A story is told of a group of American Indians who some years ago visited an eastern city.  They could not make themselves understood, nor could they understand others, and became very lonely.  They were taken to visit a deaf-and-dumb institution, where they were quite delighted to find that they could converse freely by the use of a natural sign language.

Uncivilized peoples are in the habit of conveying ideas in the most astonishing ways.  For example, among a certain African tribe the gift of a tooth brush carries a message of affection.  These Africans take great pride in their white teeth, and the tooth brush carries the message, “As I think of my teeth morning, noon, and night, so I think often of you.”

To illustrate the development of the alphabet from pictures, our letter M represents the ears of an owl, which in Egypt was called Mu, and the picture of which, later reduced to the ears, came to represent the sound of M..

EFFECTS OF ILLITERACY AND INABILITY TO USE ENGLISH

The fascinating story of the development of language cannot be told here.  It is referred to because we are likely to forget what an important factor it is in making community life possible.  Inability to use a common language prevents intercourse and team work.  Large numbers of men drafted in the American Army were unable to understand the English language.  Between 30,000 and 40,000 illiterates were taken in the first draft and it is said that there were nearly 700,000 men of draft age in the United States who could neither read nor write.  They could not sign their names, nor read orders or instructions.  They had to be separated and taught, thus greatly delaying the complete organization of our available fighting forces.  Inability to use a common language is equally an obstacle in industrial life, for non-English speaking workmen are unable to understand instructions, or to read signs and warnings.  Many accidents are due to this cause.  It is said that approximately 5 1/2 million of our population above ten years of age cannot read or write in any language, and that 5 million of our foreign population cannot use English.  An active campaign is now being conducted to teach English to foreigners and to eradicate illiteracy.  A bill has recently been introduced in Congress to provide Federal aid for this purpose.

If the productive labor value of an illiterate is less by only 50 cents a day than that of an educated man or woman, the country is losing $825,000,000 a year through illiteracy ...  The Federal Government and the States spend millions of dollars in trying to give information to the people in rural districts about farming and home making.  Yet 3,700,000, or 10 per cent, of our country folk can not read or write a word.  They can not read a bulletin on agriculture, a farm paper, a food-pledge card, a liberty-loan appeal, a newspaper, the Constitution of the United