The Kaiser is making an effort for the clarification of
German style. He has published a letter to the Colonial branch of the Foreign Office, obviously intended for all Depart- ments of the Civil Service, in which he urges officials to write in short sentences without subordinate clauses, and with the governing verb placed a little less far away. Englishmen smile, forgetting how novel their present short sentences are, and how greatly style may be changed by the popularity of a particular school of writers,—for which the Emperor's favour is an equivalent. Lord Palmerston at the height of his power materially modified English hand- writing by a similar letter to the clerks in Government offices. He said he would have official documents written legibly, and a much clearer and more open writing became at once almost universal.
Previous page
