Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-10-14
|AMER|CAN|zAT|ON
WORK HAMPERED
Influenza Halted Meetings Ar
ranged by Women's
Committee

| had been scheduled tor last week, bu
they were of necessity cancelled, but thu
meetings will be announced as soon as thu
ban has been lifted on public gatherings
Meanwhile the AmerIcanization work
in the Defense Councils office goes busily
foreward II is under the general direction
Of the governor. Everett G. johnson
director of the State Defense Council
| Miss Esther Everett Lape, as Organising
director Of the AmcricanIzation work, and
| David Snellenburg. and Mrs James N.
| Ginns. of the State AmericanlzatIon
! Committee.
| AMERIC ANIzATION OF DRAFTED MEN.
| This is an emergency war task that
| could not wait. A request from Washing
| ton from the Provost Marshal General,
asks that non-English speaking draftees
be taught English before they go TO the
! csntonments.
| During the past week the Amcricaniza-
| ton Committee of the State Defense
| Council has therefore had workers en-
| gagged at the various draft boards, by
authorization of Attorney General Wick
| ersham. taking off the questionnaires
the names Of men who do not speak
| English The Defense Council has taken
the names of all the non-English speaking
men in Glass IA and 1T is also taking the
|
! those who claim exemption rs aliens.
| These classified men, or some OF them At
| least, are very likely TO be moved mp TO
| Glass because of the provisions of
treaties now signed or under way. For
| instance, we have now treaty with
| Greece which provides that after "A certain
| time Greek aliens in this country may be
| drafted into the American Army unless
| they have already enlisted IN the Greek
| trnv. 4 similar treaty with Italy IS al
| most completed This means that great
many Italians nov IN Class > as Aliens
will automatically be moved up TO Class l.
Many of them are llhtera,s
BOARD OF INSTRUCTION WORKING.
Provost Marshal General Crovder in
| Washington has called attention TO the
! fact that men who are sent TO the can
tonmcnts without any knowledge Of
| English are a great draw back. He has
asked the Board Of Instruction through
| out the country associated with the local
| draft boards to undertake the task oi
| giving these men al least a working knowi-
| edge OF English Here in Wilmington the
| task has been assumed jointly by the State
| Council Of Defense, by the Boards OF
| instruction, Of which John ]. Satterth-
waite is chairman, and by the Board OF
| Education, with the cooperation OF Mr..
Miller and Mr.. Scott.
The State Council workers at the
draft boards this week report that they
! have. TO date, 500 names Of non-Engiisll
| speaking men likely TO be called from
| Wilmington Next week every one OF
| these men will receive the following letter,
| saving
! 1T is the request Of the Provost Mar
| Shall General that men who do not speak
| English well and who are drafted or likely
to to drafted into our National Army,
shall learn English before they 90 y
/ camp
f, The Delaware State CouuriI u De
| tense and the Board Of Instruction there
| fore request YOU 70 attend = meeting at
- on - This meeting Is for the
purpose Of organizing men who do not
/, speak English into CLASSES Tor instruction
/ IN military English before going 70 camp.
/ You are urgently requested to be present
in order that you may re assigned 70 =
| class.
| ONLY MILITARY English 10 Be TAUGHT.
/ The State Defense Council has secured
/ from the various cump~ and cantonmcnt.
in the country all the material or sets OF
| lessons IN military English that have been
| used 70 instruct men that have arrived at
! the cantOnments without sufficient know!-
F., edge OF English even to follow commands
or understand their officers The State
| Defense Council is having published this
week q series OF these lessons for IIse here
| In Wilmington The series consists OF
50 lessons built up entirely On the camp
| life and the drill The lessons have ac-
| tllally been tried out with groups OF
| foreign-born men in the camps and have
| been found to work The present series
| is from Camp Upton. where there were at
| one time ! 500 men who did not speak
| English 1t il terrific additional burden
| for the camps 10 have to instruct men
| who cannot even understand simple
| orders The training OF 50 many raw re-
/ crIits IN hurry taxes every resource OF
! the officers without the additional burden
| Of teaching men English.
| Even III a few weeks, If we have the
| right set of lessons and the right personnel
in the teachers, men can be taught
| enough camp English before they go TO
! enable them to become good soldiers.
! In order to get some military assistant
| for this teaching work the State Defense
! Council took up the matter with Major
/ duEal colnnaudln9 officer a Fort du
| Pont, and with Major Wller al the bar
| racks in Wilmington Both Of these com
/ In4ndera report that their forces are 50 de-
! pleted BY The influenza li2 being i'll II
I Fort du Pont and 90 out Of POO 81 the bar
F.; racks that it i impossible 70 detail! men
! tor this service now. Both hope to Co
F.! operate ia Il few weeks Meanwhile a
/ teaching force will be rallied ia Whining
ION, for there Is no time TO lose.
INDUSTRIAL AMERIC AVIATION.
Everett G Johnson. director general OF
the State Defense Council has announced
that the cruN Of the whole Amcricaniza-
tion situation In Delaware as elsewhere, il
industrial and that the State program is
proceeding upon that basis As soon az
meetings are permitted, an executive
conference Of The employers Of the State,
employing foreign-born labor will be
called by the governor The purpose Of
the conference l. 70 get Delaware indus
tries solidly behind the State Afnericaniza-
ton program The State Defense Coun-
Gil has prepared a list Of about 70 in
dllstrles in which ii finds that immigrant
labor is a considerable factor Twenty
five Of these industries are on the War
Industries Boards priority list, and
number Of the others have government CON
tracts or sub-contracts What this means,
Of course is that foreign-born labor in
Delaware right now, Is o very important
factor in the war production Of the State
1T is these facts id Miss Lape yes
terday. which the Defense Council be
lieves makes il imperative 10 ask busy
EMPLOYERS to come together To agree upon
an industrial AmeTicanIzation policy. Al
the proposed conference, which will be