a fairly large and highly enthusiastic body of followers; 2.

that it can
satisfactorily serve all the purposes of a spoken and written. language,
even to the point of producing its own body of original literature and
poetry; 3. that it can draw the interest and attention of governments;
4. that i t can .draw the interest and attention of outsiders, to the pr
1
int
where there are few who have not heard of it, and don't equate its name
with the concept of "international language". That language is Esperanto.
Without being in the least fanatical; without at all saying that it
must be Esperanto or nothing; without excluding the possibility of
another choice, and my own graceful acceptance of that choice; with the
full realization that, although based on long years of study of the prob-
lem, mine is only a personal reaction, and one that I would not at all
care to force down anybody else's throat; I must nevertheless come to
the conclusion that Esperanto seems to me the most logical, though by no
means the only possible, candidate for the post of international tongue.
* * * * * * * *
I believe that the survival of the human race is the most important
problem of the day; that this survival is possible only if we are able to
organize ourselves soon, now, into a democratic limited federation of the
nations of the world .. that a democratic United Nations is possible only
if the PEOPLE C.AN TALK WITH EACH OTHER.
Some people insist that English is or is rapidly becoming the common
second language for the world. It is probably true that .En.glish is the
most popular f oreign language taught in the non-.En.glish speaking world
today. Several forces are operating to bring this about. The whole world
wants access to the scientific information of the western world, much of
which is tobe found in English ... And our own country is currently spend-
ing millions to teach English in foreign lands ..
I think there is no more chance of getting the two giant Communist
nations to accept the use of English as the one official language of the
United Nations, than there is to get the English speaking nations to ac-
cept Russian or Chinese for that purpose. National pride just wouldn't
take i t ...
But the Russians, the Chinese, the English speaking and all the other
peoples of the world could compromise on a neutral language. We could . all
accept Esperanto without loss of national pride and honor. Moreover, and
Esperanto has many positive advantages over all the national
languages, including English ...
Critics say that they fear that the Chinese and Japanese and all the
other nonwestern Europeans will not accept it ... Let the Chinese and Japan-
ese decide about that . They realize better than anyone else that their
own languages have been taking much time and effort out of the lives
of their youth; so much time just to learn to speak, read and write that
not enough time is left for other things; and they find that Esperanto
takes much less time to learn than English and Russian. Consequently two
of the most active Esperanto movements in the world are to be found in
Japan and Communist China .
I do not say that Esperanto will bring peace ... The only hope . is the
continual and patient consideration and settlement by discussion and reas-
onable compromise on the world's problems; that the psssession and use of
a common second language is absolutely necessary ... and that the best hope
for such a common, second language for the world is Esperanto.
(Mr. Glenn P. Turner, Route 2, Middletown, Wisconsin)