TO OFFER KNOWLEDGE OF THE AUXILIARY WORLD LANGUAGE THAT BARRIERS TO FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN NATIONS BE REMOVED Av ECDCDAUTn nif ESPERANTO ESPERANTO CLEARING HOUSE OF WORLD LITERATURE AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH REVIEW ESPERANTO ESTAS SIMPLA FACILE LERNEBLA LINGVO POR LA TUTA MONDO Vol. I January, 1953 No. L WANTED: A NEUTRAL WORLD LANGUAGE Since ancient times thinkers and philosophers have dreamed of a time when the curse of Babel could be overcome and all mankind could have one language in common. There always has been a need for such an auxiliary international language, and today, in our fast-moving Twentieth Century, the need has become distressingly urgent. The world, once so awesomely big to the riders of camels and horses, has become a small community in the day of the rocket plane and television. One only needs to sit in as observer on the sessions of the United Nations Assembly, as this writer has done many times, to realize the absurdity, bordering on stupidity, of trying to achieve a better world order with a jangling multiplicity of languages. The United States pays about one-third the cost of the U. N. No better economy could be practiced than this: That our Congress appropriate the money required to send every U. N. dele- gate to next year's Esperanto World Congress at Zagreb. There these delegates would see and hear some two or three thousand delegates from all over the ESPERANTO IS NOT ARTIFICIAL Answering the second question first: Esperanto is not an artificial language! It is basic European (Indo-European) lan- guage, synthesized and remodeled into a scientific simplification of all that is best and usable in all of them. It's root words are recognized by all literate users of any one of the leading European lan- guages; its very simple, sixteen-rule grammar achieves its perfection of sim- plicity by borrowing fragments of logic world intermingling in completely free found amidst the hodge-podge of gram- linguistic harmony, setting a pattern of instant, perfect understanding in one common language. Such a world con- gress is described elsewhere in this issue by our special correspondent at the 1952 Congress in Oslo, Norway. Many persons, when confronted by this problem, ask: "Why not English, or French, or some other national language matical irregularities in various languages. It has welded these pleasing fragments into a completely logical structure throughout. Improving the imperfectly used system of affixes in the various national lan- guages, Esperanto has officially adopted thirty-seven affixes. By use of these affixes, with the basic store of some four thou- sand root words taken from the living for a world common language? They modem languages, and using the already are alive, they have a soul, they are the iarge list of fuuy internationalized words, development of the centuries. Why talk sucri as raclj0> telefono, mikrofono, atomo, of adopting an artificial language, such penicilino, etc., one has' a vocabulary as Esperanto? It has no soul, it is not a greater than Elbert Hubbard or G. B. living language." ' Shaw could muster. ESPERANTO IS SO EASY BECAUSE— The Esperanto grammar has only 16 rules and no exceptions! There are only two cases, nominative arid accusative. There is but one article -— la, irrespec- tive of gender or number. The chief parts of speech have distinctive endings; all nouns end in o, adjectives in a, de- rivative adverbs in e; plural is indicated by j (with the sound of y in yes), verb infinitives by i, and accusative ending by n., Esperanto has no irregular verbs! There is only one conjugation for all verbs, with just 12 endings for all in- flections. Person and number do not change the endings. Compare English and French with their uncounted and irregular endings. Pronunciation is easy.. Esperanto is phonetic; every letter1 has just one sound which never changes. There are no silent letters. The accent is always on the next to last syllable. Each word is pronounced as it is written and all sounds are easily produced. Vocabulary is reduced to a minimum by use of the thirty-seven prefixesi and suffixes, made applicable to most of the wordi-roots. By this device Dr. Zamen- hof enabled a great variety of mean- ings to be conveyed clearly with the least number of words. For example: patro—father; patra—fatherly; patre— paternally; patrino-—mother; bopatrino —motheMndaw; gepatroj—p a r e n t s; patrineco—motherhood. Due to the simplicity and'regularity illustrated above, Esperanto can be learned in a small fraction of the time required for any national idiom. It will serve one throughout the world, instead of being limited to just one language (Continued on page 2) ESPERANTO REVIEW THE NORTH AMERICAN ESPERANTO- REVIEW Official Organ of the ESPERANTO LEAGUE for NORTH AMERICA JAMES D. SAYERS Editor 3801 - 18th Avenue Brooklyn 18, N. Y. Tel. GE. 8-1952 OFFICERS OF ELNA President GILBERT NICKEL 204 Harding Avenue Silviews Del., No. 4 Vice-President JOHN L. LEWINE 52 Riverside Drive New York 4, N. Y. Secretary LOUIS DORMONT 111 East 35th Street Brooklyn 3, N. Y. Tel. BU. 4-0963 Treasurer HOWARD LATHAM Caledonia, N. Y. Financial Secretary KENNETH TOMPKINS Avon, N. Y. Executive Committee WILLIAM G. ADAMS Kingston, Wash. JOHN BOVIT 132 East Broad Street Westfield, N. J. F. R. CARLSON 2116 No. 35th Street Seattle 3, Wash. ARMIN F. DONEIS P. O. Box 105 Pharr, Texas GEORGE G. IGGERS Philander Smith College Little Rock, Ark. ROBERT KARLSON 3150 Atlantic Rd. So. Camden 4, N. J. DAVID B. RICHARDSON Washington, D. C. HELENE WOLFF 2944 Clay Street San Francisco 15, Calif. Mrs. DITTLOF ZETTERLUND 874 - 57th Street Sacramento 16, Calif. (Continued from page 1) territory. Anybody can read and under- stand a simple text in Esperanto by aid of an "Esperanto Key." The student is soon intrigued and finds himself think- ing in Hsperanto at an early stage, i ne mechanics of this language are so simple that nongrammarians and