfer English from the group where, with modern French and other tongues, it now belongs,--the group of languages whose history has differentiated a written and a spoken form,--to the group represented by classic Latin and modern Italian, whose (doubtless happier) history has kept the written form a fairly accurate replica of the spoken....

The impression often prevails that those who hesitate to commit themselves to the enticements of the Spelling Board do so merely because the new spellings "look so queer." Of course this very statement is a clumsy and unpenetrating way of expressing the fact that the whole language psychology of a _reading_ generation is disturbed by the efforts in question.

(II) From a lady:

This unspeakable spelling is history-destroying, tradition-annihilating, and puts the veriest hind on a semblance of equality with a person of elegance.

As Nietsche says: "Let us be free from moralic acid"!!

Possibly to some tastes, a neck without a goitre would be more "elegant" than a neck with one--or _tho_ than _though_.

(III) From a well-known author:

The tendency of our English speech is constantly to "reform" its Orthography! Witness the betterment between the spelling of Chaucer and that of Shakespeare, and between that of Shakespeare and that of the days of Queen Anne! Well then, granting it to be the irresistible tendency of our Orthography to better itself, why not permit it to go on in peace bettering itself? Why assist Fate? Are our awful Spelling Reformers, like the impatient young gentleman in Mr. Stockton's story, appointed to the task of Assisting Fate?

(IV) From a talented author and critic--a lady:

You must allow me, as an old friend of yours and a new friend of the REVIEW's, to protest against the introduction of "reformed spelling" into a literary journal of a high class, which is what we all consider the new venture. To many of us who respect the English language as an inheritance, and are content to leave its simplification to the slow erosion of time, pages like those at the end of the REVIEW give positive pain.

It would indeed be a hardened reformer who would not feel the force of the foregoing objections.

To "Why assist Fate?" and "the slow erosion of time" the answer is that the doctrine of _laissez faire_ has had its day, and can hardly be regarded as open for discussion.

* * * * *

On the other side, we have received many letters favoring the reform from the highest philological authorities:

(I) From a Johns Hopkins Professor:

Serious study of the problem becomes the duty of every thoughtful person.

(II) From a Harvard Professor:

A discussion of orthographic possibilities can hardly fail to be enlightening. I do not much like the scheme you tentatively advocate, but anything that reveals existing absurdities and opens up new vistas is useful at this stage.

(III) On the other hand, the Superintendent of Education in one of the Canadian provinces, whose sympathies are naturally British, writes:

"Your simplified spelling appeals to me in preference to that of the S. S. S. of London."

The main differences are illustrated in (the S. S. B. coming first) _tiem_ and _tiim_ for _time_, _doer_ and _door_ for _door_, _tiping_ and _tipping_ for _tipping_.

(IV) A Nova Scotian, president of an important educational institution, writes:

Your article on simplified spelling is a very courageous one--_for an American_! Probably it has alredy brought upon you the whips and scorns of the conventional journalist. In the Old Country, scholars are accustomd to stand up against professional journalists. Do you think you can do so with your new scheme? I hope so, for it seems to me simple in principle, and, on the whole, a good working basis. One is tempted, of course, to ask why such inconsistencies as:

Allwaiz--Becauz.

Oonly--Molar.

We accept the _aw_ sound for _a_ before _ll_, but probably _awl_ is better than _all_; and in _becauz_ it should undoubtedly be _aw_.

As to _molar_, we propose that a single vowel should always, as generally now, be long at the end of a syllable.

The same correspondent continues:

Again, if long vowels are to be indicated by the doubling of the letter, is there any need of doubling the consonant after a short vowel?

(V) Another correspondent joins in the same charge:

It hardly seems logical to double a vowel to indicate its lengthening and at the same time to double a consonant to indicate the closing of a preceding vowel. It strikes me as rather a clumsy artifice at best, and leads to some very cumbrous forms, of which "annuthther," as you point out, is an extreme instance.

