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Blind Champion of a Global Alphabet Bv OLIVER EILAT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Washington. Back in 1861, young Bobby Owen watched soldiers drill ing in his home town of Lynchburg, Va. The soldiers were about to travel north to engage in battle at Manassas, but the boy of five knew nothing of that. What fascinated Bobby was that one man could tell so many others what to do. ‘'Unless I cun be the captain," he told his mother, "I won't go to war.” Reviewing life now with the perspective of 88 summers, Rob ert Latham Owen is inclined to find the key to his career in that boyish feeling for leadership. "I wanted always to be the captain,” he says. As a young man he went west. 1le became spokesman for the Cherokee Indians and the organ izer of business and social life among early white arrivals in the Indian Territory, eventually to be admitted to the Union as the state of Oklahoma. Gaiulhl and Shaw Show in His Alphabet Interest What Sen. Owen has done is to devise a new phonetic alphabet of 42 letters, which look like something cribbed from a stenog rapher's notebook but which can oe printed on any standard mono type machine. With this alphabet, he says, people can go from their own language to any other lan guage by mastering a simple bilingual booklet costing maybe a quarter. The Owen global alphabet has the endorsement of Dr. Laubach, the conditional approval of such says, “ as the Washington Monu ment is to yours. “Russia has developed a phonetic alphabet which can be learned in one day. It has removed illit eracy, and people who were un productive before are now pro ducing the supplies to overwhelm the Germans. “By following the Russian ex ample, we can increase the pro ductivity of the world fourfold in a decade." If the U. S. takes leadership in sponsoring a global alphabet. Sen. Owen predicts it can make English a world language inside of two years, with the help of radio. “ What I am doing," he says, “ is providing a way whereby peo ple all over the world can receive a message from Washington, a message that will make us a lead er in truth, righteousness and loving kindness, and help create a world ruled by intelligence rather than ignorance." Know Thyself B y Wells Care Blind l-'or 10 Years li e ’s A ctive as E ver For 18 years (1907-1925) Owen served as U. S. Senator from Ok lahoma and as the leader in the Senate of a variety of liberal causes which put fundamental laws on the statute books in such fields as the regulation of banks, extension of Federal loans to farms, and the setting up of a national public health service. He was the eloquent advocate of many movements to widen democratic expression, including the initiative and recall, the pref erential ballot, government of cities by commission, woman suf frage and the direct election of Senators. When he dropped out of public life in 1925 (he was never defeat ed in an election), Sen. Owen re mained in Washington as a law> er and lobbyist for reform. He nas been blind for a decade, but uday is more active than even tx-lore, in a new cause—that of selling the world the idea of a “global, phonetic, stenographic al phabet" which will wipe out il literacy. Phonetic alphabets (alphabets in which every letter represents a single vocal sound) are not new. A Christian missionary, Dr. Frank C. Laubach, used such an alphabet to teach the Moros in the Philippines to read their own language after a few hours of In struction, and followers of Lau bach have applied the principle in India, East Africa, the Near East, the Caribbean islands and Latin America. During the last 20 years Soviet Russia has pretty well conquered illiteracy by teaching its citizens to read and write a phonetic al phabet in 58 languages. Close-up August 19, 1944 Have You Forgotten Your ‘ Public1? ROBERT L. OWEN foresees a world ruled by intelligence through the adoption of the alphabet which he developed in response to “a psychic message.” You may think of them only as friends, fellow workers a n d neighbors, but they’re your pub lic 1 If you become lazy toward them and fail to keep up appear ances, they know it — and they, don’t like it! - Your back-sliding shows you care less about them and their sensibilities than you did when you first met them. A score between 16 and 30 ex poses you as one who cares lit tle what anybody thinks of his inconsiderate behavior. If you rate between 5 and 15, yon think that you c n fool others because you can dress up when necesary in the right clothes and manners. Watch out, you’re becoming slovenly. You, who keep your score under 5, have the self-re spect, pride and ■efincment that keep you up to par in the eyes of your publl (Add 3 for Yes; subtract 2 for No; score 0 for sometimes or doubtful. Then total your score.) 1. Do you show peopl you’re bored by picking up a newspaper v* world citizens as Gandhi and Shaw, and the enthusiastic sup port of several teachers who have tried it out in their classes. The inertia to be overcome by any such scheme remains enorm ous. Sen. Owen uses every chan nel of propaganda, from getting communications printed In the Congressional Record, to writing1 round-robin letters to managing editors of newspapers. He works best at night. Know ing he will sleep only four or five hours, he retires early and gets up late. The sleepless period is devoted to planning. "After all, I see as well at night as I do during the day,” he says. His features have an Indian sternness, not surprising since he is part Indian. At 88, his hair is beginning to turn grey. He lives with great simplicity. Apples and potatoes please him beyond any other foods. His blindness came about through glaucoma, but he blames it partly on "improvidence in eating," now conquered. His only Indulgence these days is an occasional glass of port, which he likes for its flavor as well as for its mild stimulation. His Mother Was a Cherokee Indian Two women serve as his eyes, a wife and a secretary. His wife is an Oklahoma girl whom he married 55 years ago. His fond ness for her may be measured by his reply to a question as to his primary ambition in life. “ It's to be Mrs. Owen’s second husband,” he says. Sen. Owen first saw Daisey Hester at a ball in Maytabbee Springs, Okla., 60 years ago. “ She was obviously the most dis tinguished woman to cross the floor.” He didn't try to meet her then. “ I had no means to propose to any woman at that time.” Five years later, when he had become established as the Indian agent for the Five Civilized Tribes, he met and proposed to Miss Hester, who promptly ac cepted. They have a married daughter, living In Columbus, O. Sen. Owen's father, after whom he was named, was a surveyor, early organizer and then presi dent of what became the Norfolk & Western Railroad. His mother was Narcissa Chisholm Owen, of the Cherokee Nation. ( "She was by far the greatesl 'influence in my life,” he says. “ She was a woman of great social integrity, an artist, and a wonder ful gardener.” Woodrow Wilson stands out as the most influential and valuable public figure encountered by Sen. Owen. The most vital reading matter in his life, he says, has been the 14th Chapter of St. John. It was the first material set up In global type by him. Sen. Owen acknowledges a strong religious Impulse. His sponsorship of a phonetic alpha bet, he believes, is in response to “ a psychic message of some sort, such as Marconi received in de veloping radio.” “The need for a global alphabet is just as paent to my eyes,” he J, 2. Is your yard or your room an untidy eyesore? ( ) 3. Are you a little lazy about bathing often enough, keeping your hair and nails clean or dressing neatly and appropri ately?. ( ), 4. Are you irritatingly offhand, slow and careless when it comes to business dealings with your friends? ( ) 5. Are you high-handed in your treatment of those who serve you at work, in the stores, trains, res taurants, etc.? ( ) 6. Do your friends, the longer they know you, have to make more allowances for your rude ness or neglect? ( ) 7. Are good manners becoming more and more like putting on your Sunday best? 8. Do you become so undigni fied and unrestrained in your hu mor that you often embarrass others? ( ) 9. Do you drink even though you know it makes you silly, oversentimental or ugly? ( ) 10. Do you carry on your fam ily quarrels and conduct your private business so openly that you embarrass others? I ) (Press Alliance. Inc.)
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