Richard Bartholdt

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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—take words that everybody would know and use them in Esperanto (6) . ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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—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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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.
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 ”

“ 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 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 addition to the U. E. 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.
(4) 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. ”

“ 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.
(10) 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. ”

“ 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; (2) 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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.
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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The biggest ink firm in the world—the Stephens Blue Ink Co., in London—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 & 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. ”

“ 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—say, in Portugal, Russia, Japan, Spain, Belgium, Holland, or China, etc.—I look up the place nearest to the district from which I want that information and find the address of the Esperanto center there. ”

“ 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.
A growing number of Esperantists all over the world are using the services of the U. E. 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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—that every noun ends with "o," every adjective with "a," every derived adverb with "e," and every infinitive with "i."
Mr. Towner. How would you carry that to proper names?
Prof. Christen. 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.
Mr. Towner. What about 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. ”

“ A hopeful sign of progress is that many international organizations have already declared in favor of Esperanto for their future meetings.
(2) The impossibility of ever making any national language international will at once become clear if we imagine the whole youth of 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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.
Mr. Towner. And we never could learn these irregularities and exceptions. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MISSOURI.
Mr. Bartholdt. 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. ”