The Washington herald., 1919-04-14
TO START DRIVE
ON ALIENS HERE.
Secretary Lane Plans to
Americanize Huge For
eign Population.

At the national conference Of Ameri-
canization workers here during the
week of May II Secretary of the In
terror Lane plans to give his intensive
Americanization drive sufficient mo-
mentum to keep It going at full speed
until all the peoples of the various ma
tionalities in the United States are
merged into perfectly homogeneous
citizenship.
The Secretary believes that illiteracy
can be wiped out. foreign languages
supplanted by English and aliens
taught a love Of America and its
ideals. He has presented it to Presi-
dent Wilson as one Of the two big in
ternal questions of the day. He said
yesterday:
The war clearly demonstrated that
the traditional American melting pot
had ceased to function properly. Every
important city has its foreign colony.
In these communities conditions are
just as foreign as those the aliens left
behind when they came to America "
80 ShN e'Nbioh VI new tne
Department of Interior discovered
recently. small foreign colony re-
ceives its news from a crier, who
walks up and down the streets
shouting the latest news.
The greater proportion of the peo-
pie in these colonies cannot read or
write or speak English. Many of
them got an entirely erroneous con-
ception of the purpose of the United
| states in entering the war. They
were forced to rely on interpreters,
who. in many cases, were enemy
propagandists.
-Four hundred thousand of the
/ first 100000 drafted men could not
speak English" said Secretary Lane.
| They could not even sign the pay
/ roll. At Camp Upton it was neces-
sary to translate military orders
into forty different languages"
Millions of Initerates.
In 1910 there were $500. 900 native
illiterates in the United States, ac-
| cording to official reports of the Cen
sus Bureau. This figure was greatly
overshadowed by the Surgeon Gen
erals reports on illiteracy in the
draft army. The Department Of the
! IhltI lOT ilO" COHSeTNdllNtty tsll :
mates that the non-English speak
/ ing and illiterate persons combined
| exceed 10000, 900.
Examination of the departments
| statistics shows that 2,400 cities
have more than 500 foreign born
residents.
Our plan" continued Mr.. Lane,
| rs to develop machinery in the
various States by which we can CO.
! ordinate all the different agencies.
such as labor organizations. indus
| tries and educational institutions.
There will be a head center in each
State. which will work through
! local committees. Eventually we
| hope to effect an organization in
| each community which will have
| two objects in view-Americaniza
ton of Americans and Americaniza-
ton of aliens"
The first step in the intensive
drive. said the Secretary. will be
the passage by Congress of the
Americanization bill. This legisla-
! tion, which failed OF passage at the
| last session. will enable the Depart
ment to carry out it's plans on a
| broad and comprehensive scale. II
will be vigorously urged at the com
ing special session. Mr.. Lane hopes
to have the work we'll under way in
| the early fall. The Americanization
bill carries appropriations OF s12.-
100000 annually for seven years.