folk of little linguistic ability can use it effectively after some study. Try the following Esperanto phrases: Esperanto estas utila, belsona kaj neutrala internacia lingvo. La officiala komisiono de la Ligo de Nacioj rek- omendis Esperanton. Inteligenta persono lernas la lingvon rapide kaj facile. Oni profitas per la uzo de Esperanto. Lernu Esperanton! For these and many other good rea- sons Esperanto has been endorsed by outstanding international bodies, advO' cated by leading thinkers, and used by individuals and organizations through' out the world. With it they effectually put an end to the linguistic confusion arising out of the diversity of tongues. Esperanto can quickly demolish the Ian' guage barriers fo>r you too! The Esperanto movement has spread to every part of the globe. In many a hamlet and in almost every metropolis one finds ardent groups of Esperantists, Or well-organized societies which pro- claim the merits of Esperanto, conduct Esperanto courses, and aid in its prac- tical world-wide application. There are many such organizations and groups on this continent which will gladly extend to you a welcoming and helping hand. New Organization ~ Completed Now Esperantists in English-speaking North America have a new and vigorous, democratic organization, ESPERANTO LEAGUE for NORTH AMERICA. You will see on the second page the newly elected list of officers. All members re- ceive copies of the new Constitution, which they can amend, or change at will. GET YOUR CHARTER MEMBERSHIP January 10, 1953, is one year from the date of beginning the Esperanto Reor- ganization Committee. During that year it was promised that all who joined the reorganization work and paid the min- imum of $5.00 would receive the special charter membership card. This card, now ready for distribution, will be valid for 1953, and will be a badge of honor for the future years. You may join ELNA for only the $3.00 nominal membership fee and receive the regular membership card for 1953, but we believe you may wish to claim for yourself the Charter Membership card. All who send in their ,*»5.00 dues, specifying that the Charter Membership card is desired, will receive it, if the remittance is ma'led before midnight of January 10, 1953. ucgiimuig wiui uie nisi iiiiurnnio ui 1953, February, we shall add for all members a copy of one of the leading all-Esperanto magazines, thus giving double value throughout 1953. The North American Esperanto Review, official mag- azine of ELNA, will appear at least four times as an 8-page, or larger, publication during the coming year, and each other month when it does not so appear, reg- ular news bulletins, as Informiloj, will go along with the all-Esperanto magazine. Come with us for a greater, livelier, democratic movement by and for Esperan- tists in America! NUR POR ESPERANTISTOJ de Jodoso Per ĉi tiu deklaro, mi devas ne nur informi la malmultajn Esperantistojn de Nord-Ameriko kiuj ĝis nun ne infor- miĝis pri la tielnomata "skismo" en nia Usona-Kanada movado, sed prezenti plej rapide la faktojn por niaj eksterlandaj samideanoj, kaj por esLoniaj varbatoj en nia lando. Ni intencas publikigi nian membro-liston, tial la novaj varbituloj devos esti avertataj kontraii la eblaj mensogoj kiujn ili ricevos de la homo kiu jam faris ege malfeliĉan difekton al nia movado per diktatora aroganteco. Ĉe la 1950-a EANA Kongreso en Letchworth, N. Y., ni klopodis aranĝi paean, interfamilian solvon de la dik- tatora afero per la^pfopono de amendoj al la Konstitucio. La Prezidanto, kiu sklave agas laiivole de la sekretario- redaktoro, devis nomi Konstitucian Komi- taton pro la premado de la kongresa ĉeestantaro. Ni submetis regulajn arnen- dojn tute korekte, laii la leĝo de la ekzistanta Konstitucio. La ŝekretario- redaktoro ne satis ilin car ili estus red- onintaj al la membraro veran estradon de la Asocio. Do, kion fari? Li solvis la problemon por si mem per tre simpla ago: Li rifuzis allasi la amendojn al la voĉdonado de la EANA membraro, sendube car li sciis ke la membraro akceptus la amendojn kaj ke lia dik- tatoreco estus finita. Spite de ĉia klopodo submetigi la aferon al la membraro per demokrata metodo, la sekretario-redaktoro kaj lia "kaptito," la Prezidanto, daiire rifuzas eĉ diskuti la aferon kun tiuj kiuj volas demokratiigi la Asocian elektad-maŝina- ron. Do, ni devis komenci preparojn por reorganizi nian Nord-Amenkan Esperan- to-movadon. E: tiam la arogantaj sekre- tario-redaktoro kaj Prezidanto rifuzis ekkoni la fakton ke estis opozicio al ilia diktatoreco, kredeble pro la espero ke ili povus "preterrajdi la ŝtormon" kaj ankoraŭ sufiĉe facile trompi la grandan parton de la EANA-membraro. Sed ĉe la Sacramento-Kongreso, 1952, ili jam vidis ke la "ŝtormo" kreskas al timige granda uragano. Tre timoplenaj pro la minaco al ilia "ora ovo" (vidu poste!) ili komencis publike ekkoni la opozicion al ilia diktatoreco per kalumniaj elsendaĵoj. (Strange estas ke ili uzas la komunistan taktikon de akuzi aliajn de tio pri kio oni povus akuzi ilian flankon, se ni emus, kiel ili, serioze difekti nian movadon antaii la ne-Esperanta publiko!). La elsendaĵoj rapide kreskiĝas kaj furioziĝas ĝis la kalumnio nun (Novem- bro) kontraii Teo Jung kaj la HEROLDO ESPERANTO REVIEW de ESPERANTO, nur car ili kredis ke ni uzos la HEROLDO'n kiel aldonon al niaj gazefo kaj bultenoj. Ili faris fanfaronplenan financan rap- orton, montrinte elspezon de preskaii $10,000 ($5,000 kiel salajro al la sek- retario-redaktoro!) dum la lasta jaro, kaj, per fantazia rezonado, klopodis montri kreskon. Vere, la 1951-a raporto indikis membraron de 827, sed 1952 montras "proksimume" 800! Dum la pasinta jaro ili montras gajnon de 243 novaj mem- broj, sed havas almenaii 27 malpli of antaŭ unu jaro. Kia fantaziaĵo! Ho, jes, Doktoro Akademiano, vi korektis mian literumon de "delegito"— Dankon!