The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1920-11-07
What 1t Is. Why 1t Is
Needed And Who Is Doing The Work
.

Since the World War, many new
words have been added to our work
ing vocabulary. some entirely new,
some expressing ideas formerly ex-
pressed by other words, and old
words expressing an old thought have
come into general use again. Among
The latter is the word "Americaniza-
tion. To those of us living away
from the coastal towns and the larger
cities and industrial centers, this
word held no particular significance.
The majority OF US, If We gave
moments thought 10 the application
Of the word, visualized stream Of
foreigners landing on our shores,
who had to be taught our ways. In
other words, We thought that Aneri-
.canisn and Anericanlzation applied
only to the stranger within our
gates, and not 10 those born and rear
ed in this country. And We let the
matter rest there, not giving it an
other thought.
:. With Americas entrance into the
war We suddenly awoke to the fact
that whoever was responsible in max
ing good citizens out of our foreign
born, had fallen down on the job.
In those days the German born or the
eitizen Of German descent who was
not in sympathy with our determine
tion to run the kaiser and his crowd
out OF office appealed to US as the
only ones who needed to be Ameri-
cAni2ed
Then came the cal to the colors.
The response differed in various To-
caiities, and in any one locality there
WAS considerable variation in the
way the call was answered. Then
followed the Red Cross, Liberty Loan
and other drives. And we found
there were certain Of our own native
born OF other than German ancestry
that needed Americanizing. While
We knew there were different degrees
OF Americanism among the German
and other foreign born, We never
thought for a moment that It could
apply to our neighbor, whose father
and grandfather were born in this
country. The term "un-American"
came into general use again, and the
work Of making good Americans"
out Of certain people began. The
world Americanism and Americaniza-
ton took on different meaning.
Just what does the world mean?
Let me quote from an address by
one Of the presidential candidates;
"Americanization Is but another word
for construction. Americanism is not
= selfishness. 1t means that we so
love this freedom Of America that
wherever in the whole world the
name Of America Is mentioned it shall
mean honor, loyalty, progress, hu-
manity, peace"
gress. humanity, peace. AL Of this
is contained in the Sermon on the
Mount. That big American, Theodore
Roosevelt preached and practiced it
in his square deal" A book on
ethics and morals would be written
IN the attempt to explain what Am
ericanism Is, and much space would
be taken up In explaining what it
IS not. To me, one Of the finest
recipes for creating Americanism is
contained In the preamble to the con-
sttution Of the American Legion,
which is as follows: For God. and
Country, we associate ourselves to-
gether for the following purposes:
To uphold and defend the Consutu
ton Of the United States OF Ameri-
ca; 70 maintain law and order; to
fostar and narnaf,,afa O apa hupdrad
per cent Americanism; to preserve
tha-memories and Incidents Of our
association In the great war; to in
culcate a sense of individual obliga-
ton to the community, state and ma
ton, to combat the autocracy Of
both the classes and the masses; to
make right the master of might; to
promote peace and good will on earth;
to safeguard and transmit to poster
ity the principles Of justice. freedom
and democracy: to consecrate and
sanctify our comradeship by our devo-
ton to mutual helpfulness." If the
purposes for which we are banded
together are carried out. nothing but
100 per cent Americanism can
result This preamble will be re-
ferred to many times in this issue,
and you cannot read it too many
times.
OH and water will not mix, and
this country cannot afford to swal-
low a horde from the four corners
OF the earth that cannot be digested
and assimilated. We have entered
new era Of civilization, new
epoch, and II we cannot assimilate
and make good rich American blood
for our body polite out Of the for
eign food, we must spew it out There
are different ways OF preparing diff
ferent kinds OF food before serving.
and many times the finest food will