But, as just said, it is not proposed that always "long vowels are to be indicated by doubling of the letter," but only when the syllable is closed by a consonant. See also the second paragraph of the following letter answering a correspondent, which shows some aspects of the question that may be worth presenting to other readers as well:

Thanks for your letter.... I wish all that I get on the subject were equally sensible. At the same time, there are two or three things that call for rejoinder.

When a consonant beginning a second syllable, is repeated at the end of the preceding syllable, to prevent the vowel being counted as long, the consonant is by no means "doubled" in the sense that a vowel is doubled to make it count as long, or as the terminal consonant is doubled in fall, call, etc.

In English spelling probably there cannot be carried out any principle that won't land us somewhere into awkwardnesses almost as great as "annuthther." That particular one, I have no doubt, if ever adopted, would work into smaller dimensions, which of course would have some elements of inconsistency. There is no reason, however, why we should not use the methods which lead to absurdities in that word, in hosts of other words where they don't.

I shall never take any part in an attempt to add characters to the English language. The only thing in that line it has done since it began taking shape, is to get rid of two very useful ones; and I don't believe it will ever move in the opposite direction. My humble efforts will be concentrated on doing the best practicable with those we have, though I wish Godspeed to everybody who works for consistency and reasonableness, even if he thinks he can introduce a new alphabet.

It is never going to simplify our language to introduce diacritical marks. My little experience with French satisfies me on that subject.

I am glad you agree with me as to dropping the _u_ after _q_.

I am not sure about using _x_ without a vowel preceding it (_e. g._ xpense). Theoretically no consonant carries a vowel, but _x_ is pronounced as if there were a short _e_ before it, though, like any other consonant, it will take the color of any vowel.

I don't believe that I am going to be any farther reformed in regard to vowels than _oo_ in _door_, _ee_ in _feel_, _aa_ as suggested by the British Society in "faather," _uu_ in "suun" as also suggested by them; and _ii_ in "tiim," as suggested by me and probably by others whom I don't know of. I only wish you would leave your diacritics and new letters, and fight with me for these vowels. There seems to be some hope in such a fight, as the English Society is for all but the _ii_, and consistent people will naturally work for their accepting _ii_; and as nobody that I am aware of, in the direction of either body, is with you for new letters and diacritics.

To the same correspondent:

Your letter of the 5th is very suggestive.

I think one trouble between us is that you think it worth while to strive for ideal perfection in spelling. If we attained it, it would not stay put.

You say: "It seems to me simple arithmetic admonishes us that we have to have new characters for the vowel sounds." There are two reasons why we don't. One is that (_me judice_) there is no use in seeking absolute perfection. Another is that we can do with existing letters as much of the work as we need to.

It may be "important" to "develop an alphabet in which each character stands for a precise sound" but I haven't the slightest idea that the English-speaking people will ever do it.

Of course all existing languages have come because "peoples ... drift so far apart in pronunciation as sooner or later to become almost unintelligible to each other," but printing and facilities of communication are probably obstructing farther movements in that direction, and I should not be surprised if the present tendency were toward unity.

I am sorry you are one of the reformers who "believe that we should go the whole way, or let things stay as they are." It is not often that any reform goes the whole way, and I suspect that we would be a good deal farther along if people of reforming disposition would be content to go only so far as practicable.

On one side, then, we have habit and sensitive associations, and on the other side the facts which cannot be denied by anyone who is thoughtful and educated (not always synonymous terms) that the anomalies of English spelling not only breed lawlessness in the juvenile mind, increase the difficulties of education, and waste much labor and expense in writing and printing, but also seriously obstruct commerce, diplomacy, and the peace of the world.

No wonder these opposing conditions produce the frame of mind expressed to us by a leading city Superintendent of Schools: "I abominate simplified spelling, but I am in favor of it."

Now between this Scylla and this Charybdis, what is the reasonable course?

We must regard two considerations too often ignored by reformers, though they were insisted on by as great an authority as Spencer. The first is that feeling, more than reason, determines conduct; the other is that everything is so inextricably connected with other things, that raising one is like raising a strand of a net, which involves raising many other strands with it. With this reform are tangled up not only the feelings and habits illustrated in the foregoing quotations, but all existing English literature, including many thousand tons of it in electrotype plates. All these obstruct a sudden reform. Must then the reform be as gradual as that from Chaucer's spelling to ours? Prophecy is dangerous, but we are inclined to think not.

