Snipped from The New York Times, July 17, 1904, Sunday UNCLE SAM'S NEW SPELLING BOOK; Teachers, Scholars, and Mapmakers Will Have a Lot to Relearn 2769 words (pdf) **** In a manner so quiet that very few persons have ever heard of it, Uncle Sam has been conducting a small but very select spelling school for some time, and has issued several Installments of a new spelling book that will greatly disturb teachers, scholars, map-makers, and a host of other people who would ordinarily be champions in any spelling bee. The prime object is to secure uniformity in the spelling of geographical names in all Government publications. A board sitting in "Washington takes up all place-names of more than one form that may be submitted to it, applies to them a code of rules form-| ulated for the purpose, and then votes on the forms suggested by the members. The form receiving a majority vote becomes the official one, and, under the act of Congress creating the board, will thereafter be used in all Government publications, including maps. To effect the desired reform, the board proceeds under the following rules: ........ << Chinese and other Oriental place-names heretofore compounded are spelled as one word, viz.: Hoangho (river, China.) not Hoang-Ho, Liaotung (peninsula,) not Liao-Tung; Niuchwang (treaty port,) not New-Chwang. In British Indian terminology "pur" has taken the place of "poor" and "pore," viz.: Cawnpur, not Cawnpoor or Cawnpore. >> **** Full text here: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9B0DE6DB1F3AE733A25754C1A9619C946597D6CF&oref=slogin ----- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India