New Britain herald., 1916-07-25


 cGnization. Dr. F. E. Farringtons s
 article forms the first complete state
 lncnt of this new activity.
 In April, 1914, the first step was
 taken which resulted in making a
 division of immigrant education an
 rSanic part of the bureau of educa-
 on of the department of the in-
 tcrior at Washington. Thoughtful people with large civic interests had | cen aroused by the revelations of
 the census report of 1910 to a realiza-
 tion of the significance of the alien | problem in this country. For many a l decade Americans with snug com- l placenCy had prided themselves on the 1 Irresistible power of American civil 1 ization to assimilate the foreigner who | landed upon our shores. Nobody 1 knew just how it was being done, nor could one point to any specific or c&niZatiOn responsible for effccting the change. but somehow or other that subtle force of American civilization was ever busy at its task and the alien was quietly but surely being transformed into an American.
 With the publication of the inmi- Gration returns for 1905, which showed over one million immigrants entering this country that year, people began to wonder if after all the process of assimilation was really working as smoothly as 1t had been claimed. Million -immig grant years fol- lowed; the report of the immigration commission furnished a veritable mine Cf information, and the census report Of 1910 finally portrayed the con- dition at that date. America suddenly learned that there were over thirteen million foreign born persons in the country, that over six and One-haIf million of these were males who might become citizens of the land, and that only three million of them had become citizens. Had the melting pot ceased to boil? Had the solution be- come s;<urated? What had become of the much-vaunted ability of this country automatically to assimlate the foreign element?
 Other figures from this same census report were still more disquieting. ] There were nearly three million per sons in the country unable to speak | and understand English, and of those | over two and half million were over 1 21 years of age; in other words, be- | yond tho age when they were likely | to learn a new language without some external stimulant. No state has any law affecting the literacy or non- Englishspeaking ability of the adult, end with few exceptions there are no compulsory laws on these points for minors who are above the compulsory school attendance age
 Here, then, is the problem before tho division of immigrant eduCatiOn-I to promote educational facilities for 1 the illitcratc of English speaking |
 
 ulsory attendance laws. and to l stimulate his attendance upon English l and civics classes. 1
 The first work of this division was | to enter upon d general investigation l of the existing facilities for the educa- 1 ton of immigrants. With this in | formation in hand, it is possible to !, plan an intelligent campaign for in 1 creasing the attendance upon schools l already established, and for encourage | ing the establishment of new schools l where need for them is disclosed.
 One of the functions of the work is to bring local and state authorities to 1 a realization of the migrant prob 1 lem in their midst. School superin- i tendents have shown by their replies 1 to this office that they are not fully l iu touch with their own local cOndi- 1 tons: ana one Sl1Cc SupeIlulcQuenC has written asking where statistics relating to the alien education prob 1 lem in his own state may be obtained. Thus is this division carrying out one of the large functions of the Bureau of EducatiOn-to act as a clearing house for information.
 Perhaps the most striking activity of the division has been in connection with the America First" poster. This is a cOlOed Autographed sheet, showing l a picture of Uncle Sam shaking hands with d foreign workman. It is print cd in the seven different languages, and is designed to urge upon the for eignor the advisability of going to evening school and learning English. Over 100000 of these posters have been distributed during the winter, and today they may be found in post of fiCes, shops, factories, schools, railroad stations, and on bulletin boards of civic associations, chambers of com merce and the like, from one end of the country to the other.
 This poster did much to pave the I way for building up friendly relations with commercial and industrial organ izations. A tender of cooperation from the division brought systematic and cordial response from these or 1 gan1zatiOns. The United States Cham | Der of Commerce has it's committees on AmericanizatiOn and educat ton. 1 The National Safety council has it's conference committee on Safety cdu- 1 cation to cooperate with the Bureau of Education. Local business organi- | cations are becoming aroused all over the country, and are anxious to have | d share in this important educational l and AmericanizatiOn work.
 The division has prepared cOmpre- ! hensive lists of texts in English for l foreigners with separate groupings for l the more important languages. The l