We favor simplified spellings, but we don't want our attention diverted by them from anything that we value more, and we don't want to interfere with anybody's Shakspere or Tennyson, any more than we want anybody to interfere with ours. We are glad, however, when we see the sign of a "Fotografer," or an announcement of a "thru" train. We have no doubt that a large and increasing number of people share both these sets of feelings, and they seem to indicate the way out of the dilemma.

Now there's no question of intrinsic beauty between the new forms and the old. Preference for the latter is simply a matter of habit, but habit is stronger than intelligence; and here, with the student, intelligence balks at habit in a paradoxical way. In reading an impassioned passage, he encounters a "_thru_"; his thoughts are not only diverted to the spelling, but to the years of association he may have with the problems concerning it. For ourselves, the more we study it, if we meet it in literature the more we "abominate" it, with the superintendent already quoted; but the more we see it in advertisements and other indifferent places, the more we are "in favor of it"; and this we think is apt to be the experience of those who really bring their intellects to the problem. Nay, we even think that, in time, the younger portion of the thinking people whose habits favor the old forms, may perhaps come around to the new: for, after writing the most radical of the new forms, as in the last number of the REVIEW, we have been surprised at the way they linger in the memory and seem for a while more habitual than the old forms. This experience makes it seem probable that if, for our children's sake, and for the sake of the great causes already indicated, we were to condemn ourselves for a few weeks, or possibly even a few days, to the better forms, they would become more natural than the worse.

* * * * *

Press of T. MOREY & SON, Greenfield, Mass.

INDEX

THE UNPOPULAR REVIEW

VOL. I

[_Titles of Articles are printed in heavier type. The names of authors of articles are printed in italics._]

Abbot, Miss Edith, 313, 319, 329.

Addams, Jane, 48-50, 54, 319.

Alcohol, 213.

=Alcohol, Our: Its Use=, 163 --use of the word intemperance, 163 --American drinking habits contrasted with English, 163-174 --social value of drinking, 164 --American public bars, 165 --improving the saloon, 165-166 --English public-houses, 166-174 --influence of women, 169 --the average English bar-maids, 169-170 --drinking in Scotland, 170-171 --effect of bar-maids in America, 171 --sense of home, 172-173 --Eileen, 173-174.

American Magazines, 261.

Anonymity of writers for this REVIEW, 43.

Arbitration, 10, 20.

=Aristocracy, Natural=, 272 --the one great question of to-day, 272 --Plato and his ideal republic, 273-277 --the natural growth of tyranny out of democracy, 275-276 --the method of escape which Plato saw, 276-277 --the political wisdom of Burke's _Reflections_, 277 --the need of leaders, 277-279 --Burke's definition of a true natural aristocracy, 278-279 --his ideas of prejudice, privilege, time and subordination, 279-281 --the part of imagination in Burke's ideas of government, 281-282 --Tom Paine's charge, 281-282 --picture of the demagogue, 285-288 --initiative and referendum; amending constitutions, 286 --attack on courts, 287 --Burke's portrait of men of light and leading, 288 --the demagoguery of an institution like the public press, 289 --the cure of democracy not _more_ but _better_ democracy, 290 --our need is to provide for a natural aristocracy, 290 --the cant of humanitarianism; the need of a class consciousness among the advanced, 292-295 --the real strength of socialistic doctrine and the real danger, 293-294 --duty of our higher institutions of learning to train the imagination, 295-296.

Athens, 1.

_Atlantic_, 264.

"Aunt Kate," as spirit control, 74-76.

Automatic writing. _See_ Heteromatic.

=Baby and the Bee=, 333.

