The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-06-01
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM A TION
BUREAU
FREDERIC J. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington, D. c.
MAKING AMERICANS.
D. C.

MAKING AMERICANS.
1.-THE Plan.
Washington, DC. May 27.-There
are thousands of organizations in the
United States which have been trying.
in different ways and without CO.
operation, to carry on the work of
1"Americanizing" our foreign popula-
ton BY the plan which the bureau
of education is now putting into eff
feet, thru its division of Immigrant
education, all of these organizations
are being united into great national
system, which will work by uniform
| and scientific methods to teach our
foreign-born population English, and
! the American viewpoint and ideals.
The bureau of education is aided In
| this work by the council of national
defense. and also by an advisory COM
mittee of one hundred representative
American citizens. The state councils
on Americanization, which are the ex-
ecutive heads of the work in the var1-
| Gus states, and are engaged in unity
| ing and directing the work OF all or
| the other orga niZationS that can help-
These include state and municipal leg
| islative bodies, women's clubs, indus
| trial concerns, church societies, news
papers, libraries. labor unions. sboards
| of education and schools. chambers of
commerce, bureaus of immigration, Y.
! M Z. A.
patriotic and social organizations.
Many of these organizations have al
| ready been working at the problem in
| their own ways. The bureau of edu-
cation is helping them by publishing
| and distributing programs adapted to
each type of organization, and by act
| ing as an expert adviser to all OF the4-l.
This is a work in which almost any
patriotic citizen, in a community
which includes aliens, may take useful
part.
| At present this work is dependent
for funds upon state and municipal
| appropriations and the various or
| CARNATIONS engaged in the work. But
| it is quite commonly believed that the
this large and important work. and
bills providing for such assistance are
in preparation.
| Meantime it is being carried on with
| enthusiasm by many local organ1za-
tions. The country is fully aroused to
| the need for a unified nation behind
| the fighting lines. Industrial concerns
which in the past have been fndiffer-
| ent to the fact that many of their
workmen could not read English and
KNEW nothing of American institu-
lions, aroused by the destruction of
property which disloyai aliens have
| caused and the labor troubles which
have been fomente1 among ignorant
immigrants, are eagerly cooperating
with the bureau of education. State
legislatures and city councils are
passing without opposition laws nee
essary to the work of Americanixa-
| ton, which have been defeated or
| triotic citizens everywhere are offer
| ing their services; hundreds of thou
sands of native and foreign birth have
Joined in this movement to make a
united America
The New York state department of
education, which, has co-operated
with the bureau of education in its
characterization work for many years.
has just obtained the passage by the
which are considered ideal. The first
of these appropriates twenty thousand
dollars for the training of teachers to
teach immigrants English and civics;
| the second makes school attendance
| compulsory for all illiterate and nom
| English speaking persons between the
ages of 16 and 81 years; the thir
provides that local boards of educa-
ton must maintain day, evening or
industrial classes for immigrants
wherever there are twenty of them
| who apply for instruction. The bu-
reau of education believes the passage
| of such laws in each of the fifteen
principal immigration states will be d
great step toward giving immigrants
greater educational advantages.
The first and chief purpose of the
Americanization program everywhere
is to teach English to the immigrant.
| A knowledge of English is the open
sesame to social and business>oppor-
tunity, and a perquisite to an under
standing of American ideals and pur-
poses. But the process cannot stop
with the teaching of English, and
cannot always begin with it. The i'm
migrant must first be induced to come
to the class. Furthermore, owing
especially to the fact that an active
anti-American propaganda is being
country. a pro-American course of
teaching is just as necessary as the
teaching of English itself.
migrant must be reached where he
works and where he lives: the mat
ter cannot be left wholly to the schools
and to compulsory attendance laws.
The cooperation of the industries is
therefore vitality necessary. These
4 are each being urged by the bureau
of education to appoint a special Of
fetal whose duty it shall be to in
duce the immigrant workmen to at
tend night school. learn English and
get vocational training. They are also
to insert in pay envelopes notices
printed in foreign languages, describ-
ing evening school facilities and the
advantages Of learning English; to
register all non-English speaking en-
ployes and to hold plant meetings
where school teachers, officials and
others can address the employees on
the subject of Americanization. This
program is already being carried out
with great success in many large in
dustrial plants
The irnpoiUra Mt woman is neCeSSa r
lily much harder to reach than the i'm
migrant man, and this makes the co..
operation of women's clubs and or
ganizations of all kinds especially val
liable. The foreign home is much
, more exclusive than the American
home, and therefore the immigra nj
woman who does not work outside OF
Il IL ial 20 I'd oh,