New Britain herald., 1915-01-12

MT. Gold emphasized the point that citizenship does not mean simply the right to vote. "Remember this," he | said, that in teaching a new Ameri- , can citizenship you are not neces- sarily teaching him to vote.' AL though the alien population does it's duty better at the polls, it soon learns it's lesson from the Americans and re-
 mains away when convenient. Amer jeans, ne said, are the laziest people
 politically on the face of the globe
 and we cannot put the blame for
 dirty politics on the foreign voter.
 The speaker gave a short history of naturalization in the United States, pointing out that the rights of citi- zenship in one state are not those a
 man can claim in another. He said that actically all the misgovern- ment oc our American cities prior to 1896 was caused by the loose natural ization service. Then the governm ert awoke and restrictions have been put on ever since. In telling of Brock tons work. MT. Gold said, he wanted to show what any American city can do to glorify citizenship.
 The abuse of the vote in Pennsyl
  States by foreigners as well as Ameri~ cans of several generations was de- scribed by MT. Gold, and he explained that emphasis is not placed on the vote in training the aliens in Brock ton.
 Value of Intention Papers.
 The value of a declaration of in tention to an immigrant and to the commUnity is very great, he said. In Brockton a machinery for hunting up arrivals and getting them to file declarations has been organized among those interested in civic work and he suggested a similar system for New Britain. ''If, as part of your program" he said, 'you let it be known in all the foreign quarters of New Britain that if each man will come with an interpreter and fill out the necessary blanks, or, if the blanks cannot be filed out here to send them to Washington, you will be confer ring on New Britain a great bless ing''
 There is great value in getting the new arrival to file his declaration at once for then the things that must be known are fresh in his mind Hundreds of persons do not remem- Der the dates of their birth and many others do not even remember the name of the ship on which they crossed the Atlantic.
 Ever, man places great value upon his citizenship papers, said MT. Gold, and because of the difficulty and ex- pense ot proving his residence If he removes to another state, he will oY0t the community he first chooses, at least for the five years necessary to give him citizenship. This will be a long enough period to do some good with him in the work of making him a valuable asset to the country.
 With a first paper on his person new arrival will be less likely to con- init any crime or get into the police court because to get his second papers a man must have 8 fairly good criminal record. Also once a man has the declaration in his pocket he will tr. to learn something about the his tory and the customs of the new country for he will feel himself 8 part of it and will take more interest in it. It will also give him more in common with his children, for they will realize that their citizenship de- penGs upon his ability to pass the court examination and consequently will help him with his studies.
 Training for Citizenship.
 After the two years are up between and the five years for residence, comes the time for the most valuable service, the time when the candidate goes before the court for examination. Here. said the speaker, is an excellent opportunity for a kind of big brother work. Heretofore this work has been done by the saloon keeper or the po- litical boss, and in many places a lawyer has made a business of swear ing that he had known the man for five consecutive years.
 The school for turalization in Brockton took this matter in hand, however, and when the time for the examinations arrived MT. Gold and all the students that had been under the various volunteer teachers went to the court house to be made citizens.
 MT. Gold said the opinion foreigners get of our city, state and national officers by the talk in the factories and in the yellow newspapers is an evil one "I have had one man. he said. "a most intelligent foreigner in BrOcktOn, come and ask me seriously: Are there any good people in the United States government? I had to assure him that there was great deal of good in President Wilson, The speaker said that the custom of Americans of running down their off, ccrs is so ingrained that he was almost Wiling to wager that there was not a soul in the audience who could not say more bad than good a bout the mayor of the city. Much cf t1 is attitude toward the govern ment IS changed by bringing the aliens into personal contact with the officers of the government through the ion q a