Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-01-25
INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY
SEEN AS UNREST CURE
Teaching of Americanism That Will Bring
"One-Language" Plants Is Urged
by Economic Writer

already adopted with great success in
one or two other cities. Another plan
provided for a resurrection of the
-four minute men, who spoke so ef-
fectively for the liberty loan cam
paigns during the war, in which
American principles would be pre-
scented in theaters, schools. and SO on
in four minutes. Other proposals.
many of them very valuable SO far
as they go. provide for the wide
teaching of the English language in
night schools, shop schools and the
like. This is actually being done in
many places.
"One-Language" Plants.
] know of one plant in Milwaukee.
tannery. where 406 foreign-born en-
ployes recently completed nine weeks
instruction in the English language
speaking, reading. writing and arith-
metic. They had an hour every day
for five days each week on the COM
pany's time and without loss of wages.
The results were excellent. There are
said to be 500 industrial plants in
America where work of this sort is
being carried on. 1t is not only good
for the workers. but it pays the en-
ployer to have a "one-language
plant Certain cities. like Cleveland,
have begun serious campaigns TO
teach English to foreigners. and there
has been a wide revival of the inter-
est in night schools and adult schools
There have also been many propos-
ais to forward the same end by law.
In it's report, after investigating the
steel strike, the Senate committee
a change in our natu-
ralization laws to require some edu-
cation of all foreigners, at least to the
extent of speaking the American Ian
guage," and providing that if they do
not acquire this knowledge within
five years after their arrival they may
be deported.
All of these suggestions. though
some of them indicate an extraordi-
nary failure to visualize the stipend
Gus nature of the problem they are at
lacking so lightly, are significant OF
one great fact. and this is the con-
viction that the melting pot" idea Of
America has failed-the idea that
merely being in America was enough.
by some kind of magic hocus-pocus.
to turn vast numbers of foreigners of
old and resistant races into good
Americans.
1s,oO0yoOO Immigrants Since 1897.
Consider this familiar and yet al
ways startling fact. that in the last
twenty-five years. since 1897 = the
period Of the greatest expansion OF
American industry-more than 15.o0o.-
900 immigrants have come to America.
Twice as many people as there are to-
day in all Canada! A stupendous mi
grafton, Unlike the earlier immi-
grants. who distributed themselves
more evenly throughout the nation.
these later peoples have tended to
settle in indigestible Jumps in the in
dustrial regions. Foreigners largely
dominate the great basic industries
Of the nation-coal steel, oil. textiles.
the packing houses and the clothing
trades. We have been so confident of
the magic of the melting pot. so busy
making money. that we were blind to
these masses of foreigners, American
institutions were being transformed
by them. After an investigation of
certain conditions in the textile in
dustry eight years ago 1 wrote:
American workmen with American
standards have largely disappeared
from the textile industry. and even
the solid English and Scotch workers
are now flying before the immigrants
from southern Europe. who can, or
will attempt to. exist on lower wages.
The tendency is all toward grading
downward. The danger is that these
low-living. hopeless conditions are be-
coming the established mode of life
They may become the typical Ameri-
can conditions"
What Is to BE Said to Thems
There is. indeed, much to be done
with education, with the teaching of
English. with instruction in Ameri-
can ideas, but these things barely
scratch the surface of the problem.
When we get them SO that they
can understand u.s. asks one critic
pertinently, what are we going to
say to them?"
Americanism has got to be learned
as the original Americans learned it.
by practice, by great freedom to talk.
to read, to associate One great fount
of Americanism was the New Eng
land town meeting, representing free
association, free discussion, common
effort. But the masses of foreigners
in many industries are prevented
from having either free associations
among themselves to affect their own
lives, or free association or co-opera-
ton with the management to make
industry more efficient and produce
tive And in some cases the condi-
lions of their employment are such
that they could not possibly avail
themselves of such agencies of Amer
icanism" if they had them.
met a Serbian steel worker at
Gary who said to me passionately:
."They accuse us OF not becoming
Americans. When do we get time?
Can a man working in blast furnace
and anybody knows that amt no
boys job-twelve hours a day. or even
ten hours. get time to learn English
or learn anything else? What in hell
do they expect Of us?'
They have, indeed. night schools in
Gary and in other steel centers. but,
as one teacher told me plaintively. not
many come for very long. They
can't keep awake" he said. Father
Kazincy, a Polish priest in Pennsyi-