—kaj vi ekvidis la tipografian eraron kiun mi mistrafis inter multmiloj da vortoj, "nekrologio"—vere, kelkaj malnovaj vortaroj donis tiun "i," kaj kial psikologio, filosofio, k. t. p., en la sama kategorio da vortoj ? Vi montras vian streĉan fidelecon al la akademie akceptita vortlisto per via kontraiio al "La Kaiizo." Mi ne emas debati pri la esprimo, car ĝi estis uzata de S-ro Karlson, kaj mi ne volis ŝanĝi lian leteron, sed, mia kara Doktoro, eble via Nord-Europa lingva heredaĵo neas al vi kapablon senti la nuancon da diferenco inter "La Movado," aŭ "La ^ f~to," kaj "La Kaiizo," sed pli ol 500,000,^00 da homoj inter la lat- inidaj kaj angleparolantaj nacioj, kiuj tutklare komprenas la nuancon, estas por mi sufiĉe bona ĝustigo de la esprimo. Tutlaste, kara Doktoro, mi miris antaiie pri via motivo por daixra subtenado al homo kiu deklaris al vi kaj mi antaii du jaroj ke "Kiam mi ne povas gajni mian vivon per Esperanto, al la infero kun ĝi (Esperanto) !" Lastatempe mi aiidis de fidinda fonto ke tiu homo minacas vin pro via antaiia (dum via Luksemburga restado?) ĵuro al la Milit-Rezista Ligo neriiam subteni ian ajn militon, sed vi ne menciis tiun ĵuron kiam vi, por akiri Usonan civitanecon, Juris defendi vian novan hejmlandon (Usono) iamaniere necese, dum paco, dum milito. Aŭ ĉu via motivo havas aldonitan mot- ivon, jene: Ke vi kaj via kunulo, la sek- retario-redaktoro, apartigas inter vi la profitojn de via E.A.N.A. entrepreno, specialede via privata libro-komerco, kiun vi reklamas plej vaste en AMERIKA ESPERANTISTO ne montrante ian pagon al la Asocio por tiu reklamado, inkluzive de via tro altkosta instru-libro ? Ho, bone, Doktoro. Barnurri diris ke la trompitoj ofte ĝuas la rolon, do se ka' homoj volos ankoraŭ subteni 1->H vin- GREETINGS FROM PRESIDENT NICKEL I have just been informed that I was elected President of the Esperanto League for North America (ELNA). To those who elected me I give the solemn, sin- cere promise that I shall do my utmost in performing the duties of my office. To those who, in this world filled with strife, animosity and barriers between nations, are still optimistic enough to feel that much of this confusion can be eliminated if we destroy the barrier of language by the adoption of Esperanto as the sec- ondary language of all, I repeat the above promise and therewith convey my earnest greetings. The Preamble to the Constitution of ELNA states: "This League is part of the world-wide movement to spread the use of the Inter- national Auxiliary Language Esperanto, and thereby advance friendly relations among all the peoples of the world. "The League shall work freely with all persons, groups and organizations hav- ing the same objective, and may officially ally itself with other neutral organizations having these objectives. "The League shall forever remain neutral concerning questions of religion, politics and socio-economic theory." If you have not already joined, you are hereby cordially invited to join and to help us destroy the artificial barrier which prevents people of one country from understanding people of other countries. We need strength and unity to accom- plish our purpose. The more members who join our organization the greater will be our strength for working in a common cause which is very essential for world understanding. Ours is a truly democratic organization in which the members rule, hence each member can feel himself or herself as a genuinely im- portant part of this great movement. Samideane via. GILBERT NICKEL YOU SHOULD LEARN ESPERANTO If you are alive to this modern world and wish to know it and its great diver- sity of peoples better; If you are inclined to be a friendly neighbor; If you like people and wish to be liked; If you wish to have interesting letter- pals in faraway lands with whom, with- in a few weeks after beginning to study Esperanto, you can start the exchange of stimulating ideas, by letter or illustrated postcards, collect stamps and other items of value; If you ever intend to travel in foreign countries, for then you will have real friends everywhere with whom you can easily talk, friends who will like you, help you, not look upon you as just another tourist foreigner to be plucked of his last feathers; If you wish to learn your own language better and acquire the best possible foundation for learning any foreign lan- guage; If you believe in God and the eventual triumph of Good over Evil, in the Brotherhood of Man, in the abolition of war and the causes of war, and the es- tablishment of friendly understanding and cooperation between nations, in the final triumph of law and justice for every member of the human race. You Should NOT Learn Esperanto If you do not believe in those things mentioned above; If you are selfish and believe that you can live happily unto yourself alone; If you are a cynic who hates other people; If you feel that you and your country are superior to all others in the world and that you owe nothing to God and humanity for your good fortune. In short, if you are a stinker, sat:sfied to remain one, stay away from Espe- ranto, for the ideal it stands for and the infectious enthusiasm of its adher- ents might change you into a likeable human being. Esperanto - The First "Second Language" by JOHN L. LEWINE Vice-President, ESPERANTO LEAGUE; Teacher of Foreign Languages, Board of Education, City of New York; Graduate of Yale and University of Paris; Officier de lAcademie du Devoument National. The teaching of foreign languages has always faced particular difficulties in the United States. Unlike many countries in Europe and Asia, where foreign languages are spoken just across nearby borders, or where two or more ethnic languages com- pete for supremacy within the national boundaries, the United States covers an entire continent thruout which the one official language is English. This circum- stance, while benefiting the population in many ways, makes language teaching at once more difficult to motivate and harder to make real to pupils, especially young ones, than in most other countries. While it is generally recognized that childhood is the ideal time for language learning, the