PUERTO RICO, ^'OT PORTO RICO 37 



Long before there was a Board on Geograpliic Names the American mission- 

 aries in the Hawaiian Islands solved in a simple and sensible fashion the almost 

 insuperable ditticulty of spelling the native names and language so as to have 

 them correctly pronounced by English-speaking people and the world at large. 

 They simplj' adopted for the vowel sounds the letters consistently representing 

 them in the Spanish, Italian, and German (and Sanscrit) languages, which are 

 also current in the Orient in the case of the lingua franca; although this has 

 been disregarded by the English in India, and has thus given rise to endless 

 mispi'onnnciations of the geographical names of that; country. The question 

 now before us is whether we are to repeat this blunder in our new possessions 

 instead of adopting the sensible expedient of the New England missionaries 

 above referred to, thus gradually working toward a popular understanding of 

 phonetic spelling. We might then hope to get rid, by degrees, of the present 

 orthography (or rather kakography) of the English language. Those who fondly 

 hope to see English become the world-language can hardly expect to realize 

 their dream so long as the present inconsistent spelling is continued; since it 

 not only constitutes an obstacle to the learning of the language b}'' foreigners, 

 but wastes an enormous amount of precious time in our schools in spelling exer- 

 cises whose intrinsic educational value is about equaled by that of the inter- 

 conversion of mediseval weiglits, measures, and coins that so long constituted a 

 favorite and long-protracted theme in our school arithmetics. 



With the necessity of more language study in our schools, in order to conform 

 to the requirements of the new territorial acquisitions and of Pan-American 

 commerce as well, our people will soon use their practical common sense with 

 good effect upon these questions, and will find that what has been possible in 

 California and Hawaii can as well be done by the nation as a whole, even if our 

 British brethren should persist in further mutilating the geographical names of 

 their possessions. I trust that whether in the future we write and say Porto 

 Rico (Portuguese) or Puerto Rico (Spanish), the policy of the Geographic Board 

 to conserve to the utmost extent possible the native pronunciation and spelling 

 of names will be maintained as the only means of avoiding the most dismal and 

 discreditable medley on our maps and in our official documents, and the indefi- 

 nite uggnivation of the evil which uiii)rogressive jingoism, whether English or 

 Ann'iicaii, wduld impose u[)iiii (jurselve.s, and especially upon jiosterity. 



E. W. HlLGAKD. 



Univerailij of Califoinla. 



PUERTO RICO, NOT PORTO RICO 



The controversy over the name of this island h;is been brought to a highlv 

 Hatisfa(;tory tercninati(jn by tlie Presidcntof the United States, wiio has decided 

 that tlieolficial spellingshall be I'nrrin i;i((),oii llie ground that that is the form 

 in use " by the peo|)le of the island tlicnisclvcs." This decision was rendered 

 in response to a letter acMrcfsed to the I'rcsident by the Chainuan of tiie V. S. 

 Board on (ieograjdiic Names, in wliich reference was madti to (he end)arras8- 

 ment arising from tiie non-uniformity of spelling prevailing in the executive 



