The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-09-11

head, in ansW CT to the question ID you think the government will fix tn price Of cctton?" answered eeuivocally None"
 gave them protection. Tn the city o Chicago alone there are half a milliol Gcrma ms that speak their native Ian guage in their homes, and who are de Iendent upon German language news paper for their information and thei ideals. MT. Young chairman of the low state council of defense tells us tha there are in the northwest thousand of schools that sing daily Die Yacht Al Rhine," and close each session with tn singing of "Deutschland Uber Alles." Il these schools is never heard the sing ing of America" or The Star-Spangle, Banner
 Of course, such a condition canno prevail anywhere in Alabama But il the industria1s districts of Jefferson county we are today confronted witt menacing conditions. We have foreigl colonies here in which foreign custom and foreign conditions prevail; we hav thousands of homes in which the Eng fish language is not spoken. This Is tn fault of our own people. We nudd these people in isolated colonies; the, are separated from our English-speakin, citizenship in their homes. in their so cicties and in their churches. Some o our good people have so far forgotteI tho principles of our American democ racy as to insist that these foreigner must have their separate schools. The, would forbid their attendance upon tn, schools where American children attend Such an idea ought to be repugnant t, any loyal American citizen. The way tt breed disloyalty and anarchy in our gov errment is to permit this separation. Tn, only way now open to us is througl the school, to develop loyalty to tn, American ideal. It Is only through tn, child that the foreign home can bt reached. The associations of the school
 under a loyal, patriotic teacher can ele
 vate and enlighten the foreign adult pop
 ulation. At least the foreign child car be saved and initiated into the privi
 leges of American citizenship. We should
 see to it this year that every child O foreign parentage under our compusor,
 attendance laws is required to attent
 some school And when our own peo pie become so undemocratic and unpa
 triotic that they are unwilling for thei
 children to attend classes where foreigI children seek the privileges of America, citizenship, it is time to give them course in patriotism and the principles o
 democracy.
 LOYAL TEACHERS
 But some of these children are at
 tending private and parochial sch.u-s
 under teachers that are not qualified by
 tests of scholarship or of loyalty to tn,
 government that protects them in tn,
 privileges they enjoy. We would not de
 prve them of these privileges, but W, should see to it that these schools ar, taught by loyal teachers who are quail
 fled in scholarship and ideals to be tn, guardians and leaders of the youth O
 the state. The children of the stat, should be protected from the imposition. of ignorance, fanaticisms and cupidity. A There is still another phase in the Americanization of our people that de serves attention. We must begin to teacf
 in our public schools not only the child ren, but we must in some way reacf the illiterate foreign adult. We have 1T c~~ midst hundreds of grown people who are unable to speak orN read the Eng. fish language. The tragedy of America today is the illiteracy of it's foreign pop. ulation. It is not enough to educate the child: too often a gulf is created be. tween the child and his parents. between the child and the home. We need law that shall require every adult te be able to read and write in the Eng fish language before he shall assume any of the duties or enjoy the full privi
 eges of American citizenship. Our schoo buildings must be thrown open at nigh and the iliterate and non English speak ing adults must in some way be edu cated to speak the English language, ane instructed in the principles and ideal. of our government.
 Tn addition to this, beyond the school we must show the foreigner that We art interested in his welfare. We must d. qn fn a tUo halt in justice and that we practice justice We must protect him from the imposition! of the shrewd and conscienceles profiteer who everywhere takes advan tage of ignorance and credulity and ex ploits the foreign for personal gain. I is with shame today that we learn O thousands of young men drafted into tn, service of their country who are unable 10 read their questionnaires. Whole com. panies and even regiments. we are told cannot understand the orders given then by their superior officers unless they ar, translated into foreign language. Suci an astounding revelation as this ough to awaken our people to sense of theil responsibility.
 "Yet, notwithstanding the educationa shortcomings of our country revealed by the war. our people deserve congratula- ton upon what has been accomplished Less than IS months ago, America Wal totally unprepared for war. Every sec. tion of the country. including our own was perIneated with the insidious poisor of German intrigue and German propa- ganda. During the period of American neutrality no word of criticism of Ger. man kultur or Teutonic methods could bt uttered without mourning torrent o insolent abuse and personal vilification lt,t.z <l ( past IS months is too well known t( need rehearsing. While we still have dan. gerous elements to deal with at home the presence of more than 1.500.000 Amer. ican boys in France today. with as many more in our training camps is the bes exponent of American democracy. Sucf remarkable unity of patriotic ardor as k found in all sections today was no dreamed of IS months ago. All parties all creeds. all sects. are today unit standing like a living wall for the de fense of the republic and the freedom oi the world. To what is this remarkable transformation due? To what are we tt attribute this astonishing unity of public sentiment? will tell you. It Is due to the American public school and to Wood row Wilson, the great American teacher
 AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOL While all factions and all cults anc sects in America are today patriotically supporting President Wilson in his battle for democracy: while the war has e. mented the nation as never before in its support of the American government. hope the war may accomplish another greatly desired result--I hope that ths unity of sentiment developed for the gov ernment will also result in firmly cement ing all the American people regardless ot