SPELLING REFORM 271 



of English spelling; to convince the public that fashion in spelling is 

 not sacred ; that our language is and ought to be a developing language ; 

 that development should be guided as far as possible toward simplicity 

 and directness. It advocates the gradual approach to simplicity by 

 neglecting useless letters in words commonly employed. It does not 

 claim for itself authority to standardize our language, but seeks to get 

 rid of the excrescences which make our language unreasonably difficult. 

 It wishes to secure the establishment and extension of good usage, to 

 make it national and international. It does not expect to escape the 

 criticism of those who have learned to love the faults of our tongue, 

 but only asks to be treated with fairness and not to be condemned for 

 what it has never advocated. 



As a first step the board has issued a now famous list of three 

 hundred words which are commonly spelled in two or more ways, and 

 it recommends the simplest of these spellings in every case. Many of 

 the simple forms have already gained such currency in America as to 

 be called Americanisms by our British cousins. Fifty years ago very 

 few of them were current here, but their adoption has been steady, 

 especially among business men, and their increasing popularity is 

 based upon the American fondness for directness. On examining this 

 list the present writer has found himself already habituated to the 

 use of more than half of the simplified forms, though the more 

 complex forms were all taught him in childhood. He is not conscious 

 of having ever attained a local reputation for oddity in spelling. The 

 changes in practise have been made gradually and to a large extent 

 unconsciously. The remaining half of the list may perhaps become 

 assimilated in due time, but no sudden change can be made now. It 

 would be too inconvenient and difficult. As an advocate of simplified 

 spelling he is unwilling to subject himself to an implied obligation to 

 reverse old habits at once; but his mental attitude is that of approval 

 and sympathy with a reform that is based on strong common sense. 

 Inertia must be allowed for, and the pull on the pendulum must be 

 properly timed. 



President Eoosevelt, Mr. Carnegie and the Simplified Spelling 

 Board have been the objects of widely varying criticism. The greatest 

 good they have done has been to focus public attention upon abuses 

 which are of small concern to great people, but of great concern to small 

 people. The little folks at school have no prejudices about ortho- 

 graphic propriety, and no burdens should be piled upon them merely 

 for the sake of maintaining old blunders. An English critic of Ameri- 

 can ways considers it blasphemy .to spell ' Savior ' without a u. Let 

 the English do as they find best ; ours is the American language. Our 

 declaration of independence will involve no bloodshed. 



The opposition of Congress, and the consequent necessity for the 

 withdrawal of President Eoosevelt's executive order in behalf of simpli- 



