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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Esperanto: Hearings before the Committee on
Education, by Richard Bartholdt and A. Christen

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Title: Esperanto: Hearings before the Committee on Education

Author: Richard Bartholdt and A. Christen

Release Date: August 4, 2005 [EBook #16432]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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</pre>


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<center>
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      <tr>
         <td class="plejgrande" style="font-weight: bold">
            ESPERANTO
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<center style="margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em">
   <p class="plejgrande">HEARINGS</p>
   <p class="malpligrande">BEFORE THE</p>
   <p class="plejgrande">COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION</p>
</center>

<p align="center">
   <span class="pligrande">HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES</span>
   <br>
   <span class="mezgrande">SIXTY-THIRD CONGRESS</span>
   <br>
   <span class="malpligrande majusklete">Second Session</span>
</p>

<p align="center" class="malpligrande">
   ON
</p>

<p align="center">
   <span class="plejgrande">H. RES. 415</span>
   <br>
   <span class="mezgrande">A RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR THE STUDY OF ESPERANTO</span>
   <br>
   <span class="mezgrande">AS AN AUXILIARY LANGUAGE</span>
</p>

<hr align="center" width="8%">

<p align="center">
   <span class="malpligrande">STATEMENTS OF</span>
   <br>
   <span class="pligrande">HON. RICHARD BARTHOLDT</span>
   <br>
   <span class="malpligrande majusklete">A Representative from the State of Missouri</span>
   <br>
   <span class="malpligrande">AND</span>
   <br>
   <span class="pligrande">PROF. A. CHRISTEN</span>
</p>

<center>
   <hr align="center" width="8%" style="margin-bottom: 4px">
   <span class="mezgrande">MARCH 17, 1914</span>
   <hr align="center" width="8%" style="margin-top: 4px">
</center>

<p align="center" class="malpligrande">
   WASHINGTON
   <br>
   GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
   <br>
   1914
</p>

<!-- File: 002.png -->

<center style="margin-top: 4em; margin-bottom: 4em">

   <p align="center">
      COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION.
   </p>

   <p align="center" class="majusklete">
      House of Representatives, Sixty-third Congress.
   </p>

   <table border="0" cellspacing="8" cellpadding="0" summary="">
      <tr>
         <td nowrap align="center" valign="middle" colspan="2">
            DUDLEY M. HUGHES, Georgia, <i>Chairman</i>.
         </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
         <td nowrap align="left" valign="middle" width="50%">
            WILLIAM W. RUCKER, Missouri.
            <br>
            ROBERT L. DOUGHTON, North Carolina.
            <br>
            JOHN W. ABERCROMBIE, Alabama.
            <br>
            J. THOMPSON BAKER, New Jersey.
            <br>
            JOHN R. CLANCY, New York.
            <br>
            THOMAS C. THACHER, Massachusetts.
            <br>
            STEPHEN A. HOXWORTH, Illinois.
         </td>
         <td nowrap align="left" valign="middle" width="50%">
            JAMES F. BURKE, Pennsylvania.
            <br>
            CALEB POWERS, Kentucky.
            <br>
            HORACE M. TOWNER, Iowa.
            <br>
            EDMUND PLATT, New York.
            <br>
            ALLEN T. TREADWAY, Massachusetts.
            <br>
            SIMEON D. FESS, Ohio.
            <br>
            ARTHUR R. RUPLEY, Pennsylvania.
         </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
         <td nowrap align="center" valign="middle" colspan="2">
            <span class="majusklete">James L. Fort</span>, <i>Clerk</i>.
         </td>
      </tr>
   </table>

</center>

<!-- File: 003.png -->

<p align="center" class="pligrande">
   ESPERANTO.
</p>

<hr align="center" width="8%">

<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" summary="">
   <tr>
      <td width="45%">
         &nbsp;
      </td>
      <td>
         <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" summary="">
            <tr>
               <td class="majusklete" nowrap align="left" valign="middle" colspan="3">
                  House of Representatives,
               </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td>
                  &nbsp;
               </td>
               <td class="majusklete" nowrap align="left" valign="middle" colspan="2">
                  Committee on Education,
               </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td width="20%">
                  &nbsp;
               </td>
               <td width="20%">
                  &nbsp;
               </td>
               <td nowrap align="left" valign="middle">
                  <i>Tuesday, March 17, 1914</i>
               </td>
            </tr>
         </table>
      </td>
   </tr>
</table>

<p>
   The committee this day met, Hon. Dudley M. Hughes (chairman)
   presiding.
</p>

<p class="partotitolo">
   STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD BARTHOLDT,
   <br>
   A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MISSOURI.
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Bartholdt.</span> Mr. Chairman and
   gentlemen, I do not wish to occupy your time, for the reason that I
   can be here almost any time, while Prof. Christen has made a special
   trip from New York for this purpose, and I should like to give him
   all the time you can afford to devote to this bill.
</p>

<p>
   I merely wish to say, in explanation, that I have not, as you
   will notice, introduced this bill by request; I have assumed
   responsibility for it personally because I thoroughly believe in
   it. I first introduced the bill in the shape of a request to the
   Committee on Education to investigate the subject; that is, as to
   the practicability and advisability of introducing Esperanto as
   an auxiliary language in the public schools. That resolution was
   referred to the Committee on Rules and, of course, I could not get
   any action in that committee, and for that reason I introduced the
   bill in its present form, which merely provides that Esperanto be
   taught as a part of the course of study in the schools of Washington,
   this being the only jurisdiction we have in the matter of education.
</p>

<p>
   We Americans are known the world over as being deficient in the
   knowledge of languages. I think we might as well admit that. While
   every other nation is teaching two or three languages in its schools
   we have failed to do so, and yet the requirements of international
   trade and commerce make it absolutely essential that our young men
   should be taught at least one language or two languages besides their
   own. Now, this being the case and Esperanto now being taken up by
   nearly all the civilized countries as an auxiliary language, how easy
   it would be for us, instead of compelling our children in the schools
   to learn Spanish, French, and German, to simply take one lesson a
   week in Esperanto and thereby enable this nation to correspond and
   communicate in a common language with all the other nations of the
   world.
</p>

<p>
   The <span class="majusklete">Chairman.</span> Your idea would be that
   the various nations would understand Esperanto, and that whenever
   they would use that language all would understand and comprehend it?
   Is that your idea?
</p>

<!-- File: 004.png -->

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Bartholdt.</span> Yes. I want to say
   that there is a movement on foot in nearly every civilized country
   to make Esperanto a part of the course of study in the schools. If
   that were carried out, each country would learn its own language and
   Esperanto, in England English and Esperanto, and so on, so that the
   international language would really be Esperanto. As one who has
   studied languages to some extent I can feel the shortcomings and
   handicaps of a man who, for instance, having studied French for some
   time, comes to Paris. The very moment you open your mouth the people
   will notice that you are "a foreigner," no matter how well you speak
   French, so that the other man, the native, has a certain advantage
   over you. But if that Frenchman were obliged to speak Esperanto with
   you then you would be on a common level and neither would have an
   advantage over the other. I have read in several of the Esperanto
   newspapers that, for instance, in England the great manufacturing
   establishments are now printing their catalogues and price lists in
   Esperanto, and that other publications are sent all over the world
   printed in that language, in matters of trade and commerce. So you
   can see it is coming. And since we have not overcrowded the minds of
   our children with languages as yet, I think it would be advisable and
   profitable for us to start with Esperanto.
</p>

<p>
   I want to add that it is a very easy language. I have learned it in
   four lessons. Of course I have not had the time to keep it up, and
   you must keep in practice.
</p>

