Weekly journal-miner., 1919-03-12
OF ILLITERATE |S
 A NECESSITY
(From Tuesdays Daily.)

Commerce yesterday went on reCoIu' favoring a bill which has been intro duced in Congress which will enable tine department of the interior through the bureau of eductation to take up the whole matter of the er- adication of illiteracy and the promo ton of Americanization, jointly with the States on the big plane which the problem demans. Senator Ashurst is member of the committee on educa- ton to which committee this bill has been referred.
 At tne present time the illiterates and non-English speaking outnum- Der all the people that live in Neva- da, Wyoming, Delaware, Arizona, Idaho, Mississippi, Vermont, Rhode Island, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oregon, Maine, Florida, Connecticut, and Washington combined. There are eight millions of these people. They will outvote the combine popu- lations of greater New York, Phila delphia and Chicago, or any State in the Union except New York.
 These outstanding facts demand the immediate consideration of the na- ton. The war has demonstrated some of the dangers from the large num- bers of foreign-born citizens who have not been definitely assimilated or Americanized. It also brought forth thousands upon thousands of men, native-born Americans for many generations, who can not read or write. These eight million people must be educated at least sufficient ly to read an American newspaper and to know something of what it means to be an American.
 This is a national problem. The south leads in illiterates. The north leads in non-Engish speaking.
 To meet this problem Senator Hoke Smith has introduced in the Senate and Honorable William B. Bank head, in the house the Smith-Bank head Americanization bill Senate bill 5464 and house Bill 154O2 This bill directs the bureau of education to cooperate with the several states in the education of the above mem toned peoples and in the preparation of teachers for the work. The ap~ propriations begin at once and end in 1926 A State, to secure the money, acts through its chief officer and shalfnot participate until 1t has requi+- cd the instruction of illiterate and non-English speaking minors more than sixteen years of age, in the English language for at least 200 hours per year Federal money shall be used for salaries, or training teach CTS only and no federal money shall be used for buildings or equipment or for support of religious or private schools. Each State receives money in. proportion to the number of her illiterates and persons unable to speak English are compared to the total number of such persons in the United States. The other provisions of the act concern details of adminis- tration. In addition to the obovc bill introduced by Senator Smith, he has also introduced educational bill s 49- 87, which includes all the essential of the above mentioned bill and sew eral others of equal importance, as well as one provision of such com prehensive nature as to make the bill the greatest piece of educational legislation ever put before congress. This bill provides for the creation of an Executive Department of Educa- ton with secretary in the presidents cabinet. This department would take over the present bureau of education and would also be given charge of all ! other branches of educational work now distributed among various other departments, such as the navy, war and interior departments It would recognize the dignity of education as equal to the other activities which ] have long had this recognition.
 Both of these bills received serious consideration by the Americaniza- ton Committee, of which Professor Martin is the chairman and the Chamber of Commerce has asked for the cooperation and support of the Arizona congressional delegation in these important matters.