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Show LANGUAGE OF FUTURE. A'toi'iiincr to reports made by American Ameri-can consuls in Japan, English is rapidly liccoini us the laupuae of that country. Recently five hundred tea.chers of English Eng-lish have boon gathered in Tokio for their second conference in the history of Japan. Of the total only about 5 per cent were foreigners English and American men and women, and the entire en-tire proceedings of the conference were conducted in English. It required about ten days to carry out the programme, and tho proficiency of tho participants ivas Tvell attested during that lime. Last year tho conference was held at Kioto and was fairly well attended. This year a far greater interest was manifested and the organizers are said to be highly gratified over the result of t beir work. The rapid spread of the study of English Eng-lish is as striking as it is interesting. J n tho secondary schools alone in Japan there aro upward of 100,000 boys ;t.n girls studying English as part of their course. Boys in these schools must study English seven hours in each week for five years, and tho girls at least half (hat time. As Japan proudly lioasts nf t ho lu rgivl percentage of school a; f!'d:i it'O of any country in the world, j; is silo lo say that within a few LM'nerntions Knglish will be spoken jilmoH universally in that country. coun-try. !'nr ninny centuries the diplomatic business of the world lias been carried on in French, tho polite language of civ-illation. civ-illation. Educated people everywhere Fr-nM) in r.Gii; mn moating with "i.-b ..IhT, Hut i-hn -fir;,! of ,r,t RM- Iguage is practically over. The rise nf j the United States to the first rank of ! political and commercial importance has considerable to do with the spread of the English language and the desire of foreigners to master its intricacies. Another cause lies in tho fact that Great. 'Britain has planted colonies alt lover the world and has been uniformly 'successful in transplanting the language as well as many of the customs of the mother country. Great. Britain also does a large part of the carrying trade of the world, and -as her ships visit every port tho natives soon acquire more or less proficiency in using the language of the traders. Before the close of the present century cen-tury the English language will be dominant. dom-inant. The familiar accent will be heard not only ou the Nile aud Ganges, but along the Amazon and Orinoco as well. Tho Panama canal will play an important part in its spread from this time on. |