<p>
   The <span class="majusklete">Chairman.</span> Does Esperanto partake
   more of the Spanish language?
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Bartholdt.</span> No. For an English
   speaking person it is very easy to learn, because it is composed of
   words taken from the English language, some from the German language,
   and some from the Latin. But the whole construction of the language
   is so remarkably simple, that you will wonder why it is that a
   universal language of that kind has not been introduced before for
   the use of civilized men.
</p>

<p>
   That is all I wish to say, gentlemen, and I take pleasure in
   introducing Prof. Christen, of New York, to you, whom I regard as one
   of the greatest living experts in that language and a missionary for
   Esperanto.
</p>

<p class="partotitolo">
   STATEMENT OF PROF. A. CHRISTEN,
   <br>
   46 MANHATTAN AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY.
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Mr. Chairman and
   gentlemen, this is quite a novel experience to me. I do not even
   know how these hearings are carried on, but I am entirely at your
   disposal and shall be very glad to answer questions. If I had my
   own way I would like to speak for at least an hour and a half
   or two hours, but I understand that you can not give me so much
   time. Therefore, it will be rather difficult to put in all the
   information I would like to lay before you. I should like to tell
   you something about the absurd and ridiculous linguistic chaos to
   which the world has been brought through those great agencies of
   progress which have now practically abolished distance and brought
   the ends of the earth nearer to each other than were the opposite
   frontiers of the smallest kingdom 400 years
   ago;&nbsp;(<a id="xxx1" href="#yyy1">1</a>)<sup>1</sup> then about
   the advisability, nay, the absolute necessity of an international

<!-- File: 005.png -->

   language; how various attempts have been made to meet this growing
   demand for a special international language, not for home consumption
   but only for intercourse with all other nations, and why this one
   is, in my opinion and in that of many wiser men, bound to succeed,
   and that is because it absolutely fills the bill and is fool-proof;
   as a scientific and at the same time practical scheme, it can not
   be improved upon. Next, I should like to speak about the reason
   why neither English, nor any other living language, can ever
   become international. No living language can become international
   because they are all too difficult, too complicated, and not
   neutral;&nbsp;(<a id="xxx2" href="#yyy2">2</a>) and then, perhaps,
   I ought to give you a few outlines of the construction of Esperanto
   to show you why it is so easy, how it meets all the requirements of
   the case, and is going to succeed. However, I do not suppose I shall
   be able to do all of this, and, therefore, will merely take a few
   points.
</p>

<p class="piednoto">
   <sup>1</sup>See <a href="#additionalmatter">additions</a> to verbatim
   report of hearing.
</p>

<p>
   Dr. Bartholdt has mentioned to you the movement that is already
   in existence for Esperanto. Here is the official yearbook of the
   Universala Esperanto-Asocio&nbsp;(<a id="xxx3" href="#yyy3">3</a>),
   the best-organized international society that the movement has yet
   produced. This society is called the Universal Esperanto Association.
   It is not a propaganda society, but purely a commercial league for
   the coordained use of the language, not merely for the spread of it,
   but for its practical use among those who have already learned it.
   This association has 698 branches throughout the world, and is in its
   sixth year. Here is a map showing the places in which the society is
   represented, and to-day, if I want any information on any industrial,
   commercial, educational, scientific, or any other matter&mdash;say,
   in Portugal, Russia, Japan, Spain, Belgium, Holland, or China,
   etc.&mdash;I look up the place nearest to the district from which I
   want that information and find the address of the Esperanto center
   there. Then I write to the delegate and ask for the information in
   Esperanto, and no matter what language he speaks at home I will get a
   reply in Esperanto, and he will take any amount of trouble to satisfy
   my demands. This society has done a remarkable amount of excellent
   work in the last five years, and Esperanto is more and more used for
   all practical international purposes.
</p>

<p>
   Now, Dr. Bartholdt told you about many commercial houses in different
   countries already using Esperanto practically, that is to say,
   actually using it for their business purposes internationally,
   printing their circulars, price lists, catalogues, and so on, in
   Esperanto, and using it for correspondence.
</p>

<p>
   I am reminded that seven years ago, in the north of Scotland, I saw
   a communication to a Scotch railroad company from a French railroad
   company written in English, but across the communication there were
   stamped the words, "We correspond in Esperanto." And that was six or
   seven years ago, and since that time Esperanto has made very great
   strides.
</p>

<p>
   I have here a number of trade catalogues in Esperanto, and you will
   see from the nature of them that they are really very elaborate
   things and on which these firms have spent a great deal of money,
   which they would not do if they did not think the thing was actually
   paying. I have only about 40 such samples here because I can not
   carry them all about with me. For instance, here is a very elaborate,
   costly, and handsome catalogue from the biggest firm of photographic
   instrument makers in Germany, and, I believe, in the world.
</p>

<!-- File: 006.png -->

<p>
   Here is a pamphlet issued by the Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles,
   a very attractive pamphlet. That was published in order to attract
   European immigration to that portion of California, and that same
   chamber of commerce has made large use of Esperanto for that purpose.
   Two years ago they sent a man to lecture all over Europe and in some
   parts of Asia on the attractions of California. That lecturer visited
   27 different countries; he lectured in 120 different towns during 18
   months and every one of his lectures was given in Esperanto, and in
   several places he was obliged to give his lecture two or three times,
   because the crowds that came were so large that it was impossible
   for everybody who desired to hear the lecture to get in at the same
   time. There were large numbers of people in every place who actually
   understood him; all did not understand him, but a large number did
   in every town. For instance, in Paris and Barcelona there are many
   thousands who understand Esperanto. Here is another German firm in
   Berlin. Here is a bookseller in Paris issuing a catalogue entirely in
   Esperanto. Here is a leaflet about the Panama Exposition published in
   Esperanto. Here is the town of Baden, a watering place near Vienna.
   They publish a guide of their town in Esperanto. Here is a catalogue
   issued by the Oliver Typewriter Co. printed in Esperanto. Cook's
   famous touring agency has used Esperanto for the last seven years.
   Here is a Scotch tea firm publishing a circular in Esperanto. Here
   is a bicycle-saddle maker in Germany using Esperanto for publicity.
   Here is a Berlin taximeter catalogue in Esperanto. Two years ago
   there was held in Leipsic the greatest hygienic exposition ever
   held anywhere. It was the most successful of its kind up to date,
   and hundreds of thousands of people attended from all over the
   world. In that exposition Esperanto was used to a great extent and
   the exhibition authorities published a guide to the exposition in
   Esperanto. Here is a railroad company that uses Esperanto. A great
   many railroad companies in Europe already use it. They issue regional
   guides to the most attractive parts of their districts in Esperanto.
   Here is a Paris automobile company with a circular in Esperanto.
   Here is the biggest iron works in England, the Consett Iron Co., of
   Durham, a firm that employs 30,000 hands, and that firm publishes its
   catalogues and price lists in Esperanto. This is only one of their
   Esperanto publications.
</p>

<p>
   Here is a circular issued by a Paris department store. All the
   big department stores of Paris not only use Esperanto in their
   publications, but actually have interpreters for Esperanto in their
   stores. The biggest ink firm in the world&mdash;the Stephens Blue
   Ink Co., in London&mdash;use this language for their correspondence.
   About six years ago they began to use Esperanto and published their
   advertisements and their circulars for foreign trade entirely in
   Esperanto. The town of Antwerp publishes an illustrated guide of the
   town in Esperanto. Here is a very big Anglo-American firm of medical
   supplies, Burroughs, Wellcome &amp; Co., and they use Esperanto in
   many of their circulars. The Government of Brazil three years ago
   sent a man to lecture in Europe as to the attractions of Brazil. That
   man lectured in Paris to an audience of 3,000 people entirely in
   Esperanto, and the Government published his lecture in that language.
   Here is a curious document. This was issued by the anti-alcohol
   congress in Italy last year, and you will notice that Esperanto

