IRISH IN MODERN LIFE 15 



Once you admit that the use of the ordinary international 

 form of the Roman alphabet will not turn Irish into 

 English, any more than it will turn Irish into French, the 

 way becomes clear for considering some of the advantages 

 of the course we recommend. 



In the first place, the modern form of the Roman 

 alphabet is in possession. No publisher finds it worth his 

 while to lay in a large stock of " Gaelic " type of various 

 shapes and sizes, and no type-founder can be expected 

 to experiment in new founts.* 



Those who would like to see Irish used in the political 

 and public life of the country should remember that few 

 men will be content with a newspaper report of their speeches 

 in the words " Mr. So-and-So spoke in Irish." That is 

 about all a public man can expect at present. To satisfy 

 him you must allow reporters to desecrate the language 

 by using a script unknown to the schools of the Gaelic 

 race from the time of Feinius Farsaidh to our own days. 

 And after the reporter comes the compositor. A speech 

 in English is on sale a few hours after its delivery. It 

 takes, as a rule, two or three days to set up an Irish speech, 

 even when the manuscript is handed to the press. For 

 how many newspaper offices in Ireland can afford double 

 sets of linotypes ? As long as Irish is rigidly confined 

 to the medieval form of the alphabet, it must of necessity 

 be entirely ignored in ninety per cent, of the periodicals 

 printed in Ireland, or where it does get a footing it is put 

 into some back corner, and kept only on sufferance. 



For commercial purposes the older form of the alphabet 

 is equally impracticable. Can you imagine any firm going 

 to the expense of double sets of typewriters, and cutting 

 itself off from the telegraph system of the world ? In 

 this matter of telegrams I am glad to say that common 

 sense is generally too strong for the logical application 



* The so-called Irish type is cast in England. The first specimens 

 of Irish printing are a poem and a catechism which appeared in 1571. 

 The type used was a mixture of ordinary roman, italic, and Anglo- 

 Saxon, the medieval Irish and Anglo-Saxon hands being practically 

 identical. 



