Rejected

Andrew Carnegie, dressed in a Scottish kilt with a hat labeled “Andru” with the “u” crossed out and replaced with “ew,” looks at a man fallen on the ground labeled “Simplified Spelling Order” kicked down by the U.S. Capitol building. A teddy bear runs off into the distance.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Among the playthings of Andrew Carnegie, having sold his steel businesses and reputedly the richest man in the world, was a faddist obsession with changing — “simplifying” — the spelling of words in the English language. Apparent anomalies in English are to due its origins in diverse language groups, yet rules that seemed challenging, flummoxed people like Carnegie, Mark Twain, and Theodore Roosevelt.

Carnegie, clad as cartoonists frequently depicted him in Scottish garb (he was born, and died, in Scotland) is the chief mourner of the torn and battered paper labelled “Simplified Spelling Order” because he was the founder and chief sponsor of the Simplified Spelling Board; and at the time the United States House of Representatives thought so little of President Roosevelt’s order to the Public Printer to employ Simplified Spelling that it took the trouble to vote — unanimously — to have government departments refrain from the “reform.” Only a few documents, before the rejection of Roosevelt’s order, ever employed the neologisms.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-17

Creator(s)

Berryman, Clifford Kennedy, 1869-1949

Language

English

Period

U.S. President – 2nd Term (March 1905-February 1909)

Page Count

1

Production Method

Printed

Record Type

Image

Resource Type

Cartoon

Rights

These images are presented through a cooperative effort between the Library of Congress and Dickinson State University. No known restrictions on publication.

Citation