<!-- File: 007.png -->

   is used, and that it is recommended as the only remedy against the
   language trouble which entirely hampered the deliberations of this
   congress, as it does all international conventions of every kind. I
   will hand this to Mrs. Crafts, because she will be able to tell you
   more about it, since she was there.
</p>

<p>
   That is the commercial side of it, and these are only a very few
   samples of the actual and practical use being made of Esperanto
   in this one alone. I could produce, no doubt, a great many more
   such examples, but I can not carry them all about with me. Here
   are some 60 to 70 guide leaflets published by so many different
   towns in France, in Italy, in Austria, in Germany, in England, and
   in several other countries&mdash;leaflets printed in Esperanto for
   the use of foreigners and tourists. They give them information in
   Esperanto about the various things they might first need to know
   on arriving at those cities. For instance, here is Milan, Italy,
   and Poitiers, France, and Insbruck. Austria, and Tavia, Italy, and
   Davos, Switzerland, and so on. In the same line here are 20 more
   elaborate guidebooks to various towns in Europe, published entirely
   in Esperanto by the local authorities. Of course, you will not have
   the time to look at all these things just now, but I will leave them
   with you. Then, again, I think I can safely say that there are over
   100 periodicals published in Esperanto in different countries.
</p>

<p>
   Esperanto is making very rapid progress in Japan and China; for
   instance, I have here an excellent Esperanto paper published by a
   native society in Japan.
</p>

<p>
   The <span class="majusklete">Chairman.</span> In what nation is it
   progressing most rapidly?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> That is difficult
   to say, but seven years ago France was at the head, and Germany
   did not take it up for a long time. Then about five or six years
   ago England shot ahead of France, and then suddenly Germany took
   it up, and now I think Germany is ahead of all the other countries
   in the practical use of Esperanto. But it is making good progress
   everywhere&mdash;in France, in England, in Denmark, in Bulgaria,
   in Spain, in South America, in Germany, in India, in China, and in
   Japan. In Germany the authorities and scientific people have very
   strongly espoused Esperanto. For instance, the Government of Saxony
   sustains financially an Esperanto institute in Dresden, and that does
   a great deal of good work. The Government of Saxony is also a large
   contributor to an Esperanto library, which is the biggest in the
   world, as yet. And in many towns in Spain, in Germany, and in France,
   especially in France, whenever an Esperanto lecturer goes into a town
   he gets a stipend from the town; the town pays out of the city funds
   the expenses of his propaganda, or partly pays them; they contribute
   50 or 100 francs, and frequently more, according to the size of the
   place. That is the practice in many places in other countries besides
   France, but especially in France. Even the Russian Government gives
   financial aid to Esperanto propaganda.
</p>

<p>
   The <span class="majusklete">Chairman.</span> As I understand it,
   this is not supposed to be a universal language?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> No; an international
   language.
</p>

<p>
   The <span class="majusklete">Chairman.</span> But at the same time it
   is a language in which all the universe can meet upon a common plane
   and converse?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> That is the
   intention, to give the whole of the civilized world one and the same
   secondary language.
</p>

<!-- File: 008.png -->

<p>
   The <span class="majusklete">Chairman.</span> In which they can all
   meet on a common plane?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Yes; no matter where
   you may go, if you know Esperanto, you shall not be a foreigner
   anywhere. The intention is to do away with this terrible handicap
   of being unable to converse with your fellow men of the various
   countries you may visit unless you learn all or most of those
   languages, a thing which, as you know, is in most cases quite
   impossible. It is the intention to have all the nations understand
   Esperanto, and by that means make it possible for all the peoples
   of the world to commune directly with each other. The time has come
   in the world's history when a common vehicle of human expression
   is absolutely necessary, and the barrier of Babel must fall, as
   mostly all other obstacles to free intercourse have already fallen,
   before the triumphant advance of modern science and technology.
   It is positively fatuous and futile to ask the modern man, be he
   in commerce or science or what not, to become an expert in his
   particular line of endeavor and a polyglot besides. It can not
   be done. Languages are too many and each one too complicated for
   our crowded curricula. The obligatory study of foreign languages
   belongs to a remote past when there existed no sciences and no
   industrial arts, when life was less crowded and when there were
   fewer world languages. Even less than a hundred years ago a man was
   an accomplished cosmopolitan if he knew French and his own mother
   tongue. To-day he wants and ought to be conversant with French,
   German, and Spanish, at the very least, besides English, and before
   long he will have to tackle Russian and Japanese. As a matter of fact
   in some of the European countries and in South America the school
   children actually spend from 35 to 60 per cent of the school time in
   acquiring that sort of an education, which is really not education at
   all but only a means to an end.
</p>

<p>
   The <span class="majusklete">Chairman.</span> What progress has
   Esperanto made in the United States?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> In this matter the
   United States is behind all other progressive countries. There have
   been many sporadic efforts made and there are Esperanto groups in
   different places from New York and Boston to Chicago, San Francisco,
   Seattle, Portland, Tacoma, etc., but as a national movement it is not
   what it should be, and the difficulty is, to far as I can make it
   out, the enormous size of the country. It is difficult for a society,
   without very large funds, to carry on an effective propaganda all
   over the country.
</p>

<p>
   Then another difficulty is that Americans are not generally very much
   given to what I should call ethical ideas of this kind, that offer no
   immediate and sudden cash returns, until they really become a craze
   or until a certain class, perhaps, takes them
   up.&nbsp;(<a id="xxx4" href="#yyy4">4</a>) Let us not forget also
   that the American people are not so much in touch with the language
   difficulty as are other countries, and they do not yet appreciate the
   enormous use that Esperanto will be to them, for, in my opinion, no
   white people will benefit more from Esperanto than will the American
   people, chiefly because like all English-speaking nations they are
   very poor linguists. Then it is becoming more and more acknowledged
   among educational people that the English language is the only
   language that can not be taught. It is well known that if you put
   educated people from different countries together the Anglo-Saxon
   will invariably be the one who understands his own language least.
   That is due to the peculiar construction of the English language.
</p>

<!-- File: 009.png -->

<p>
   However, Esperanto would not be difficult for the American people
   because it is so scientific, so logical, and entirely free of all
   irregularities. Prof. Mayer, of the University of Oxford, learned
   Esperanto in his seventy-ninth year. I heard him make a speech in the
   language about six or seven days after he took it up, and he declared
   that Esperanto ought to be introduced into the educational system of
   the country. He was professor of the Latin language at the Oxford
   University. He declared Esperanto ought to be introduced into the
   schools, into the kindergartens, where children of 5 years of age
   should begin with Esperanto, and I hold with him, because if children
   were to learn Esperanto it would be of help to them in their English.
   It is extremely easy to learn and can be learned in a very pleasant
   fashion, because it is so scientific and so
   simple.&nbsp;(<a id="xxx5" href="#yyy5">5</a>)
</p>

<p>
   If children understood Esperanto, they would understand English
   better, and much of the time we waste in trying to teach them
   English would be profitably spent, for they would have something
   to go upon, something to compare English with, and that something
   so scientific and so logical as Esperanto. Take, for instance,
   analysis. I will not say it is difficult but I will say it is
   impossible to analyze an English word, because every word can be so
   many things. It can generally be an adjective, a noun, a verb, a
   preposition, a conjunction, and an interjection, that is, the same
   word, without any structural change, so that it is difficult for a
   child to discriminate and label the word. Take the word "benefited."
   That might be used in the past tense (I benefited), or as a past
   participle: (We may have benefited), and it is impossible for a child
   to sense the difference, and such confusion occurs to a great extent
   with most words in the English language.
</p>