teacher of modern languages in our schools face, at the outset, a number of psychological hurdles. To most American children, a foreign language is ESPERANTO REVIEW something exotic; it is often difficult for mem to realize that people do use languages other than their own, despite the fact that they "know" that they do, and it is not always easy to convince them of the value of such study. It is important, consequently, to enable the pupils at the earliest stage of their in- troduction to a foreign tongue, to put their newly acquired skill to use by ac- tually speaking the foreign language and to make them feel at home in it. Once they have acquired the ability to use it, even to a limited degree, their interest and enthusiasm is awakened, and their acceptance of the idea of learning foreign languages as a desirable attainment is much more likely to be obtained. It is evident, therefore, that the first foreign language to be selected can be the deciding factor Jn making the pupils eager to increase their knowledge of languages, or, conversely, can lead them to regard language study as meaningless. The selection of the first foreign lan- guage to be studied ought to be made with the greatest of care so as to avoid all extraneous difficulties and to provide the pupils with the maximum attainable satisfactions. Esperanto is particularly well adapted to serve as an introduction to language learning, Phonetically it is simple, eupho- nious and attractive. It lends itself to singing and to poetry, providing sufficient variety of sounds to avoid monotony, with the musical quality of Italian or Spanish. The completely phonetic spelling presents none of the difficulties which beset learn- ers of French or German, and makes it possible for children to learn how to write the language almost as rapidly as they learn to speak it. Simple conversa- tion, greetings, easy rhymes and sayings provide ample opportunity for children to acquire a feeling of fluency which no ethnic language can rival. . One of the most important and re- warding sensations in language learning is the feeling that one has a sense of mastery over the new language. The ability to utilize the raw material of the iav, w tangnat;^ lui uiiv ,3 uwii uiu.) u the aim of language learning, but in the case of most ethnic languages, it comes only after much study and time. In Es- peranto this skill is far more rapidly attainable. The nature of the language, especially the simplicity of the gram- matical structure which renders the pupil far less likely to commit errors in gram- mar — with a much smaller number of choices of form or ending to be made, the possibility of error is so much less — and the autonomous word-building thru the use of affixes which enable the user of the language literally to make up his words as he goes along, provides the pupils with "a fichr Source of" Wofd-builu- ing material almost immediately, as well as stimulating his imagination and pro- viding him with unequalled opportu- nities to develop his capacity to think. In another field of language learning, that which is concerned with enlarging the pupils' mental horizons thru opening up cultural contacts which are connected with language study, Esperanto also pos- sesses numerous advantages. The inter- national character of the language and its use as a vehicle of international mes- sages in the governmental, educational, cultural and commercial world provide almost limitless opportunities to correlate the study of Esperanto with almost every other subject in the curriculum. The study of no ethnic language provides richer op- portunities in this field. Moreover, the close identification of Esperanto with the highest strivings for international under- standing, which are clearly illustrated both in Esperanto literature and in the history of the Esperanto movement, makes Esperanto an ideal approach to an appre- ciation of the values of world citizenship. While the study of Esperanto is val- uable for its own sake, it is also of the highest value in providing an introduc- tion to the study of ethnic languages. The very fact that English is blessed with the least formal grammar of any of the principal ethnic languages — only Afri- kaans rivals it in this respect — makes the task of the teacher of foreign lan- guages all the more difficult. While an English-speaking person can obtain a quite commendable skill in handling his native tongue with only the vaguest no- tions of grammatical categories, the stu- dent of so highly inflected a language as German — not to speak of Russian —finds himself greatly handicapped with- out some prior notion of parts of speech and grammatical formulations. While French, Spanish and Italian present fewer difficulties, at least with regard to nouns and adjectives (tho not with verbs!), there is no teacher of any of the above named languages who has not met with VAiiriWU-itlV.O -111 «LLVHipLlllti LU LAUittill JUU1L of the more complicated rules governing agreement of past participles, infinitive constructions and uses of adjectives to American students to whom the words themselves are almost devoid of mean- ing. In Esperanto these difficulties are far Jess striking. The fact that parts of speech are differentiated by clearly dis- tinguishable endings which recur without exception and which are used in logical fashion enables the student to learn to recognize at once the part of speech and its "raison d'etre." This understanding will carry over into the learning of ethnic languages, and even, conceivably, info the study of"'Engiish7 providing- a beacon to illumine the dark pathways of English Grammar! Moreover, the fact that, in Esperanto — unlike in the ethnic languages — there's a reason for every grammatical form because each form ful- fills an understandable function, makes language-learning an intellectual process instead of one based almost entirely on memory as is the case in almost all of the ethnic languages. But, the final question will be