=Barbarian Invasion, The=, 389 --higher education is in the hands of barbarians, 389 --college education and college professors to-day, 389-390 --democratic education a process of measuring down, 390-391 --new sciences, 391 --academic managers and their policies, 391-392 --appeals for money and advertising features, 392 --the cant of a university's obligation to the community, 392-393 --inter-collegiate athletics a key to the meaning of social obligations, 393 --amateur sport a business enterprise of college authorities, 393-396 --football, 394 --the argument for athletics as opposed to study, 395 --rich barbarian alumni, 396 --teachers' colleges, their character and relation to the college proper, 397-398 --graduate schools, 398 --material for college professors, 399 --illiteracy, 399 --average quality, 400 --the Ph.D. and his "contribution to knowledge," 401 --the scientific theory of academic organization, 402 --college presidents, 403 --the "educator," 403 --the howling wilderness of academic halls, 404 --money and publicity, 404 --need of an aristocratic institution of learning, 405 --and of culture and finer manhood in colleges and universities, 405.

Bee. _See_ 'Baby and the Bee.'

Bergson, Henri, as president of Society for Psychical Research, 63, 106-107 --on psychic phenomena, 107-111.

Boss rule, 138.

Bourne, Senator, 32-33.

Bradford, Mary C., 321, 330.

Breckinridge, Prof. Sophonisba P., 313, 319, 329.

Bronson, Miss Minnie, 313, 318, 329.

_Brougham, H. B._, 'A Needed Unpopular Reform,' 133 --'The Machinery for Peace,' 200 --'How Woman Suffrage Has Worked,' 307.

Bryan, W. J., 3, 4, 5, 124-129.

Burke, Edmund, his political ideas and their present applicability, 272-273, 277-284.

_Burrows, Charles W._, 'Our Government Subvention to Literature,' 415.

Burton, Dr., on tobacco, 145, 162.

Butler, Samuel, 123.

=Cabinet, The Unfermented=, 124 --composition of Pres. Wilson's cabinet and experience of its members, 124-125 --public observation and expectations, 126 --Bryan, 126-129 --his Chautauqua lectures, 128 --the cabinet's confidence in the president, 129-130 --its unity, 130 --Wilson's power, 131-132.

=Capitalism, The Soul of=, 227 --capitalism compared to feudalism, 227-228 --capitalism a predominant and significant fact in modern life, 228-229 --the paradoxical conception of a soul in capitalism, 229 --commercialization; "business" vs. "sentiment," 230 --capitalism a respecter of the liberties of men, 231 --personal prejudices out of business hours still rule, 232 --discrimination in business exceptional; Mr. Henry Ford, 232 --toleration necessitated by business tends to break down national, racial and religious prejudices, 233 --this toleration is interested and not ethical, 234 --yet liberty based on capitalistic toleration is broad and substantial, 234 --precapitalistic liberty, 235 --class liberty, 235 --the laborer's great gains in personal liberty, 236 --capitalism the real source and cause of the fraternity of labor, 237-238 --the natural race antagonisms among laborers, 238 --moral gain of labor disputes, 239 --solidarity in American and in foreign laborers, 239 --anti-militarism in the laboring class, 239 --the soul of capitalism begins to emerge as toleration, liberty and fraternity, 240 --Socialism, 241 --Karl Marx cited, 241 --the initial ugliness of capitalism, 241-242 --the struggle of good and evil in the non-economic field and its outcome, 243 --Holberg, 244 --a broader and more liberal humanity the evolving soul of capitalism, 244.

Cattell, Prof., 399.

Charles II, 122.

Chesterton, G. K., unconscious testimony against tobacco, 156.

Child labor, facts and misrepresentation as to extent, 259-260.

Classification. _See_ Pigeon-Holes.

=Climbers, Some Deserving=, 439.

=Colleges, What is the Matter with the American?= 214. _See also_ 'Barbarian Invasion, The'; Schooling.

Consumers' League, 261-262.

Cost of living, 12, 261-262.

=Criticism, A Model of Divinatory=, 435.

Crookes, Sir Wm., 64, 68, 69.

Cross-Correspondence, 104.

=Decency and the Stage=, 214.

DeForest, Mrs. Nora Blatch, 330, 331.

Delaisi, Francis, 187.

_Delineator, The_, 256, 258.

Demagogues, 4-5 --Roosevelt as an example, 285-288.

