er for re at the end of words, the reduction of traveller to trav- eler, and the substitution of z for s wherever phonetically de- manded, as in advertize and cozy.
The trouble with the others was that they were either too uncouth to be adopted without a struggle or likely to cause errors in pronunciation. To the first class belonged tung for tongue, ruf for rough, bail for battle and abuv for above, and to the second such forms as each for catch and troble for trouble. The result was that the whole reform received a set-back: the public dismissed the industrious professors as a pack of dream- ers. Twelve years later the National Education Association re- vived the movement with a proposal that a beginning be made with a very short list of reformed spellings, and nominated the following by way of experiment : tho, altho, thru, thruout, thoro, thoroly, thorofare, program, prolog, catalog, pedagog and deca- log. This scheme of gradual changes was sound in principle, and in a short time at least two of the recommended spellings, program and catalog, were in general use. Then, in 1906, came the organization of the Simplified Spelling Board, with an en- dowment of $15,000 a year from Andrew Carnegie, and a formi- dable membership of pundits. The board at once issued a list of 300 revised spellings, new and old, and in August, 1906, President Roosevelt ordered their adoption by the Government Printing Office. But this unwise effort to hasten matters, com- bined with the buffoonery characteristically thrown about the matter by Roosevelt, served only to raise up enemies, and since then, though it has prudently gone back to more discreet en- deavors and now lays main stress upon the original 12 words of the National. Education Association, the Board has not made a great deal of progress.[1] From time to time it issues impressive lists of newspapers and periodicals that are using some, at least, of its revised spellings and of colleges that have made them optional, but an inspection of these lists shows that very few
- ↑ Its second list was published on January 28, 1908, its third on January 25, 1909, and its fourth on March 24, 1913, and since then there have been several others. But most of its literature is devoted to the 12 words and to certain reformed spellings of Webster, already in general use.