asked, to what use will the pupils put the learn- ing which they have acquired after one or two terms' study of Esperanto? Is it only a "vestibule" study, making it easier to learn ethnic languages? Cannot it pro- vide useful and pleasurable accomplish- ment in its own right? The answer to these questions is, of course, in the affirm- ~^rve7~ĤF^na±errŝts^ Boy anH giiT scouts, amateurs of radio and television, the pupil — rare in these days of electronic culture — who enjoys reading or cor- responding with pupils of his own age in other lands, all will be able to gain a remarkably rich return for what, in comparison with the effort required to learn an ethnic language, is a very small effort indeed. Not only will the study of Esperanto as the "first second language" introduce into language learning for the first time the important pedagogic prin- ciple of going from the easier to the more difficult, it will also pxovacie ..ue student on the first rung of the ladder of linguistic learning with a tool which will continue to render him a wide variety of services thruout his life, no matter what further studies he may have the inclination or occasion to pursue. REPORT FROM MEXICO (From our Mexican correspondent, S'ano Francisko Azorin, President, ESPERANTO- MEKSIKA ASOCIO, translated into English so that the many to whom this magazine will be their first introduction to the Espe' ranto movement may also read — Pardonu, kara S'ano Azorin, ke mi tradukas angla' lingven vian rapoiton, car nia gazeto celas konvinki por Esperanto anglalingvulojn. For "La Nord-Amerika Esneranto- Revuo" — permit me to Esperantize the name — you request a concise report about our Mexican Esperanto movement. Gladly! Our "Esperanto-Meksika Asocio" works vigorously; it is located in the most cen- tral part of the City (San Juan de Letran 6-224). The Association members, we all, work diligently; often we arrange lectures, instruction courses, articles in the leading newspapers. From time to time foreign Esperantists visit me — but they, for us, are fellow-countrymen, be- ESPERANTO REVIEW Children's Esperanto Class in Mexico City cause they come from our Esperantujo. us. We shall greatly intensify our work Just recently we have invited Professor with his aid. He is now in Guatemala. Tibor Sekelj, Jugoslav pioneer Esperan- We work tirelessly for our beloved tist, a master of our language, to come to Esperanto. shirts, or just plain dirty shirts of any variety, so long as they seek the enslave- ment of free men to one man, or a few men, in seats of power over mind and body, cannot be recognized by free men anywhere as political parties deserving the advantage of neutrality. The world is face to face today with the greatest struggle of all the ages of mankind. On one side of this climactic battle are the democratic free nations, where men are still free to criticize and change their governments; where they are free to stumble along in their clumsy pursuit of the distant ideal of genuine democracy, making mistakes and paying for their own mistakes; inching forward in social gains for the masses, however slowly, but ever going forward, just the same, with infinitely greater comforts and luxuries of life than exist in any nation under the iron heel of totalitarianism. On the other side of this battle are the forces of real imperialism of the At- tila-Gengis Khan-Hitler-Stalin type, now Stalinism supreme over the fearfully en- slaved third part of the human ra'ce. During the recent Moscow world conclave of Stalin's puppets, the piling voice of a Chinese stooge was heard boasting that they (the Communists) of China had liquidated (murdered) over two million of their opponents — and reliable re- ports indicate that in each passing month thousands more are added to those two million. This satanism incarnate, stalking abroad over the earth, seeks with devilish, lying cunning in the free countries, by HOW MUCH NEUTRALITY? How neutral can Esperantists of the "neutral" world movement be? We de- clare ourselves in full accord with the Zamenhofan principles of neutrality as to race, religion and politics. We care not what the color of a man's skin is, nor which religion — if any — he sup- ports, nor to which political party he gives his allegiance, if he is earnestly dedicated to the Esperanto movement in its continuing effort to bring greater unity of understanding to all mankind through the adoption of our neutral, secondary language for all nations. Nevertheless, Esperantists cannot, and in actual fact, do not remain neutral as between good and evil. The very heart and soul of Esperantism, as formulated by that noblest of all Esperantists, Dr. Zamenhof, himself, is a dynamic contra- dict'on of all systems of hatred, class divisions and subjugation of the minds and bodies of men to coercion and slav- ery. It, by its essential expression of being condemns these things, as it nat- urally must condemn murder, wholesale or retail. Naziism and Fascism, of wilted power but still too much alive in the world, and Communism of the Kremlin school, and any and all advocates of "Dictatorship of the Proletariat," "Rule of the Intelligen- tia," Ku Kluxism, having red flags, white robes, brown shirts, black shirts, silver open wholesale murder, or by the en- slavement of millions of forced laborers, in already subjugated countries, to extend this totalitarianism to all peoples, in- cluding our own in America. We have recently gone through with the painful task of reorganizing our Esperanto movement in North America to defeat dictatorial power. We have adopted, by an almost unanimous vote of the membership, a thoroughly demo- cratic Constitution. The Constitutional Committee, at the behest of a great many members who read, criticized and offered suggestions for changes, or additions to, the tentative copy of that Constitution as sent out to them, included in the final draft the provision: ". . . totalitarian* are not eligible for membership." Now two members have written