Madam, - John Gleeson (January 24th) writes that if the founder-members of the European Union had decided at the outset that all schools would teach Esperanto many present problems would have been avoided.
More deadly problems, such as the rise of Hitler, with all its consequences, might have been avoided if the unanimous agreement of the Assembly of the League of Nations in September 1922 that Esperanto should be taught in the schools of all member-states had not been by-passed by the French Minister of National Instruction at the time.
French was then, of course, the international language.
The, league, at the instigation of Prof Nitobe Inazou, had commissioned an expert report which was thoroughly favourable. It said that one school year would suffice in western countries, two in the east.
Especially strong was the argument that students who have learnt Esperanto learn both their own and other languages more efficiently. The Irish language would have benefited greatly. - Yours, etc.,
MÁIRE MULLARNEY, Main Street, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14.