Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-02-16

to speak and read the English ian.
guage and unacquainted with Amer.
lean institutions and ideals consti.
tuted a serious national peril.
This peril is modified. of course. bu1
not removed by the ending of the war
| 1t is among the non English- spea king
classes, to very large extent, thai
! bolshevism and anarchy find the sol
for taking root.
Eight Million of Them.
Qliterate and English spea kina
persons in the United States outnum.
Der all the people that live in Nevada
Wyoming, Delaware, Arizona, Idaho
Mississippi. Vermont, Rhode Island
North Dakota, South Dakota, Oregon
Maine, Florida, Connecticut ant
Washington combined.
There are eight millions of these
people. They will outvote the com.
bined populations of greater New
York. Philadelphia and Chicago, OIL
any state in the Union except New
York.
These eight million people must BIZ
educated at least sufficiently to read
an American newspaper and to know
some thing of what it means to be ar
American.
This is a national problem. The
south leads in illiterates. The north
leads in nom English speaking. Seven
teen and one-fourth per cent of the
people of the east-south-central
states are illiterate. but 1873 per cent
of the people of Passaic. n. j., cannot
| read, speak or write English. Six
teen per cent of the people of the
south Atlantic states are illiterate.
and so are 1872 per cent of the people
of Lawrence and Fall River, Mass.
Bill Pending in Congress.
To meet this problem Senator Hoke
Smith has introduced in the Senate
House the Smith-Bankhead ,Ameri-
ca nization bill.
This bill directs the bureau of edu-
cation to cooperate with the several
states in the education of the above
mentioned peoples and in the prepara-
ton of teachers for the work. The
appropriations begin at once and end
in 1926.
A state, to secure the money, acts
through it's chief school officer, and
shall not participate until 1t has re-
quired the instruc tion of illiterate and
non -English-speaking minors more
than sixteen years of age in the Eng
lish language for at least 200 hours
per year.
Federal money shall be used for
salaries or training teachers only. and
no federal money shall be used for
ri
OF religious or private schools. Each
state receives money in proportion to
the number of her illiterates and per-
sons unable to speak English as COM
pared to the total number of such
persons in the United States.
Mr.. Lane on Americanism.
Addressing an audience of foreign
born residents in New York recently.
Franklin X. Lane, Secretary of the
Interior, had this to say of American
ism and of the need of teaching it to
those who come from other lands to
seek a home here.
"Our boys went across the water.
Never let us hesitate to speak their
glorious names in pride--our boys
went across the water because they
were filled with the spirit that has
made America spirit that meets
challenge; spirit that wants to help.
Combine these two qualities and you
have the essence of Americanism-a
spirit symbolized by the Washington
Monument; that clean, straight arm
lifted to heaven in eternal pledge that
our land shall always be independent
and free.
"Tonight in Paris the President of
this country, called by duty-your
President, my President-out of ms
knowledge of what war can do, out OF
a sense of it's barbarity, is wotk ing
that a better day may be brought
about. He has invoked the genius OF
Europe to devise with him the ma.
ch.nery by which this curse may at
least be minimized.
How Meaning Is Visualized.
IF you will visualize Woodrow VIII
son at the council table striving Tor
the happiness of mankind, together
with the boy in khaki whose sense OF
loyalty carried him into the ArSohiie
forest, there to perish for the mlg s
of right, you have a picture OF Inc
spirit Of that Americanism when is
worthy of the tradition and living
hope of our country.
How best may we spread that spirit
through the 1and--how best can we
explain our purposes and interpret
our systems?
Through the community council,
through the school ] am maklng an
appeal to Congress on behalf OF an
appropriation which will permit us
to deliver from bondage thousanas'
tens of thousands. millions or chll-
dren and men and women IN Inese
United States-to liberate them from
the binders of ignorance, that All
the wealth and beauties of literature
and the knowledge that comes through
the printed word can be reVealeo 10
them.
Congress will be asked to help all
states willing to cooperate In pan
fishing illiteracy.
And / want you to help We want to
interpret America in terms OF 1alr
play; in terms of the square deal. we
want. in the end, to interpret Amer
lea in healthier babies that have
enough milk to drink. We want
TO interpret America in boys ana glris
and men and women that can read and
write We want to interpret America
In better housing conditions and de-
cent wsxes. in hours that VIII allow ~