objec- tions to the inclusion of that provision. They declare that it is a deviation from the Zamenhofan principle of neutrality. These two members, and any others who may be likeminded, shall certainly have the chance to offer a motion to the mem- bership before the 1953 Congress to re- peal this provision. That is democracy. I am convinced that neither of these two members, both old and sincere advocates of Esperanto, both native-born Amer- icans, is an apologist for Stalinism. I be- lieve they are just leaning over back- wards in their dedication to a phantom "neutrality" which cannot find room in any Esperantist bosom. The Kremlin has long ago forbidden the once lively Russian Esperanto move- ment; it is gradually, but firmly, rooting it out of all enslaved satellite countries. They do this for the same logical reason Hitler had for trying to destroy the vigorous German Esperanto movement: Esperantism is one of the most effective instruments for a worldwide democracy of international understanding. This fea- ture of the Esperanto movement is anathema to the Communist dictators. I saw many instances of this Communist dislike for Esperanto during my years of service with our forces in Europe. We do not have to be super-patriots to take our stand against the evils of totalitarianism. But for all of its blundering, slow progress, I am, and shall always be, a patriot of Human Freedom. This is my personal statement, with no presumption of stating a policy for the ESPERANTO LEAGUE FOR NORTH AMERICA. It is too close to press time to secure a formulation of policy from the newly elected officers and executive committee. That will come in a later issue if deemed necessary. JAMES D. SAYERS ESPERANTO REVIEW 'Tsperan to" WorTcT Congress UsTo, 1952 The 37th Universal Congress of Esperanto (1,600 Delegates from 34 Countries) OSLO, NORWAY, 2-9 of August, 1952 Impressions (Translated) (Written especially for ESPERANTO HERALD by one of the world's greatest Esperanto writers and literary critics). The 37th Universal Congress of Espe- ranto took place in Oslo on the invitation of the municipality of Oslo and under the patronage of His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Olaf of Norway. Participating in the invitation also were the Norwegian Esperanto League and the Esperantist Club of Oslo. According to the opinion of every- body, the Congress was the most brilliant and most imposing since the Second World War and, according to some opinions, the most successful one ever held. The organizers really merit this praise because of the extraordinary qual- ity of the added features, principally because of the level of intellectual and cultural work fulfilled during the Con- gress week. Because Norway, among all the Euro- pean countries, is the one with closest bonds linking it to the English language, the organizers had the task of arranging a demonstration of Esperanto which would successfully compete in the great world culture in one of the latter's centers (fortresses). In this they eminent- ly succeeded. In a series of presentations —the Entertainment Evening, the Evening of Art and the Ball — and by an impos- ing program of the International Summer University, in addition to the many sec- tional meetings (of various sub-groups in the Esperanto movement) and the lec- tures reflecting the Norwegian life and culture, the Congress demonstrated to the outside public in a manner never before attained. The Norwegian newspapers and the worldwide news services were served daily information reports by the Congress News, Service, which in a similar manner furnished bulletins in Esperanto for the information of the, Esperanto world. The Congress Inaugural was partici- pated in this year by a goodly number of official government representatives—from Norway (Mr. Lars Moen, Minister of Education), Australia, France, Germany, Indonezia, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Brazil and Uruguay. The Festival Speech by Dr. I. Lapenna em- phasized the role of the Universal Con- gresses generally, and of the Oslo Con- gress in particular. At the same time there took place the Congress of the Blind, which attracted approximately 100 blind persons from eleven countries. This Congress was very successful, with excellent arrangements for the foreign guests. (There is an extensive Esperanto literature in Braille, which is constantly being expanded). The whole Congress owed much to the part olayed by the blind Esperantists. In the Divine Service the chief partici- pants — preacher, singer and organist— were blind; in the Entertainment Evening more blind persons played musical instru- ments and delighted the audience; and in the Evening of Art Mrs. Lehtivaara en- raptured everyone by her singing of songs by Grieg, while Geburg Aasland, one of the best known Norwegian musi- cians, made a powerful impression by his fortepiano rendition of the story of the pastor in Peer Gynt. Every Congress has its special "eminent persons." In the Oslo Congress keen attention was attracted by Mrs. Ch. Tj. Datoe Toemenggoeng from Indonezia, not only because of her gaily colored robes suggestive of the exotic Orient, but more so because of her charming personality. Her lecture in the International Summer University was also one of the most popular. Prof. Fuji Egami. as the first representative of Japan in the post-War Congresses, attracted attention and, by his contribution to the International Summer University, won the admiration of the vast . assemblage. The small contingent from Jugoslavia had a special place in the esteem of the Congress members, especially because of next year's Universal Congress in Zagreb, and many searched out the5 Jugoslavs to get information about prices, etc. In spite of the allurements of very interesting trips and little excursions every day, the attendance at lectures and Congress work sessions was generally good. Solid work was done in the Four Sections which took up Pedagogy, Science, Culture and Tourism