<p>
   I am a teacher of languages and have done nothing all my life but
   study and impart languages. If I had to teach you gentlemen, say,
   French upon the theory that you were going on an important mission
   this day 12 months, and that it was absolutely necessary that you
   should speak French (or any other language that I could impart you)
   by that time, I would say it was impossible for a number of busy men
   to acquire a new language inside one year; that I could not guarantee
   useful results, but that if you would take two months to start with
   for the learning of Esperanto, then I might be able to teach you
   the other language in the rest of the time, because Esperanto is
   the best foundation for learning any language. And, as I say, an
   English-speaking student, be he young or old, knowing Esperanto would
   more easily distinguish the parts of speech in English and possess a
   real and valuable "linguistic feeling" (which he now entirely lacks)
   because of his Esperanto.
</p>

<p>
   The <span class="majusklete">Chairman.</span> Is Esperanto made up of
   the derivatives of the various languages?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> I will explain that,
   if you like, in a very few words. Esperanto is the work of a Polish
   scholar, Dr. Ludovico L. Zamenhof, who started with an inspired mind.
   I should say he was a great genius. He had studied a large number of
   languages, for, as a boy, nay, as a child in the cradle, he spoke
   four languages, because so many different languages were actually
   spoken in his home town. Then at school he learned several more and
   it is due to this polyglotic experience and the evils caused daily
   by Babel in his own circle that as a child, almost, he conceived the
   idea of constructing a language

<!-- File: 010.png -->

   that should at once and for all time put an end to a foolish and
   intolerable situation. He must have been inspired in what he did,
   because he at once hit upon the only possible solution of the thing,
   and he hit upon it without knowing that scores of others, older and
   more learned, had tried the same thing and failed. His first stroke
   of genius was in the composing of his entire vocabulary by borrowing
   all his words from well-known sources. With the true insight of the
   genius he decided that the words of an artificial international
   language must be taken from international sources, and so he first
   of all hit upon the good idea to use first of all those words which
   are already common to most languages, and there are a great many more
   such words than we have dreamed of. He decided that that should be
   the starting point of his world tongue, because everybody would know
   those words to start with. Take the names of animals and produce
   that come from certain parts of the world and carry their names
   with them, such as elephant, tiger, lion, camel, and a great many
   more. Take the rose: the rose is a rose in every language; so an
   orange, a lemon, a nut, and tea, coffee, and tobacco, etc., are
   the same in most languages. They may not be spelled the same or
   pronounced the same, but they are international, and therefore
   they are Esperanto. That was the foundation of the vocabulary in
   Zamenhof's new language&mdash;take words that everybody would know
   and use them in Esperanto&nbsp;(<a id="xxx6" href="#yyy6">6</a>).
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> How do you determine
   those common names?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Well, he formed
   his vocabulary; he selected these words because they were
   international&mdash;to the exclusion of anything else.
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> Well, that was not
   definite; it might be enlarged?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Oh, yes.
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> What was the vocabulary
   that he first issued?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Offhand, I think,
   about 963 words.
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> What is the vocabulary now?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Probably about 3,000
   words. Now, I have dealt with the so-called international words;
   but the bulk of every language consists of what I would call home
   words, which every country has for its own; and the only way to bring
   equivalents for such words into the language was to select them
   from all the principal languages under consideration, which means,
   of course, the European languages and to select these words on the
   principle of greatest internationality&mdash;that is to say, such
   verbs as to come, to do, to write, etc., or the nouns, hand, knife,
   water, table, etc., or adjectives, like good, bad, healthy, etc.
   Before he put these words into his vocabulary, Zamenhof had their
   equivalents in all the European languages before him, and then he
   took from the whole list the root which was the most prominent, the
   root that occurred oftenest, and this became Esperanto, the idea
   being that the words selected should be common to at least four or
   five different languages.
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> You do not mean that,
   do you? You do not mean that the only words you would put into the
   Esperanto vocabulary would be those that might be common to at least
   four or five of the principal languages?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Yes; whenever it is
   possible to find such words, and the words do not conflict with the
   general harmony of the language.
</p>

<!-- File: 011.png -->

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> That is what I thought you meant.
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> The consequence is
   that a language formed on these lines must be a Latin or Romance
   language because Latin gave birth to at least six languages: French,
   Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Roumanian, and English, and besides,
   Latin and French have influenced and enriched the literature and
   languages of every other modern nation. The dictionary of Latin words
   contained, for instance, in Russian or German would be a very large
   volume indeed. It is a fact that all modern attempts at making an
   artificial language, and their name is legion, especially since the
   acknowledged success of Esperanto, are based on Latin. Consequently
   also, the international language must be largely English, because
   mostly those Latin words will be chosen that are common at least to
   French and English. I have lectured to hundreds of English audiences,
   and I have given them numerous examples of Esperanto words in my
   lectures that could be easily understood by everybody. Take the
   words "skribi," to write; "lerni," to learn; "man&#285;i," to eat;
   "trinki," to drink; "tablo," a table; "glaso," a glass; "nazo,"
   the nose, and "bu&#349;o," the mouth; "mano," the hand; take the
   adjectives, bona, bela, granda, kapabla, etc. Few, indeed, are the
   Esperanto words that do not connect at all with the English; in most
   cases, in at least 87 cases out of 100, you will find those words
   connect with one or many English words.
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> You mean that 87 per cent
   of the words now in the Esperanto vocabulary are formative words?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Yes: they are
   connected with the English language, and from each Esperanto word
   you can form mechanically absolutely every word that sense and logic
   can possibly connect with the one and only meaning of the original
   Esperanto word. I am accustomed to lecturing before audiences and
   making this statement, which I make without fear of contradiction,
   that "if all of you were to take up Esperanto now and carry it on
   until you were as expert in it as I am, you would not in the whole of
   your studies come across more than 60 words, probably not more than
   50 words, which are entirely new to you."
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> Of course, a vocabulary
   of 3,000 words is a very limited vocabulary; it is a primitive
   vocabulary?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Yes?
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> How are you going to
   increase it? For instance, how are you going to make it a literary
   language? How are you going to write poems?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Personally I should
   not want an international language for poetry, although Esperanto
   does in fact lend itself excellently to the purposes of the muses.
   But to answer your question: First of all, the Esperanto language
   does not contain any words at all; I think there are only 138
   full-fledged words, prepositions, adverbs, and conjunctions, but the
   rest of the vocabulary is formed of roots only. Let us take the words
   "to sew," "to stitch." The root is "kudr." It is only a root, and
   that alone stands in the vocabulary. Now, if you want to make this
   root into a noun "o" is added to it, "kudro": if you want to make it
   an adjective, you add "a" to it, "kudra"; if you want to make it an
   adverb you add "e," kudre, which would mean by or through sewing,
   "sewingly," if it could be so expressed in English; and if you want
   to make it a verb it would

