and pretense, and the spirit of fair play, that ar even more admirable caracteristics of the race.
It seeks by the moderateness of its recommendations to disarm antagonism; by getting some of the simpler spellings into wider use, to demonstrate their reasonableness; to accustom the public to the idea that there is nothing sacrosanct about the spelling of any word; and so to open the way to a more general and sistematic advance.
Policy of the Board
The policy adopted by the Board in making its recommendations is fully set forth in Part 1, pp. 16 - 20, and in Part 3, pp. 2-4. Briefly, it is to follow the simpler rather than the more complex of the existing analogies, to drop silent letters whenever practicable, and to propose no changes—even for the sake of immediate advantage—that violate establisht fonetic principles, and so would impede direct progress toward the goal of a practically fonetic notation of the sounds of English speech.
Illustrations of Policy
For example, the convention that e final silent after a single consonant indicates that the preceding vowel is "long," is common in English spelling. To adopt it as a general rule would shorten the spelling of many words in accordance with prevailing analogies, and in particular would abolish the disturbing gh(formerly pronounst) in words like fight, light, night, etc., by spelling them fite, lite, nite, etc. Unfortunately, this convention is unfonetic and, tho practically convenient, is sientifically awkward. The Board recognizes it, by recommending that e final be dropt in words like ac-