respectively, in their relation with Esperanto. It seems that the universal congresses have already reached a point where really serious work can be accomplished for the advance- ment of the movement. Especially, more and more, authorities outside of the Esperanto movement give attention to the congresses which so effectively, concretely demonstrate the fact that Esperanto is a living language. Without a doubt Oslo will occupy an honored place in the long series of Universal Congresses because of the beautiful and admirable organization of its program. —Observer ESPERANTO REVIEW ESPERANTO FOR BEGINNERS I In booklet form, 70 cents) (Sample Lesson) LESSON I We will begin by learning the names of a few objects. There are only five vowels in Esperanto, each having only one sound, unlike the more than twenty sounds given our same five vowels in English. Accent is invariable, always on next to the last vowel, or penultimate syllable, in a word. There are no silent letters. Pro- nounce the "r" distinctly; better if you can give it a single trill as in the Spanish words "pero," "senor." A in Esperanto is pronounced as ah in father. frato (frah-to), patro (pah-tro), brother father kafo (kah-fo), tablo (tah-blo), coffee table kato (kah-to), tago (tah-go), cat day E in Esperanto pronounced as e in lend, there, or not quite so short as in pebble, never long, as ay in say. benko (ben-ko), meblo, article of bench, form furniture besto, animal stelo, star kreto, chalk teo, tea I in Esperanto pronounced as /' in ma- chine, ee in see (not too long). bildo (beel-do), lito (lee-to), bed picture piro (pee-ro), filo, (fee-lo), pear son viro (vee-ro), libro (lee-bro), man book O in Esperanto pronounced as o in for, sought, soft, never long as in boat, or throw, neither too short as o in cot. floro, flower porno, apple homo, person, pordo, door human being rozo, rose loko, place U in Esperanto pronounced as u in rude, oo in boot (not too long). frukto (frook- muro (moo-ro), to), fruit wall hundo (hoon- plumo (ploo-mo), do), dog pen luno (loo-no), suno (soo-no), moon sun 2. In Esperanto all names of things ("nouns") end in O. 3. Esperanto has no word for a or an. Patro, father, or a father. The word for the is la, pronounced lah as in music. 4. Kio estas tio (Kee-o est-ahs tee-o) ? What is that? Tio estas la pordo. Kio estas kato? Kato estas besto. Kio estas tablo? Tablo estas meblo. Kio estas pomo? Pomo estas frukto. Kio estas rozo? Rozo estas floro. 5. N. B. —- Answer KIO? with a word ending with O. 6. Words that describe nouns are called Adjectives. Adjectives in Esperanto end with A. Here are some: alta (ahl-tah), longa (lon-gah), high long bela (bel-ah), mola, soft beautiful nova, new bona (bo-nah), pura, clean good sana (sah-nah), dika (dee-kah), well, healthy thick varma, warm forta (for-tah), vera (veh-rah), strong true granda (grahn- dah), large kara (kah-rah), dear 7. Model: Plena glaso, a full glass. La plena glaso, the full glass. La glaso estas plena, the glass is full. Granda klaso, a large class, La granda klaso, the large class. La klaso estas granda, the class is large. 8. Vary the following in the same way, and translate: Alta tablo. Bela floro. Bona teo. Dika muro. Forta kafo. Granda bildo. Kara patro. Longa tago. Mola lito. Nova luno. Pura loko. Sana homo. Vera libro. 9. Remember to stress the last syllable but one. fe-NES-tro, pu-PI-tro, desk window ta-BU-lo, board ka-ME-no, fire- (as blackboard) place ler-NAN-to, pupil pa-PE-ro, paper in-stru-IS-to, pla-FO-no, ceil- teacher ing Use these words with adjectives after the above model. 10. The Esperanto letter J has the sound of English Y. Kajero (kah-YEH-ro), copybook; lern- ejo (lern-EH-yo), school; krajono (krah- YO-no), pencil; objekto (ob-YEK-to), object. Tio estas objekto. La objekto estas krajono. Kio estas la domo (house) ? La domo estas lernejo. 11. Kia (kee-ah) estas la benko? (Of what kind is the bench? What kind of bench is it?) La benko estas long.,4, the bench is long. N. B. — Answer KIA? with a word ending with A. 12. Answer these questions: Kia estas la pordo? la plafono? la plumo ? la bildo ? la tago? la krajono? Activities of Local Groups and Individuals Seattle. The Seattle Esperanto Society has recently sent to all high school principals and teachers informative leaflets about Esperanto, and presented textbooks and dictionaries to ever) high school library in the city, as well as to the City and the University Libraries. During August a beginners class wa? started. Half of the class finished the course and entered a conversational group. All subscribed to LA PRAK TIKO. During September and October ad- vertisements were run four times in the two city daily newspapers and once in eight neighborhood papers. Two recent Esperantist visitors from New Zealand visited with the Seattle Society. One of them, Mrs. De Cleene, appeared on a television program. The local Seattle newspapers regular' iy carry announcements of Esperanto meetings. Also they announce the new Esperanto classes. S'ano Jay Berry, member of the Seattle Society and of ELNA, has ar' ranged for his telephone number to be listed in the forthcoming Seattle Tele- phone Book under "Esperanto," DExter 3256. Wisconsin. Glenn Turner, in charge of Esperanto Library and Book Service. Middleton, Wise, continues his radio work for Esperanto. Recently was inter' viewed about Esperanto on one of the best Madison radio programs. Has a plan to get Esperanto admitted as a study on the statewide educational program of FM radio stations. Esperanto Among Our Latin Neighbors Although there have been some iso- lated Esperantists in the Central American republics for many years, subscribing for Esperanto magazines and buying books in the language, Guatemala, the largest of the five republics, now has a lively Es- peranto Association of Guatemala, with headquarters in Guatemala City. Dn Jules Bonge, president of G. E. A., writes under date of November 1st, 1952, that an aggressive and fruitful campaign