<!-- File: 012.png -->

   be "kudri," because every infinitive ends in "i." You see, with that
   root to begin with you can form four words, and you can express a
   great deal more in Esperanto than anybody can possibly imagine; in
   fact Esperanto is, on account of its perfect and absolutely complete
   flexibility, more precise and more comprehensive than any language
   under the sun. As I said before, you can form four words from every
   root at the start if sense allows it, and sense allows you a great
   deal more leeway in Esperanto than anybody can possibly know about,
   because in no language are you allowed to proceed by sense. The
   English language does not allow it, nor does any other, not oven
   German or Greek, but it is allowed in this most logical of all
   languages, Esperanto.&nbsp;(<a id="xxx7" href="#yyy7">7</a>)
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> Take the illustration you
   have just used. We say "The sewing is beautiful." and "We find her
   sewing assiduously." Now, we use the same word, but the formation of
   the sentence determines whether or not it is a noun or a verb.
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> You mean the
   distinction between the participle and the noun?
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> Yes.
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> With your permission
   I will not answer that particularly, but will deal with the whole
   subject. I want to say that from every root you form four words, the
   four principal parts of speech. And the first thing to remember is
   this positive stroke of genius&mdash;that every noun ends with "o,"
   every adjective with "a," every derived adverb with "e," and every
   infinitive with "i."
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> How would you carry that
   to proper names?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> London would be
   Londono; Robert is Roberto, but proper names you are at liberty to do
   with as you please; give them the Esperanto ending or leave them in
   the original form.
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> What about Washington?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Washingtono. <!-- [sic] -->
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> I mean, you would really
   change it?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Yes; if you prefer
   it; that is, if it sounds better.
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> In the language?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Yes.
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> For instance, if you were
   speaking about the city of Washington, you would not say Washington,
   but Washingtono? <!-- [sic] -->
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> You will find it
   frequently printed as Washingtono. <!-- [sic] -->
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> Why do you do that,
   because Washingtono <!-- [sic] --> is not the name of the city?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Let me say that you
   say London in English, but that is not French.
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> But we always spell Paris
   the French way, although we do not pronounce it the same way; that
   is, "Paree."
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> But London is not
   London in French; it is "Londres" in French.
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> Do you mean to say that
   if a letter were addressed to London from Paris the Frenchman would
   not pronounce and write it London but Londres?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Yes.
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> He does not say London?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> No, he says Londres.
   And the same is true with Dover; Dover is not French; The French
   would be Douvres. However,

<!-- File: 013.png -->

   I want to say this, that after the first three or four years after
   I took up Esperanto geographical or proper names were left optional
   and they were not given any particular spelling in the Esperanto
   language and are not now. Many Esperantists now would say Washington
   and London. But you can make the change if you want to.
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> Internationally, has not
   that come to be the custom, to pronounce the geographical names and
   proper names in the way they are pronounced in the country in which
   they originate?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> I think so. As I
   said, there is no arbitrary rule about personal names or geographical
   names. Now, let me proceed with this marvelous scheme and repeat that
   every part of speech is distinctive in itself; that is the reason a
   child, when it follows Esperanto, will not find English so hard and
   will understand English better than in any other way. Such a child
   will understand English far better than if it did not understand
   Esperanto, and that is a statement I often make in my lectures.
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Ripley</span>. We had a man here the
   other day who has a language which he claims is an improvement on
   Esperanto.
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Yes?
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Ripley</span>. He is from Ohio, I believe.
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> I know. Since
   Esparanto <!-- [sic] --> began to move forward there have been at
   least 30 to 40 different schemes elaborated, and that is easily done.
   You can do it overnight. But there is no scheme that has ever touched
   and no scheme that can ever touch Esperanto, because it has hit the
   mark from the first.&nbsp;(<a id="xxx8" href="#yyy8">8</a>)
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> What do you do with
   adverbs? Do they have a definite form?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Every derived adverb
   ends in "e."
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> So you could not
   distinguish from the form between a verb and an adverb, could you?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Perfectly. The adverb
   ends in "e" and the infinitive ends in "i."
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Ripley</span>. It is your contention
   that children will do better in English if they acquire a knowledge
   of Esperanto?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Undoubtedly; this is
   a statement I make in my lectures: If you gentlemen will give me a
   number of children aged 4 or 5 years I will give them a quarter of an
   hour's pleasant explanation about grammar, that is Esperanto grammar,
   and they will understand it after a quarter of an hour's explanation;
   then I will jumble together a number of blocks, with various words on
   these blocks, and I will say to these children "pick out every noun,"
   and they will be able to do it&mdash;that is, pick the nouns from the
   adjectives&mdash;and so with every part of speech.
</p>

<p>
   The <span class="majusklete">Chairman.</span> Because they will know
   to a certainty?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Yes; every word
   tells its own tale on account of its distinctive ending. Now, that
   is a thing you can not do in English; that nobody can do in English,
   because we can not tell the parts of speech simply by the appearance
   of the words; we can only know from the context and that is not
   always easy!
</p>

<p>
   The <span class="majusklete">Chairman.</span> How does that apply to
   other languages?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> The same thing
   applies more or less to all, because they are all irregular; they
   were not formed; they have "growd" like Topsy.
</p>

<!-- File: 014.png -->

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> The Latin language is more regular?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Yes: but it does
   not begin to compare with Esperanto. Now, we have had these four
   words, and I want to proceed a little further, and I will take up
   something that will help me to answer your questions. If I had to
   teach you gentlemen French I would have to make you commit to memory
   2,667 endings and contractions for the verb alone; it would take you
   months and months to learn that alone. The same absurdities and even
   worse occur in Italian, in Spanish, in German, in English, and in all
   so-called natural languages.
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> And we never could learn
   these irregularities and exceptions.
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Well, if you
   did learn them you would never remember them at the right time
   because the whole scheme is so complicated. This is only one
   of the many reasons which make us so shy at speaking foreign
   languages. Now, the same thing is true of German, and of all other
   languages, but it is not true of Esperanto. I will teach you the
   whole Esperanto conjugation in five minutes and you will never
   forget it, because there is nothing to remember. You already know
   that a noun ends in "o" and that the infinitive ends in "i," and so
   on: there is absolutely no difficulty
   whatever.&nbsp;(<a id="xxx9" href="#yyy9">9</a>) Now, I am sorry
   I have to speak so rapidly, because I would like to give you more
   information.
</p>

<p>
   The <span class="majusklete">Chairman.</span> We would be glad to
   have you add to your remarks.
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> You can extend your remarks.
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Since my time is up
   and, indeed, far exceeded, I will be very glad to do so. But before
   I leave you, let me read one or two items, which will only take two
   minutes more. Here is a quotation from the British Esperantist, of
   November, 1913, showing the progress Esperanto is making:
</p>

<blockquote>
   The central Esperanto bureau, of Paris, gives the following
   statistics: In 1889, there had been published 29 books in Esperanto;
   in 1899, 128; in 1910, 1,554; in 1912 (to August 30), 1,837. Enough
   already to keep most readers going for full five years of Sundays,
   and the output, both of bookshop and of press, is increasing daily.
</blockquote>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Towner.</span> In a general way, what is
   the character of this literature?
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Up to now chiefly
   textbooks for learning Esperanto, such as this little book
   [indicating], which can be purchased for 10 cents. You can learn the
   whole mechanism of the language from one of these little books. Then
   there are a great many other publications, translations, scientific
   articles, etc., and we have already several novels originally written
   in the new language.
</p>

<p>
   Mrs. <span class="majusklete">Crafts.</span> May I say a word right
   here? I hold in my hand the New Testament, published by the British
   and Foreign Bible Society together with the Scotch Bible Society. It
   is a translation from Nestle's Greek Testament, and the Old Testament
   is now being translated by one of the most eminent Hebrew scholars in
   the world.
</p>

<p>
   Prof. <span class="majusklete">Christen.</span> Here is the next
   item, which I would like to read to you:
</p>

<blockquote>
   Evening classes for the study of Esperanto under the auspices of
   the L.&nbsp;C.&nbsp;C. (London county council) are being held at
   the Halstow Road Nonvocational Institute, Greenwich, S.&nbsp;E., on
   Thursday, 7.30-9.30 p.&nbsp;m., and at Bloomfield Road Commercial
   Institute, Plumstead, S.&nbsp;E., on Fridays, 7.20-10.50 p. m.
   Instructor Mr. William H. Dennis, B.&nbsp;D.&nbsp;E.&nbsp;A., 108,
   Eglinton Road, Plumstead, S.&nbsp;E., from whom any information

