si.Mi'i.iFn:n si'f.llinc. 



421 



niig-lit fjive it a pass decree. It was the pendantrv of Latinized 

 printers which gave Enghsh speUing its Wardour Street 

 character. 



Dr. Macan, Master of University College. Oxford, said if 

 he was a socialist he might go about the country denouncing the 

 present system of s])e]ling as a capitalistic and aristocratic device 

 for keeping the i)eople ignorant and in leading-strings. 



Mr. W. W. Steer. President of the National Union of 

 Teachers, said that children had to waste their time in spelling 

 when they ought to be s])ending it in dealing witli facts. It 

 was impossible to give the same time to technical education, 

 when there were these spelling difficulties to be got over. 



And -SO on. 



And how do our enemies look at it ? A few weeks ago the 

 Cologne Colette found satisfaction in saying that the English 

 had a spelling system so complicated that her educational effi- 

 ciency was seriously impaired. 



If Germany has put her general efficiency to bad tises. that 

 is no reason why other countries should worship the cult of the 

 inefficient. 



There are two simplified spelling societies at work, namely, 

 the Simplifyd Spelling Sosyeti of London, and the Sim])lified 

 S])elling Board of New York, 



Of these, the English society is the more radical ; it is out 

 and out phonetic, whilst the American society relies on slow 

 permeation. And many of us are adopting the spelling " recom- 

 mended " by the Americans, such as " altho." " draft." " pro- 

 gram," etc. The English society has on its board manv living 

 authors or authorities on English literature, stich as Dr. Gilbert 

 Murray, Lord Bryce, Professor Stanley Jevons, Dr. Mahaffy, 

 Sir William Ramsay. Dr. Michael Sadler. Mr. \\'e]ls. and 

 others. 



An example of the English society's spelling is as 

 follows : — 



And for children, if stich a chainj toi-k plais. wun wood 

 be unaibel tu distingwish the edeukaited from the imedeu- 

 kaited, or werdz tu that efekt. 

 The letters c and (/ are not used. 



The American .society recommeiids as a start the adoption 

 of one hundred specimen words as follows : — 



