;88 



The Review ot Reviews. 



December 1, ISO:. 



PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT AND SPELLING 

 REFORM. 



In the Fortnightly Rcvicu.', writing on " The 

 President's English." Mr. William Archer avows 

 himself an advocate of spelling reform, though rathei 

 than spell " fonetikaly " he would "at once go ovei 

 to the stagnationists " and write "programme " and 

 " prologue ■' to his dying day. " We have made our 

 cheap jokes at the President's expense,'' savs Mr. 

 Archer ; " now it is time to be serious " : — 



I believe the matter to be a momentous one— more sd. 

 perhaps, than the President himself fully realises. I believe 

 that the future of the English language hangs in the bal- 

 ance, and that there lies before us, during the next few 

 .vears. a decision ot world-historic import. 



The .Simplified Spelling Board have been too 

 timid in their recommendations, and Mr. Archer 

 does not belie\e that reform will make anv real 

 headway until their present proposals have been 

 enormously extended and amended. English opjjosi- 

 tion to them, so far from preventing their adoption, 

 will much more probably hasten it. 



THE STOCK ARGUMENT. 

 The ■' stock argument " against spelling reform is. 

 of course, the '' etymological " argument. This 

 " has long been abandonee^ by all who have given 

 any real thought to the subject " : — 



It is disowned by the very people who, were there anything 

 in it. would be the first to insist upon it— namely, the phil- 

 ologists ant! language-historians. The history ot the lan- 

 guage is written in a thousand volumes, and can never be 

 really lost or obscured: and the iiea that our current spell- 

 ing; is. in any effective sense, a course of instruction in 

 etymology, is patently false. 



Even supposing that current spelling were a \erv 

 ready key to etymology, it is a monstrous pretension 

 that a hundred million people who have no use 

 for this key ought to be encumbered with it through- 

 out life, merely for the sake of the few thousands, 

 at most, who have some use for it. 



THE PRESENT PROPOS.AXS CRITICISED. 



-Admitting the desirability of spelling reform, Mr. 

 -Archer thinks the value of the President's proposals 

 more than doubtful. He especially remarks that 

 nothing is done to remove that perennial rock of 

 offence to shaky spellers — the large group of words 

 ending in "ieve." "eive," "eave," and "eeve." 

 It the Spelling Board's recommendations are adopt- 

 ed and put in practice, we shall have a long period 

 of constantl\ changing language, and, consequentlv, 

 of constantly changing dictionaries. Moreo\er, 

 when the Simplified Spetling Board is at length satis 

 fied. it does not follow that the rest of the English- 

 speaking world will be satisfied. Chaos alone is 

 likely to result. 



A STAND OP SPELLING REFORM. 



Mr. Archer insists on 



the advisability, nay. the necessity, of a definite pronounce- 

 ment on spelling reform by a special body, so constituted as 



to command the respect of the whole English-speaking world. 

 The question should be referred to an InternationaJ Confer- 

 ence, Congress, or Commission, which, fairly reiiresenting 

 all the communities and all the interests concerned, should 

 speak with as near an approach to authority as is possible 

 or desirable in our democratic world. 



This Conference President Roosevelt might invite 

 to meet at Washington, and delegates from the 

 British Islands, the British Colonies, and the United 

 States should attend it. to the number of thirtv to 

 forty-five in all. 



Phonetic spelling is obviously impossible, for the 

 reason that what Aberdeen considers phonetic Lon- 

 don does not, and (sad to say), Australia might now 

 hardly do so either. Perhaps, however, in the 

 course of levelling centuries, phonetic training and 

 travel " may beget a composite international pro- 

 nunciation which will dominate the whole English- 

 speaking world." 



MR. FREDERIC HARRISON'S ^^EW. 



Mr. Frederic Harrison, writing in the Positivist 

 Review, says : — 



There is, of course, much in English spelling which is vexa- 

 tious and absurd. Many useful changes are being gradually 

 introduced, and mAn.v American innovations are quite right, 

 an I are being slowly adopted here. Bit to introduce by a 

 sudden public order an entire new dictionary would be, even 

 it successful, a cause of endless confusion and division 

 amongst the reading world. The elder generation would 

 never consent to learn a new language, nor would they ever 

 read a new book spelt in a way as troublesome to them as 

 " Chaucer " or " Piers Plowman " now are to the average 

 youth. A young generation which had been brought up on 

 fnnetik literature would not read our existing books. Many 

 millions ot books would become was:e paper. Sj far from 

 the Ruzfelt-Karneggii Nu Slil bringing together our two na- 

 tions, it would rudely set them by the ears The laughter 

 which the President's order caused would become an angry 

 growl, if we thought it serious, here. We may learn many 

 things from America, but their literature is the last thing 

 we should take as a model. 



ENGLISH-'SPEAKING REUNION- JINGOISM I 

 This, from Mr. Harrison's point of view, ought 

 surely to be regarded as a point in favour of Presi- 

 dent Roose\elt, for he goes on to say : — 



A far deeper question remains. This dream ot weldiug 

 into one the whole English-speaking people is a dangerous 

 and retrograde Utopia, full of mischief and false pride of 

 race. It is a subtler and more sinister form of Jingoism. 

 We all need to have our national faults and weaknesses cor- 

 rected by friendship with those of different ideals and with- 

 out our special temptations. The English race is already 

 too domineering, ambitious, and self-centre'. Combination 

 with America would stimulate our vices, our difficulties— 

 and our rivals. But this is too big a topic to treat in a 

 paragraph. 



Surely this is to go off on a false track I To op- 

 pose the reunion of the English-speaking race is 

 hardly the line which we ought to expect from thosf 

 who believe in the unity of mankind. What is more 

 natural than that those who seek the larger unity 

 should wish to secure as a stepping-stone thither the 

 union of all those who speak the same language, 

 read the same literature, and are on the same plane 

 of civilisation ? 