<!-- File: 015.png -->

   may be obtained. These classes are designed especially to meet the
   requirements of the serious student, beginner or
   advanced.&nbsp;(<a id="xxx10" href="#yyy10">10</a>)
</blockquote>

<p>
   That is from London. Then I have another quotation which I want to
   read from Edinburgh:
</p>

<blockquote>
   The chief constable of Edinburgh has interested himself in Esperanto,
   especially in view of the 1915 congress. The chief constable has
   ordered a copy of "Esperanto For All," to be sent to the 650 members
   of the Edinburgh police force, with a recommendation that the police
   learn the language. A class for policemen is being arranged, for
   which 14 names have been received.
</blockquote>

<p>
   Esperanto classes for policemen have been conducted for several years
   in several towns in Germany, in France, in Spain, etc., and even
   during their hours of duty classes are going on in Esperanto so that
   policemen may learn Esperanto without the loss of their own personal
   time. I thank you, gentlemen, for bearing with me so long.
</p>

<p>
   Mr. <span class="majusklete">Bartholdt.</span> I should like to have
   an opportunity, if possible, at some future time to have you give us
   about 10 or 15 minutes to hear Mrs. Crafts.
</p>

<p>
   The <span class="majusklete">Chairman.</span> We shall be very glad
   indeed to give you that time.
</p>

<p id="additionalmatter" style="margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em">
   (The additional matter submitted by Prof. Christen follows:)
</p>

<p>
   (<a id="yyy1" href="#xxx1">1</a>) We are apt to lose sight of the
   fact that the whole world's business is daily becoming more and
   more internationalized and that what in former centuries was done
   parochially is now more and more done internationally.
</p>

<p>
   The first public international convention ever held took place
   less than 75 years ago; it is a significant fact that this was a
   peace convention. To-day there are over 300 societies: Commercial,
   scientific, religious, sociological, industrial, sporting, etc.,
   organized internationally. During those seventy-odd years over
   2,000 international congresses of one kind or another have actually
   taken place, and now a days not one year passes without several
   scores being added to the total. An incomplete list for 1914 gives
   49 such prospective international gatherings and over one score of
   exhibitions, fairs, and festivals of an international character.
</p>

<p>
   What lamentable and foolish and provoking situation at such
   gatherings is due to the multitude of tongues only those know who
   have wasted time and money in attending them. Usually three or
   more languages are officially accepted and most of the time is
   irretrievably lost in misunderstandings and more or less inadequate
   translations.
</p>

<p>
   Compare with this the nine yearly international Esperanto congresses
   held at Boulogne, Geneva, Cambridge, Dresden, Barcelona, Washington,
   Cracow, Antwerp, and Berne, at which from 800 to 1,500 delegates
   from 20 to 30 different countries spent a week in complete communion
   through this wonderful language. Orations, discussions, sermons,
   concerts, theatrical performances, and general fellowship among the
   members being freely enjoyed by all, and often by individuals who had
   only had a few weeks of acquaintance with the language.
</p>

<p>
   An international language of some sort has become an absolute
   necessity of our new era of universal solidarity.
</p>

<p>
   A hopeful sign of progress is that many international organizations
   have already declared in favor of Esperanto for their future
   meetings.
</p>

<p>
   (<a id="yyy2" href="#xxx2">2</a>) The impossibility of ever making
   any national language international will at once become clear if we
   imagine the whole youth of

<!-- File: 016.png -->

   the United States condemned to become proficient in French or Spanish
   or German. Say we take the easiest of them, Spanish: does anyone
   dream the thing possible? Only an infinitesimal fraction of our young
   people could attain even a smattering, and that at the cost of from
   two to three years' study; and even then it is quite unlikely that
   other nations would adopt the same language. But if they all did this
   impossible thing the Spanish speaking peoples would still have the
   pull on them all because they grow up with the language and have not
   to acquire it artificially.
</p>

<p>
   What holds good for Spanish holds good for even other so called
   natural language, including English, and more with English than any
   other on account of its barbarous spelling and pronunciation.
</p>

<p>
   None of these objections, neither structural nor national, apply to
   Esperanto, which is entirely neutral and ideally simple.
</p>

<p>
   (<a id="yyy3" href="#xxx3">3</a>) The U.&nbsp;E.&nbsp;A. (Universala
   Esperanto Asocio) has its central office at 10 Rue de la Bourse,
   Geneva, Switzerland. Yearly dues 50 cents for private members,
   $2.50 for business firms. These contributions entitle the members
   to use the machinery of the association for the acquisition of
   information&mdash;free of cost, except postage&mdash;on any subject
   whatever (except confidential matters), the only condition being that
   the request be written in Esperanto. A sufficient amount of Esperanto
   for this purpose can be acquired by anyone in a few days, or even
   in a few hours. It is not even necessary to have a teacher, the
   textbooks being very easy to master. In America, if local booksellers
   do not yet stock Esperanto literature, the would-be student may apply
   to Peter Reilly, Esperanto bookseller, 133 North Thirteenth Street,
   Philadelphia, Pa.
</p>

<p>
   A growing number of Esperantists all over the world are using the
   services of the U.&nbsp;E.&nbsp;A., not only in correspondence, but
   actually traveling through many countries for pleasure or profit by
   means of Esperanto alone, and finding everywhere helpful hints and
   congenial surroundings in the local Esperanto groups.
</p>

<p>
   In addition to the U.&nbsp;E.&nbsp;A. there is an international
   Esperanto society for the propaganda of the language; this has
   its world center at 51 Rue de Clichy, Paris, France, and powerful
   national societies in France (240 branches), in England (118
   branches), in Germany (over 250 branches), etc.
</p>

<p>
   (<a id="yyy4" href="#xxx4">4</a>) I should, however, add, in justice
   to the American people, that wherever Esperanto has been brought to
   their notice by press or platform it has been well received. I have
   myself lectured to large and sympathetic audiences in Chautauqua,
   Buffalo, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Washington. Public
   schools, high schools, and universities have frequently opened their
   doors to Esperanto, and in my own case the University of Pennsylvania
   and the University of Columbia have shown their open-mindedness to
   the extent of engaging a paid lecturer for a prolonged course.
</p>

<p>
   So has the Department of Education of the city of New York.
</p>

<p>
   In the Bureau of Standards, Washington, D.&nbsp;C., a considerable
   number of scientists have declared in favor of Esperanto, and are
   adepts of the language.
</p>

<p>
   My experience is that in this country the informed public warmly
   approves of Esperanto and the ideals it stands for, but expects
   the spread of the language to come through the schools. There is
   consequently in this country a special inertia in this matter, in
   spite of

<!-- File: 017.png -->

   approval; this makes organised propaganda extremely difficult in such
   a vast territory.
</p>

<p>
   Accordingly the national organization, the E.&nbsp;A.&nbsp;N.&nbsp;A.
   (Esperanto Association of North America), central offices, Newton
   Center, Mass., has so far had but a checkered and precarious
   existence.
</p>

<p>
   A rival society, the U.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;E.&nbsp;A. (United States
   Esperanto Association) has its headquarters at Shaller, Iowa.
</p>

<p>
   (<a id="yyy5" href="#xxx5">5</a>) If I were asked how Esperanto could
   best be introduced into the schools, I should suggest that a limited
   course of lecture lessons, say, from 6 to 12, to the teachers would
   suffice to give them all that is necessary to enable them to practice
   the language until complete proficiency is attained. In many places
   there is even now a supply of local Esperantists ready to cooperate
   with the schools.
</p>

