The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-06-05
WOMEN Is
MEN FOR Citizenship

ri il hard to say which tmen or
women) seemed more eager 70 learn.
Minp Mary b. ForAn says OF her cltl-
xenship classes in Rockdale. Ill.
was deeply regretted by both students
and teachers when we closed.
Il The Rockdale school for the foreign
born 10 the result OF a concerted enort
or tho part Of the naturalization bureau
Of the department OF labor and many
other agencies, and its success Is an
argument for such unified effort Rock
dale Is suburb OF Joliet. ILL.,, an indus
trial city OF which almost thtnd or
the population 10 foreign born Al
most every race on the globe Is repre-
scented in Joliet. The necessity IN such
xenship II obvious. II Is true that
classes for foreigners have been main
tanned In Joliet since the bureau OF
naturalization first established the
union between the federal government
and the local public school systems,
which Is today Transforming the alien
population OF this country into loyal
citizens. But recently the UNIFIED eff
fort of many different agencies has Sc
cured most inspiring results.
The reason for this success is that
Joliet's public-snirited men and women
have united with the federal govern
ment In q dehnite concrete. practical
program. The aim has been: To estah-
lish classes In the public school for
the citizenship education OF the for
eign born; to get those who should
have this instruction into the classes.
to have subject matter and methods
the best possible for the purpose: to
make the school life ceAter of real
social life where various nationalftieg
might be at one with each other and
with the native Americans. There Ia
no way of making citizens out OF
aliens other than this.
Itsis interesting to see how the vari-
Gus spublic-spirited men and women
have worked together. Mrs Joseph
Campbell, chairman. Americanixation
of patriotic service to the cause. She
visited practically all the industrial
plants In Joliet and urged the advan-
tage and necessity OF citixenship
training for the foreign born EN-
ployes: she also promoted the raising
of funds for carrying on the educa
,tional work. The American Steel ard
Wire company through its representa-
tive. Louis f.. Booth, gave funds and
personal service toward furthering the
project; r. O. Stoons. the city superin-
tenrdent of schools, co-operated 10y
ally, donating his services without
compensation because OF his great In
terest In the work; p. r. Matthias, OF
the Illinois Steel company. recruited
one class Of eighty members: Miss
Margaret Haley. president of the Cath
Ole Woman's league. aided the move
msnt. Az iid many" 81 The leaders among
the foreigners.
The same spirit pervaded the suburb
OF Rockdale, according to Miss Foran's
report to the naturalization examiner.
When the Unexpectedly large number
OF e28 forefKnhnrn menand women
we're enrolled in the citizenship classes.
of which Miss Foran was to have
charge. 1t was evident that the local
school system did not have the neces-
sary funds. In the emergency pri-
vate interests came forward and Of
fered the required amount. which. in
order to prevent undue delay. was
gratefully accepted. Nearly all of
the students. Miss Foran stated, were
verys very earnest" One fine feature
OF the work which went FAR toward
making the school both popular and
successful. was the fifteen minute
period after class which was spent in
the assembly hall singing patriotic
songs. dancing. playing games. and
having that genuine human. friendly
good time which draws people to-
gether