Did you ever hear about the epic but failed battle of one of America's great newspaper publishers,
Col. Robert R. McCormick of the Chicago Tribune? At a time when the Tribune was arguably one of the leading US Newspapers, he and his associate, James O’Donnell Bennett, embarked on an enduring 20 year effort to simplify and rationalize American English spelling. A grand effort that still reverbarates whenever a student finds that "'i' before 'e'" has many exceptions.
No, I didn't hear about that battle, but I've had a "wonderful" time explaining spelling to my baffled kids!
I tried to find some quotes by Gallagher (of Sledge-o-matic fame)...he once did a hilarious skit about spelling, saying things like "if school is pronounced skool, why do we spell it with a ch?" He pointed out the vagaries of our language to a "t"! It was very funny and so true!