<p>
   After a month's study any teacher should be able to teach others and
   perfect himself in the process. At that I would teach the language
   only to the pupils in their last year of school; many of them could
   make immediate use of Esperanto on entering business; most of them
   would probably get enough of the language during the last session at
   school to engage them to keep up the practice afterwards according to
   local opportunities.
</p>

<p>
   Please do not judge of this probability by your experience with
   other languages, which most students drop as soon as possible. Their
   endless complications make the study and practice irksome and futile,
   while Esperanto is positively fascinating.
</p>

<p>
   In my opinion two lessons of 45 minutes a week would amply suffice
   to secure practical results never dreamed of in the French, German,
   or Spanish classes. After a very short course of study, the boys and
   girls would get an opportunity to correspond with scholars of their
   own age and station in many lands. There are even now hundreds of
   school boys and girls in France, Germany, Austria, Spain, and even in
   China and Japan eager for such interchange of thoughts by means of
   Esperanto.
</p>

<p>
   The hour or hour and a half spent weekly on this subject would be
   amply repaid by the increased intelligence and linguistic feeling
   of the pupils, and ultimately the subject could be taught with
   great benefit to the whole school, doing away with the necessity of
   ineffectual attempts at teaching foreign languages to all and sundry,
   regardless of taste and capacity.
</p>

<p>
   (<a id="yyy6" href="#xxx6">6</a>) Perhaps a few remarks may be in
   place here to substantiate still more clearly the postulate that
   Esperanto fulfills absolutely the ideal requirement of a language
   that means to be introduced throughout the world as a secondary or
   auxiliary language: Facility of acquirement to all nations.
</p>

<p>
   (a) There is not one difficult sound, such as our th, our obscure
   vowels, the French nasals, the German &auml;, &ouml;, &uuml;, etc.
   The vowels are a, e, i, o, and u. Each has but one sound value, and
   that long and full, approximately as in the phrase: "Pa may we go,
   too?"
</p>

<p>
   (b) The tonic accent, an insuperable difficulty in English, on
   account of its irregularity and elusiveness, is in Esperanto
   invariably on the last vowel but one.
</p>

<p>
   (c) The grammar is reduced to a minimum, the whole mechanism of
   Esperanto being compassed within 16 rules which any one can grasp and
   assimilate inside one hour.
</p>

<!-- File: 018.png -->

<p>
   (d) The vocabulary is extremely small, less than 1,000 roots, mostly
   common to every Aryan tongue, being sufficient for all ordinary
   purposes of language.
</p>

<p>
   This is due to the marvelously ingenious system of word building,
   which enables anyone to derive from a dozen to one hundred and more
   words from every root, there being to this derivation no limit but
   that of common sense.
</p>

<p>
   Of course, the vocabulary for science and technology is considerably
   larger, but equally flexible.
</p>

<p>
   (e) There are no troublesome genders; sex is expressed by the
   insertion of "in" before the "o" ending of nouns, and of course
   only in the case of animate creation. For instance, "viro" is man,
   "virino" woman, "frato" brother, "fratino" sister, "kuzo" male
   cousin, "kuzino" female cousin, etc. And here Esperanto has over
   all other languages not only the signal advantage that there are no
   irregularities, but the far more important advantage that the scheme
   is applicable to all cases. For instance, although we have in English
   from 30 to 40 different ways of forming the feminine such as father,
   mother; brother, sister; uncle, aunt; bull, cow; stallion, mare;
   fox, vixen; etc., yet in most cases we possess no decent or sensible
   way to indicate the sex of the individuals; as, for instance, in
   the cases of teacher, doctor, friend, cousin, neighbor, witness,
   elephant, camel, goat, typist, stenographer, companion, president,
   chairman, etc.
</p>

<p>
   Last, but not least, every word parses itself by its distinctive
   ending.
</p>

<p>
   (<a id="yyy7" href="#xxx7">7</a>) The stupendous flexibility of
   Esperanto will be still better understood if I state here that it
   possesses some 30 particles (prefixes and suffixes), each with a
   definite meaning and each available whenever you want to attach that
   particular meaning to any word.
</p>

<p>
   We have already seen that the suffix "in" expresses the female sex
   whenever it may be desirable to give it expression. So "id" denotes
   the offspring, "il" the tool or instrument, "isto" the profession,
   "ul" the person or individual, "ec" the quality (abstract), "a&#309;"
   the concrete thing, product, or result, "eg" means large, and "et"
   small, etc. Now, let us see how this works out in practice. Bovo is
   bull; bovino, cow; bovido, calf; bova&#309;o, beef; bovidino, female
   calf. And you may say bovego, boveto, bovinego, bovineto, bovidego,
   bovideto, bovidinego, and bovidineto if you wish to add the idea of
   size or smallness to the original or to the derived word.
</p>

<p>
   Again: "Lern" is the root for learning. We first get lerni, to learn;
   lerna, learned; lerne, learnedly; learno, learning. Next, using a few
   of the particles we can make: lernebla, capable of being learned;
   lernema, inclined to learn (studious); lerninda, worth learning;
   lernilo, a text book (a tool); lernisto (a professional learner), a
   student; lernulo, a learned person, a scholar; lerneco, learning in
   the abstract; lerna&#309;o, the matter to be learned (concrete), etc.
   And once more note that what you can do with one root you can do
   with every root in the vocabulary. So that the originally available
   number of words is multiplied ten and hundred fold. Which simply
   means a tremendous saving of labor in learning words and forms and
   yet secures a range of expression and a degree of precision undreamed
   of in any other language.
</p>

<p>
   (<a id="yyy8" href="#xxx8">8</a>) On the possible rivals, past,
   present, or future, to Esperanto see closing remarks.
</p>

<!-- File: 019.png -->

<p>
   (<a id="yyy9" href="#xxx9">9</a>) To complete what I said on the verb
   during the hearing I give here the entire paradigm of the verb in
   Esperanto.
</p>

<p>
   Paroli, to speak; parolanta, speaking; parolata, spoken.
</p>

<p>
   Present, I speak, etc.: Mi parolas, vi parolas, li parolas, &#349;i
   parolas, ni parolas, vi parolas, ili parolas, oni (one) parolas,
   &#285;i (it) parolas.
</p>

<p>
   There a thus only one ending "as" for the present of every verb and
   the same for every person.
</p>

<p>
   In the past the ending is "is": mi parolis, I spoke, etc.
</p>

<p>
   In the future "os" mi parolos, I shall speak, etc. In the conditional
   "us": mi parolus, I should speak, etc. In the subjunctive "u": ke
   mi parolu, that I may or might speak, the tense being sufficiently
   indicated by the antecedent verb.
</p>

<p>
   For the imperative we use the subjunctive without conjunction and
   generally without subject.
</p>

<p>
   The participle has a most ingenious flexbility, <!-- [sic] -->
   it having three forms, anta, inta, onta for the active, and ata,
   ita, ota for the passive; parolanta, speaking now; parolinta, having
   spoken; parolonta, about to be speaking; parolata, being spoken now;
   parolita, spoken formerly; parolota, to be spoken later.
</p>

<p>
   Only practice can reveal the wonderful usefulness of this scheme,
   again, of course, applicable to all verbs.
</p>

<p>
   One interesting sequel is, that as every word can be turned into a
   noun&mdash;if sense demands it&mdash;by simply changing the ending
   into o, we therefore get: parolanto, the present speaker; parolinto,
   the past speaker; parolonto, the future speaker.
</p>

<p>
   Let no one say that such richness and possibility of precision is
   of no importance; many a life's jeopardy has turned on less. Nor
   can it be said that this unlimited capacity of expression makes
   the mechanism of the language cumbersome, for the whole scheme of
   Esperanto can be thoroughly mastered in a few hours.
</p>

