In Dealing With The Problem Of The Introduction Of An International
Language, We Are Met On The Threshold By Two Main Questions:
1. The Question Of Principle.
2. The Question Of Practice.
By The Question Of Principle Is Meant, Is It Desirable To Have A
Universal Language? Do We Wish For One? In Short, Is There A Demand?
The Question Of Practice Includes The Inquiries, Is Such A Language
Possible? Is It Easy? Would Its Introduction Be Fraught With Prohibitive
Difficulties? And The Like.
It Is Clear That, However Possible Or Easy It May Be To Do A Thing,
There Is No Case For Doing It Unless It Is Wanted; Therefore The
Question Of Principle Must Be Taken First. In The Case Before Us
The Question Of Principle Involves Many Considerations--Aesthetic,
Political, Social, Even Religious. These Will Be Glanced At In Their
Proper Place; But For Our Present Purpose They Are All Subordinate
To The One Great Paramount Consideration--The Economic One. In The
World Of Affairs Experience Shows That, Given A Demand Of Any Kind
Whatever, As Between An Economical Method Of Supplying That Demand And A
Non-Economical Method, In The Long Run The Economical Method Will Surely
Prevail.
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