The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1918-12-05


as much foreigners as they We're the
day they landed at Castle Garden.
There are whole settlements in the
state Of North Dakota where the Eng
llsh language is not spoken and where
an English paper or book cannot be
found in the homes of the people.
This is wrong, radically wrong, and
has been the cause of much trouble
in the past, especially durino the pc
riod of the war with Germany. The
children Of the men and women who
emigrated to the United States here to
found their homes in a free land, still
are being taught the language of their
fatherland, be it German, Norwegian,
| Swedish, or what not Judge Amdon
of Fargo, placed the blame for this
condition recently when sentencing a
German to the federal prison at Fort
Leavenworth, when he stated that it
was all our family, and that if we had
taken the pains to teach these men and
| women and children of foreign birth
the English language and the history
of this country with it's traditions for
fair play that it would not be neces-
sary to sentence them to penal institu-
tions because of their expressed love
for their home country. He urged
that all foreign born people be Amer
lcanized as rapidly as possible. Be-
coming Americanized means some
thing more than having the men take
out their first, second and final papers
of naturalization. 1t means that we
must establish schools in every city,
town and hamlet where these people
live so that they may learn our Ian
guage, learn our history and really be-
come true American citizens. This
then seems to be one of the tasks of
the Minot Rotary club in this COM
munity. In talking this matter over
day he stated that he would be only
too glad to teach United States his
if night school was established in
| Minot where these foreign born peo-
pie would be welcomed and instructed
in Americanism. We have had night
school for these people for the past
TWO years, but it seems that no one
outside of the superintendent of the
public schools has taken any inter-
est in them, with the result that there
was small attendance and indifer-
ent success. The Rotary club should
furnish the machinery to see that all
foreign born are asked to attend such
night school this winter and through
1riendliness keep in flourishing con-
dition. Among the foreign. born in
Minot they are not known to US by
names, but rather by numbers. They
have no identity as far as we are con-
cerned, although among them may be
! men who understand whole lot more
about art than we do, and men who
have graduated with honors from col
leges in their home countries. We
| are too prone to call them wops,
chinks, or some other name that is a
real insult to them. We should take
them up, show them that we are true
Americans by teaching them the beat
ties of American life and language.
| is sometimes the cause for a wave
| of radicalism to sweep over our coun-
try and cause us much anxiety. Is it
not better to take them into our con-
| fidence and help them to become real
American citizens?
After the war brings to US the mat
ter of proper housing for our people.
At this writing nearly every house
and apartment in the city of Minot is
full to overfowing. More people are
coming to Minot to live. They were
coming when the war broke out, and it
Is but natural that most of those peo-
pie who left 'Minot to assist the gov
ernment in shipyards and munition
plants are coming back home Proper
housing brings with it the matter of
sanitation in the homes, with suffic-
lent room for all the occupants of the
home. During the war the govern
ment had a commission that looked
after housing conditions and this COM
mission found many cities in a deplor-
able condition as to proper housing.
This commission also had to do with
the social evil, and in one small city
in Ohio they arrested something over
seventy women, sixty-three of whom
were suffering with loathsome dis
eases, and transmitting it to men who
were working in munition plants
They placed the we'll women in re-
form schools while the others were
placed in hospitals where they will
remain until cured, both morally and
physically. 1t is sure that this COM
mission in it's present form will go out
| VI eAlSCeIlCe no" LIldL LUe war is over,
SO that it is up to each individual
community to see that it's housing
problems and the social evil are taken
care Of in an intelligent manner. The
two being so closely interviewer makes
1t necessary for some agency in each
city to study and solve both at the
same time. Overcrowding begets vice
and wrong modes Of living, and it does
seem that the Rotary club could take
these matters also under serious ad-
visement at this time of all times.
We now come to the last of the
three things to be covered by the pa
per-namely, parks and Fairgrounds.
In conversation with a member of
the park board recently We were told
that the board would have at it's dis
posal very soon money with which to
install water works in the parks OF
the city. In this conversation it was
brought out that the city should at
the time secure more acreage TO,
| rarko orI hroo+h;~n cr,ooe ,rofa~