Democracy, 34 --what it has done for higher education, 389.

=Democrat Reflects, The=, 34 --disillusionment, 34, 35 --questionings as to real nature of democracy, 36, 37 --plutocracy, 37 --democracy in education, 38 --in religion and art, 39, 40 --in manners and dress, 40, 41 --in the home, 41 --Plato on democracy, 42 --ridiculous side of the idea, 42 --mediocrity, 43, 44 --democracy as a machine, 44, 45 --character the Supreme end, 46.

"Doctor Foster went to Gloucester," 435.

Dog, in Rich's sitting, 79.

Dorr, George, with Myers control, 103.

Dowsing, 67.

Drama. _See_ Decency.

Dramatic power of mediums, 82.

Dreams, 65-66, 109.

Drink. _See_ Alcohol.

Education. _See_ Schooling; Colleges; 'Barbarian Invasion, The.'

=En Casserole=, 212, 431.

_Farnam, Henry W._, 'Our Tobacco: its Cost,' 145.

Feminism, abundant results of woman's influence in legislation, 332.

Fires resulting from smoking tobacco, 147-152.

_Fite, Warner_, 'The Barbarian Invasion,' 389.

Football, 394.

Ford, Henry, 232.

Foster, the medium, 68.

_Franklin, Fabian_, 'The Majority Juggernaut,' 22 --Social Untruth and the Social Unrest,' 252.

Freedom. _See_ Liberty.

George, Henry, 27-28.

George, Mrs. A. J., 310, 328.

Germany, peace policy, 200; trust legislation, 406.

Ghost stories, 65.

Glynn, Governor, 142.

Government management, 16.

=Greeks, The, on Religion and Morals=, 358 --relation of religion and morals, 358-359 --the Greek attitude toward reason, 359-360 --its psychological development, 360 --the eleusinian mysteries; Dionysus, 361 --hypnosis, ecstasy, enthusiasm, 362 --orphism and immortality, 362-364 --Aristotle on the Eleusinia, 364 --Oriental cults: Unthraism, 365 --origin of the Christian sacraments and the theology of St. Paul to be found in these mysteries, 365-366 --the doctrine of the early church modified by Greek ideas; the Nicene Creed, 366-367 --"faith," 367 --Hippolytus and Plato, 368 --the influence of Greece on dogma, 368-369 --Christian exegesis also of Greek origin, 369 --its principle, 370 --Plato's exegesis, 371 --the ethics of Christianity as related to Stoicism and Cynicism, 371-373 --religion and morals among the Greeks differentiated, 372 --Plato's _Republic_, 373 --religion and morality have suffered from too close a union, 374.

Gurney, Edmund, as control, 80.

_Hamilton, Clayton_, 'Our Alcohol: its Use,' 163.

Hancock, John, 122.

Heteromatic writing, 69-70, 99-104.

Hodgson, Dr. Richard, 64 --first Piper report, 71-79 --second Piper report, 83-90 --argument for spiritism, 87-88 --as control, 93-103.

Holberg, 244.

Holland, Mrs., heteromatic writing, 99-103 --with Hodgson control, 100.

_Holt, Henry_, 'The New Irrepressible Conflict,' 1 --'Prof. Bergson and the Society for Psychical Research,' 63 --'Tobacco and Alcohol,' 212 --'Answering Big Questions,' 214 --'Decency and the Stage,' 214 --'Simplified Spelling,' 218, 440 --'Special to our Readers,' 431 --'A Specimen of Uplift Legislation,' 434 --'Some Deserving Climbers,' 439.

Home, the medium, 67, 68.

Hours of labor, 13.

"Howard" family and G. P., 84-87.

Hull House. _See_ Addams, Jane.

Humanitarianism, current cant deprecated, 292.

"Humans," 439.

Hypnotism, 65, 109.

Immortality, faith in, possible justification for, 106.

Imperator, 70, 90, 91 --inconsistent names, 105.

Infant mortality, 266.

Intemperance, strict sense of the word, 163. _See also_ Alcohol.

Interstate Commissions, Commerce and Trade, 408, 413-414.