LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: FOR A COMMON LANGUAGE

To the Editor:

U.S. voters have reaffirmed their support for making English the official language of the U.S. government by an overwhelming margin according to a new nationwide survey taken by the Tarrance group for U.S. English. This polling team does regular issue tracking for U.S. News and World Report. According to the new data, 78 percent of those surveyed want to make English the official language of the government, while only 17 percent would oppose such action.

Congressman Bill Emerson (R-Mo.), Toby Roth (R-Wis.) and 78 of their colleagues in August introduced H.R. 2859 because of the nationwide outcry over the July 2 Tucson, Ariz., citizenship swearing-in ceremony which was conducted primarily in Spanish.

Since both Congressmen Emerson and Roth had both introduced separate bills making English the official language, the detractors of the new bill H.R. 2859 suggested that we were divided but that is not so.

"While there are some minor differences between Roth's bill H.R. 739 and Emerson's H.R. 123, both congressmen are committed to ending unnecessary government spending and effort caused by multilingual initiatives, we applaud their efforts in joining forces in co-sponsoring H.R. 2859," according to Mauro E. Mujica, chairman of U.S. English.

The wording adds, "All public ceremonies in which the oath of allegiance is administered pursuant to this section shall be conducted solely in the English language." H.R. 2859 would add this extremely important language to the federal Immigration and Nationality Act.

Are you aware of the importance of a common language, English, to the unity and strength of the nation?

Dorothy S. Siebert

Cape Girardeau