<p>
   (<a id="yyy10" href="#xxx10">10</a>) In England Esperanto has been
   on the school rates for several years; any technical or continuation
   school can apply to the board of education for permission to put
   Esperanto on its program. In 1909 it was already thus taught in 33
   centers.
</p>

<p>
   The London Chamber of Commerce holds examinations in Esperanto every
   year, and has done so since 1907. The United Kingdom Association of
   Teachers prepares for the certificate of proficiency in Esperanto.
</p>

<p>
   In the town of Lille, France, Esperanto has been taught in the high
   schools for at least nine years; about 1,500 pupils benefiting yearly
   from this. The same is true of Rio de Janeiro, in Brasil.
</p>

<p>
   In conclusion, I wish to register my opinion as an unbiased
   student of the whole movement for the adoption of an international
   language that Esperanto has nothing to fear from any rival
   scheme&mdash;present, past, or future.
</p>

<p>
   Of upward of 150 different projects that have seen the light since
   the seventeenth century, not one was born with a life worth saving
   but Esperanto; not one has ever attained one-hundredth part the power
   and vogue and vitality that Esperanto has achieved.
</p>

<p>
   One only of all these schemes has ever come prominently before the
   public before Esperanto came into the field, Volap&uuml;k, and this
   failed of its own defects.
</p>

<!-- File: 020.png -->

<p>
   One only among some 20 or 30 imitations of Esperanto, namely, Ido,
   succeeded for a time in creating a diversion in the Esperanto camp.
   If Volap&uuml;k died of its defects, it is permissible to say that
   Ido never lived on account of its numerous authors' everlasting
   chase after theoretical perfection, each one having a different
   opinion&mdash;and changing the same with every wind&mdash;as to what
   constitutes perfection in every one of a thousand features of a human
   language. Accordingly, the Idoists have altered their mock Esperanto
   a hundred times in six years, so that no one has been able to keep
   track of the changes, and the adherents of the secession themselves
   have never been able to learn, speak, and use the language.
</p>

<p>
   During these six years Esperanto has succeeded in establishing itself
   and getting a firm hold in every civilized country from China to Peru
   and from Greenland to Zanzibar, because it is a live and growing
   language, perfect in so far that it is endowed from the start with
   all the power of evolution without the need of any internal changes
   in its wonderfully simple structure.
</p>

<p>
   Here are a few quotations from great thinkers as to the need for an
   auxiliary language:
</p>

<blockquote>
   The diversity of languages is fatal for genius and progress. If
   there were a universal language, we should save a third of life.
   (Leibnitz.)
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
   The interrelationships of the peoples are so great that they most
   certainly need a universal language. (Montesquieu.)
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
   One of the greatest torments of life is the diversity of language.
   (Voltaire.)
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
   What an immeasurable profit it would be for the human race if we were
   able to intercommunicate by means of one language. (Volney.)
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
   It seems to me quite possible&mdash;probable
   even&mdash;than <!-- [sic] -->
   an artificial language to be universally used will be greed upon.
   (Herbert Spencer.)
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
   The learning of many languages fills the memory with words instead of
   facts and thoughts, and this is a vessel which, with every person,
   can only contain certain limited amount of records. Therefore the
   learning of many languages is injudicious, inasmuch as it arouses
   the belief in the possession of dexterity, and, as a matter of
   fact, it lends a kind of delusive importance to social intercourse.
   It is also injurious in that it opposes the acquirement of solid
   knowledge and the intention to win the respect of men in an honest
   way. Finally, it is the ax which is laid at the root of a delicate
   sense of language in our mother tongue, which thereby is incurably
   injured and destroyed. The two nations which have produced the
   greatest stylists, the Greeks and the French, learned no foreign
   languages; but as human intercourse grows more cosmopolitan, and
   as, for instance, a good merchant in London must now be able to
   read and write eight languages, the learning of many tongues has
   certainly become a necessary evil; but which, when finally carried
   to an extreme, will compel mankind to find a remedy, and in some far
   off future there will be a new language used at first as a language
   of commerce, then as a language of intellectual intercourse, then
   for all, as surely as some time or other there will be aviation. Why
   else should philology have studied the laws of language for a whole
   century and have estimated the necessary, the valuable, and the
   successful portion of each separate language? (Nietsche.)
</blockquote>

<p>
   In this connection it may be well to repeat once more that Esperanto
   is only an "auxiliary" language. Nobody dreams of it being a
   "universal language."
</p>

<p class="partotitolo">
   EXAMPLES OF ESPERANTO.
</p>

<p>
   Simpla, fleksebla, belsona, vere internacia en siaj
   elementoj<sup>1</sup>, la lingvo Esperanto prezentas al la mondo
   civilizita la sole veran solvon<sup>2</sup> de lingvo internacia:
   &#265;ar<sup>3</sup>, tre facila por homoj nemulte instruitaj,
   Esperanto estas komprenata sen peno de la personoj bone edukitaj. Mil
   faktoj atestas la meriton praktikan de la nomita lingvo.
</p>

<p class="piednoto">
   <sup>1</sup>"j" has the sound of English "y", as in boy, and is the
   sign for the plural of nouns and adjectives.
</p>

<p class="piednoto">
   <sup>2</sup>"n" is the mark of the accusative or object of the verb.
</p>

<p class="piednoto">
   <sup>3</sup>The diacritic sign ^ occurs on c, g, h, j, s and has the
   force of an h after the first and the last&mdash;ch, sh. &#285; is
   pronounced like English g in George, which g without sign has the
   value of g in good. &#309; is pronounced like s in pleasure, while j
   simple has the sound of y in yes, esp. jes. &#293; occurs rarely and
   is doomed to disappear in favor of k.
</p>

<!-- File: 021.png -->

<p>
   Kaj se vi pre&#285;as, vi ne devas esti kiel la hipokrituloj, kiuj
   volonte staras kaj pre&#285;as en la lernejoj, kaj apud la anguloj
   de la stratetoj; por ke ili estu vidataj de la homoj. Vere, mi diras
   al vi: Ili ricevis sian pagon. Sed se vi pre&#285;as, iru en la
   &#265;ambreton kaj fermu la pordon, kaj pre&#285;u al via patro en la
   ka&#349;ito, kaj via patro, kiu vidas en la ka&#349;iton, rekompencos
   &#285;in al vi publike. Kaj se vi pre&#285;as, vi ne devas multe
   babili, kiel la idolistoj, &#265;ar ili opinias ke &#285;i estos
   akceptata, se ili faras multe da paroloj. Tial vi ne devas simili al
   ili. Via patro scias, kion vi bezonas, anta&#365; ol vi petas lin.
   Tial vi devas pre&#285;i tiamaniere. Patro nia en la &#265;ielo.
   Via nomo estu sanktigata. Via regno venu. Via volo fari&#285;u sur
   la tero, kiel en la &#265;ielo. Nian panon &#265;iutagan donu al ni
   hodia&#365;. Kaj pardonu al ni niajn kulpojn, kiel ni pardonas niajn
   kulpulojn. Kaj ne konduku nin en tenton, sed savu nin de la malbono.
   &#264;ar via estas la regno, kaj la forto, kaj la gloro en eterneco.
   Amen. &#264;ar se vi pardonos al la homoj iliajn kulpojn, tiam via
   &#265;iela patro pardonos anka&#365; al vi. Sed se vi ne pardonos
   al la homoj iliajn kulpojn, tiam via &#265;iela patro anka&#365; ne
   pardonos al vi viajn kulpojn. (La Evangelio Sankta Mateo VI, 5-16.)
</p>








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