The Washington herald., 1914-03-27
MAKING CITIZENS.
b, EDWARD W. sTITr.


zens."
The schools have as a sacred duty,
not only the scholastic training of chill
dren, but also their preparation for the
rights and duties of citizenship. Every
State and city must see to i that all
adults are taught the dignity of the
ballot, the conscientious service due
from all public officials. and the cheer
full cooperation necessary from all citi-
zens in promoting high standards OF
public efficiency.
Sociologists agree that in all great
cities we face a grave danger not only
from the vast hordes of immigrants who
yearly throng our shores, but also from
the great number of boys and girls who
leave school before reaching the upper
grades in which civics and American
history form an important part of the
curriculum.
The children of foreign parentage,
while they are handicapped in starting
their school career with little or no
English, have assets which are most
valuable to them-an intense thirst for
knowledge and unwearied energy in do
ing their school tasks. This spirit is
evidenced both in the day schools and by
the fact that last winter 55,3o8 pupils
who attended the evening schools
in New York were from Russia, Italy,
Austria, Germany, Greece and Hungary.
In addition there were men and women
form dozen other countries of Europe,
Asia and Africa.
To have the highest type of citizen
it is necessary to do more than give
adults mere education. 1t is not enough
to teach the immigrant how to speak,
read and write our language We owe
their children more than the three RS"
They should be fitted for the larger
life possible in our country. where the
poor boy may become merchant prince
or bank president, where the child of
an immigrant may even aspire to the
Presidency OF the nation. We are
century in advance of the times when
Aaron Burr so cynically asked: What
do we want TO educate the common peo-
pie for? They are hard enough to
manage now"
In addition to the scholastic training
provided by day and evening schools, the
requirements OF modern civilization and
the limitations imposed by conditions
Of urban development demand that the
great cities shall provide in every way
possible for the welfare and happiness
of every individual. This is the way
to obtain intelligent and conscientious
service TO the State and the nation. The
duties Of citizenship, by which even the
poorest man in our country becomes
partner in the government, demand that
his education be social, moral, physical,
as we'll as mental He will not long
remain a willing slave to any political
boss or leader when ne learns what it
means to be able to say, 81 am an
American citizen"
Cities are just waking to the fact
that clean-souled and strong bodied
young people are as important to the
moral health, as clean streets are to the
physical health" These strong words
of the late Mayor Gaynor deserve the
careful attention OF persons interested in
the improvement OF social conditions in
crowded communities. James Bryce
former Ambassador from England, re-
Gently declared that every city having
population larger than 10000 had
special problems of great importance
regarding the moral development and
civic duty of its citizens, and urged
strongly that all proper measures be
taken to remedy some OF the evil con-
ditions incident to city life.
New York, with its millions of people
coming from ninety-eight different coun-
tries of the world, and speaking sixty
six different languages must neces-
sarily become a great melting pot" of
the nations, and the result OF the process
depends upon Our meeting the problems
caused by immigration and those pre-
sented by the teeming tenements of the
congested neighborhoods Additional
duties devolve upon the school authori-
ties, not only as regards the day and
evening instruction of so many for
eigners, but also to provide proper rec
reation for all who toll in sweatshops
and factories. 'If the voice of the peo-
pie is to be the voice of God" declared
Winston Churchill, Eve must see to it
that our citizens grow up into healthy.
enlightened beings, with education and
light and little leisure"
The only effective remedies for city
evils" are antidotes. Thousands of men
and women are compelled to work many
hours each day in shops, stores and
factories, at labor which has become
monotonous, owing to the specialization
of labor, and the development of ma
chimes, which do much of the work,
leaving the operator with a task of