Cayton's weekly. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1916-1921, 1920-02-28

ton, and that II you try to 90 so you will
make him more dangerous than he was be-
fore Take, for example, theh Russians that
come to this country. Very many Of them
hate any government. 10 them, government
is obnoxious The more you teach them the
more dangerous they become. You will not
Americanize them-you will make them dan
gerous enemies Of all governments. The
mere fact that man is taught to read write,
and understand English will not American
ize him. . Anarchists who come to
this country do not become Americanized-
they remain anarchists, and present eXper-
fence is demonstrating that fact. Educate
them and they become just so much the
more dangerous" Senator Frelinghuysen
ventured to say that every man deported in
the cred ark was a man Of education He
might have said and with equal truth, that
there were very few senators who have the
education of Emma Goldman and perhaps
not one whose education is equal to that of
Lenin. lie might have gone on to point out
that the most dangerous Bolshevists now in
America are little group Of millionaires
university professors, clergymen, and college
graduates and that there are some two or
three weekly newspapers in America, famous
alike for their little literary excelences and
their communist excuses. Evidently we
can not attain to the desirable goal Of Ameri-
canization by any educational process what
soever Education may be-, and unquestiOn-
ably is, a most desirable thing. But let us
not ask too much Of it. 1t will not change
the skin OF the Ethiopian nor the spots of the
leopard. AT the present time it is rather
more like y to turn conservatives into radi-
calls than it is to turn radicals into conserva-
tives.
But perhaps there is way to Amercanze
the alien, and perhaps the alien could tell
us what that way is That is where we have
made our mistake-we have not consulted the
alien himself. We have TRANQUILITY assumed
that the Russian immigrant, for instance
will be so overcome by the glories of Amer
lea in comparison with the miseries Of Rus
STA that he will forthwith offer up peaens
Of praise, renounce his old ideals, and sing
our patriotic anthems from an overlooking
heart. 1t has never occurred to us that the
new arrival will feel lonely and even a little
frightened and that small measure of hos
pitality and kindness would do more to
Amercanize him than even the binomial
theorem or compulsory learning by heart Of
the Declaration of Independence Sometimes
we get sharp reminder that the immigrant
does not always look upon us as we COM
placently look upon ourselves and that even
our most Wanted virtues are not always
quite visible to him. [ think it is Stephen
Graham who tells us somewhere that he
once met an old Russian jew stolidly tramp
ing eastward through one of the Middle
States. Interested in all Russians, Graham
asked the old fellow where he was going.
Back to Russia was the reply. "Don't
you like it here?' asked Graham. "The
country is a good country to earn money"
answered the jew, ''but the people here are
cruel to strangers They have no love in
their hearts. They laugh at my garb and
my long hair, and if | ask even for glass
OF water at a farm house they set the dogs
on me. But are things better in Russia?"
said Graham. "Remember you are Jew"
''4es, | know all about that" said the old
man. but at least I shall be on holy soil,
and | shall be among men who love each
other.' [ have told the story in my own
words and from memory, but that old man
had looked for something in America that
he had not found. And for him it was so
great thing that he preferred Russia and