New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-09
wild, let them study the situation il
Russia.
No Polyglot Boarding House

AS a man who remembers a neglected
duty while away from home and, upon
returning, goes directly to it with CLINT
in his eye that bcspeaks determination
to remedy the oversight without delay.
Uncle Sam is back from the war and
turning his step toward the backyard,
where the melting pot has been bubbling
almost unobserved for years. The war
had demonstrated that some of the ingots
being turned out were not up to specif-
cations, and America, now that the big
job across the water is we'll in hand, is
interesting itself in discovering what is
causing the flaws in the amaIgam.
That is the significance of the Ameri-
canization movement. Theodore Roose-
welt, in that message that was given to
the world the morning Of his DEATH with
that genius for expression which was so
peculiarly his, defined it thus
eve intend to see that the crucible
turns people out as Americans, not
jewellers in polygot boarding house"
First, Of course, it is necessary to de-
termne what is an American so that
there may be standard toward which to
strive. When all is said and done, being
an American means more than can be
put into words, but, making allowance
for the limitations of language, there
probably is no better definition than this,
taken from Nicholas Murray Buffers
"rhe American as He Is:
"The typical American is he who,
whether rich poor whether dwelling
in the North South, East or West
whether scholar, professional man, mer-
chant, manufacturer, farmer skilled
worker for wages, lives the life of good
citizen and 81 good neighbor; who be-
lieves, Loyalty and with all his heart, in
his country's institutions and in the I'M
DERIVING principles on which these insti
tutions are built; who directs both his
private and his public life by sound prin-
cples; who cherishes high ideals and who
aims to train his children for a useful
life and for their country's service"
How much of that ideal can be at
tanned, or even approXmated, by the for
eigner to whom America means living in
New York tenement surrounded by for
eigners like himself who speak only the
language of his native land. or the for
eigner who is herded into a New England
factory town or Pennsylvania collery?
America is not home to him; he lives in
polygot boarding house This is this
foreigners mental reaction, says Secre-
tary Lane:
$50 this is America. A scramble for
living Much to see, but no one TO inter
pref it all SO thought this new Ameri-
can He can find no one to make
him see the greater America. The whole
Of this continent is to him the cramped
apartment, the dirty street, and the
sweatshop or the factory. To the sweep
Of the great land and it's many beckon-
ings his eyes arc closed. And in his
isolation and ignorance and disappoint-
ment there is fruitful nesting place for
all the hurtfu microbes that attack So
cicty"
The problem is plain enough; the solu-
ton is not so easy Many plans are being
considered and many organizations are
busy with the qucstion--too many, per-
haps, for the present good of the move
mcnt. There is danger that the cand-
| date for Amcricanization may become