for Esperanto is under way in his coun- try, aided by the famous, very learned, roving ambassador of the Universala Es- peranto-Asocio, Lie. Tibor. Sekelj. As a member of the U. E. A. General Com* mittee, I had the pleasure of meeting mm r 8 ESPERANTO REVIEW -Dr-. Sekelj-during—the Esperanto-World Congress at Bournemouth, England, in 1949, at the time the Committee ap- pointed him as one of its "Roving Am- bassadors." He has done effective work publicizing and teaching Esperanto dur- ing the past several years in Argentina, Venezuela and now Central America. The Esperantists of Mexico, according to a recent letter from S-ano Azorin, are look- ing forward with considerable excitement to the arrival of Dr. Sekelj in their coun- try next year. The above photo shows a group of stu- dents with some officials of the G. E. A., in the Association's headquarters school- room in Guatemala City, and with Dr. Bonge third from left, face scarcely vis- ible; Dr. Sekelj, vandyke beard, wearing gray suit is fifth; the handsome gentle- man, eighth from left, with his "Charlie McCarthy" (or is it "Elmer Snerd?") on his knee, is Dr. Vicente Martinez N., secretary of G. E. A.; and the very beau- tiful lady, fifteenth from left, in black dress, is Mrs. Angelina Acuna, librarian of G. E. A., and translator into excellent Esperanto of some of the poetry of Ruben Dario, great Nicaraguan poet and novelist. - L l J.D.S. Esperanto League's Book Service (The following list of books available to the readers of this magazine compose but a small portion of the several hundred titles, both textbooks and general literature (trans- lations and originals) held in stock and listed on the latest mimeographed form which will be sent free on request. Address all requests and book orders to: Glenn P. Turner, ESPERANTO LEAGUE BOOK SERVICE, Middleton, Wise.). TEXTBOOKS Esperanto for Beginners, by Montagu C. Butler .........................10 -Robbie-'*Some-Student- -------- — (Recommended for quick course) .25 Nelson's Esperanto Course (Recommended for long course) 1.50 Step by Step in Esperanto Butler. (Very good) ..............................1.50 Esp. Grammar and Commentary by Cox. (Very good) ........................1.50 DICTIONARIES English - Esperanto Vocabulary (Not Exhaustive) .....................................10 English - Esperanto Keys 5 or more, each ........................................05 Millidge Esperanto - English Dictionary ......................................................2.60 English - Esperanto Dictionary (Fulcher & Long) .................................2.35 Edinburgh Esp. - Eng. - Eng. - Esp. Pocket Diet., highly recommended as a handy, dependable quick reference ..........................................85 Plena Vortaro. (Complete, all-Esperanto Dictionary) ...............4.00 ESPERANTO READERS (For primary - advanced practice) Unua Legolibro ...—...........................................50 Esperanta Legolibro, by Setala................60 Ilustritaj Rakonteto), by Kenngott.......25 GENERAL LITERATURE La Sankta Biblio. (Paper-bound).........1.75 La Sankta Biblio. (Leather-bound)...4.50 Antonio kaj Kleopatro ..................................65 Romeo kaj Julieto..............................................65 Princino de Marso. Burroughs................35 Sep Fratoj. (Great Finnish novel by A. Kivi) ...................................................3.00 Sveda Antologio. (2 volumes) ............3.75 Invito al Cielo. (Original Esp. novel. James D. Sayers) ....................................1.25 Historio de Kristo. (by Papini. Paper-bound) .............................................1.40 Our New Secretary Mr. Louis Dormont, elected as general secretary of the Esperanto League for North America in the election just finished, is a former principal of a large public school in the Borough of Queens, New York City, recently retired after 42 years of distinguished service in the Metropolitan school system. He has been an Esperantist, and zealous student of the language, for over 20 years; has been engaged for the past several years in compiling an Esperanto-English, English- Esperanto dictionary which will be much more extensive and complete (especially as concerns the English to Esperanto section) than any one of the several such dictionaries already available. Mr. Dormont did not seek the job, nor does he wish to hold it longer than a willing, qualified, younger person can be found for the position. Late in the summer, when he saw how overwhelmed I was with the work as temporary secre- tary and editor — while doing two other nerve-taxing jobs, also — he took pity on me and volunteered to help. From there on to the nomination in the election of officers of our Esperanto League, then under preparation, was but a step. He is extremely well qualified. The members of the Esperanto League for North America are to be congratulated on hav- ing elected such an eminent Esperantist rnd man of unimpeachable high character as secretary. JAMES D. SAYERS BOOK REVIEWS Evangelia Kantaro, Kristana Esperan- tista Eldonejo, Orebro, Sweden. Price: 2-1/2 Swedish Kroner, plus postage. Regular rebates to book dealers. This is an attractively printed collection of church songs, principally gathered from Swedish Protestant sources, with a few borrowed from M. C. Butler's "Himnaro Esper- anta," bound in hard green paper. There are 80 songs, with simple musical notes, without the various ^voices. The transla- tions are •excellent in so far as attainment of clarity and poetic rhythm are con- cerned. Like all types of Esperanto litera- ture published by the Swedish neutral and evangelic groups, this little book is unexcelled in its field. Our growing KELI (Kristana Esperantista Ligo Inter - acia) groups in America will find it very much to their taste. Two of the old favorites, taken from Mr. Butler's collec- tion of English-American hymns, are: Starigu por Jesuo (Stand up, stand up for Jesus), and Faru Laboron Nune (Work, for the night is coming).