Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-06-01
BY NEwBOLD MOVES.

icINEL Is d WOrQ OelnR spoken
throughout the country. 1t is
cried In ADMIRATION, whispered
IN hope, sung in promise. 1t
Is on the tongues of department chiefs
ana government agents. of immigra-
ton authorities. municipal officials.
national and state legislators and So
clal workers. 1t is word that de-
fines a situation. warns of a peril.
embraces a dream and points out a
path. But to the great body of the
American people it remains today only
word. vague and impracticable. 1t
is Americanization.
Believing in that word even before
I understood it in it's fullness. 1 have
studied the principles involved in it's
present-day usage. 1 have talked
with members of the cabinet, with
bureau chiefs. with our national legis-
lators and with educational authori-
ties. I have asked for their defini-
tions, learned their proposed methods
OF solution and glimpsed the motivat-
ing patriotism back of their agita-
ton. 1 have sifted the data placed
at my disposal. freeing it from the
verbosity of public utterance and the
redundancy of the written word I
want to give that which remains in
my sieve, the gist of the matter, to
you.
People Sense an Ideal.
I have said that to the great body
of the American people Americaniza-
ton is only a word. 1t has the added
disadvantage of being a long word.
An ideal is sensed, an ideal for some
one else. The fact that an ideal is
involved does not preclude the
stronger fact of intense practicable
fty. 1t does not mean that you are
absolved from your share of the
homely effort involved in reaching
for the ideal. say with all earnest
ness that there is no word more
pregnant with opportunities for prac-
teal achievement or more important
for universal comprehension than this
Observation-Disclosures l am going
to discuss it in all simplicity-as 1
should wish it might be discussed
with me.
What is the ideal of Americaniza-
ton; or, to avoid the use of the word
ideal, what is the purpose of Ameri-
canization?
To put into the heart Of each resi-
dent OF the United States, without
paternalism or patronage. the tradi-
tional spirit of our country.
/ To Accomplish Its Purpose.
How can the purpose of Americana
cation be accomplished?
BY national and state legislation
whereby the opportunities for grasp
ing that traditional spirit may be
placed in the hands of those now
lacking it. BY awakening in the con-
seriousness of all who have. through
greater opportunity, already grasped
that spirit, sense of their RESPONSE
bility toward helping those who lack
1t to its attainment. BY deporting
and excluding from the privileges OF
the United States those who are pat
emily out of sympathy with that
spirit.
That, I believe, is the gist of the
matter reduced to terms which, while
perhaps possible of further beneficial
reduction, are a step toward simplifi-
cation.
Let us expand a little. l wanted to
know. and you will want to know, the
figures that cry aloud the need for
them. I found that out of some So
900, 900 persons over ten years of age
in this country the ratio of the Army
tests upon our draft Army give us
100000 who, because of illiteracy
or inability to speak or read our Ian
priving the nation of the benefits of
AUGMENTATION. 1 found that a mean
between this ratio and that of the
census gives us 100000. To avoid
the possibility of exaggeration, this
latter figure may be adopted. 1 found
that the means today at the disposal
of those interested in combating this
condition are utterly inadequate.
Great Flood of immigration.
I found that up to the beginning of
the war 100000 immigrants a year
that illiteracy was not a sectional but
a national problem. 1 found that
there are thirty-eight different Ian
guage groups in the United States. l
was shown statistics demonstrating
the Proclamation of illiterates among
the radical elements of the country.
was shown figures which proved to
me conclusiveIy. through the simple
process of multiplying the number of
illiterates by the five additional dol
lars earned by a person who can use
his mind over the wages of the
drudge, that >the earning power of
the United States would be increased
by a figure well over 100000. 900
upon complete Americanization.
Those figures were enough for me,
as they will be for you-when di-
gested. Then I went on to find out
how important are our present IA
cilities for coping with the situation.
I learned that the United States spends
twice as much in a year for chewing
gum as for school books; more for
automobiles than for all primary and
secondary education. in which the
average teachers salary is less than
that of the average day laborer ]
learned that tens of thousands of
native-born American children are
being taught American history in a