The Washington herald., 1921-06-04
I envy them, those monks of old; their
books they read, and their beads they told.
&C. P. R. James (1soI-Is6o), THE Monks
of Old"
The Bond of Common Speech.

TIME strongest bond between nationals is their
common language. The strongest bond be-
tween nations is common language. The
safety of the United States its national unity is
that all foreign-language nationals voluntarily
render their native speech when they come to this
country. This must be the one fundamental, with
out which citizenship and it must be jealousy
guarded.
The ono thing which has kept Finland dis
tinctive; which has preserved parttoned Poland as
still country with national ties; which has deln-
Gated unredeemed Italy and Greece. and has held
the Balkans Sav in spite of all the Turks could
do, has been a common form OF speech in each in
stance. Austria Hungary kept its Babel of tongues
in comparative harmony by recognizing the right
of native language in intercourse and in schools.
The first step in Irish independence was to
vve the Irish language which had become almost
companion of the dodo. The preservation of
French in the province of Quebec has made it al
most distinct from the rest of Canada and has been
the cause of much friction. The root cause of the
loyalty of Great Britains foreign-language colo
nics has been the recognition OF their native speech
and its preservation. The strongest bond between
Great Britain and the United States is not in blood
but in language. The blood relation, never by any
means complete has been diluted to near extinc-
ton. at least to the far minor part.
So the bond that holds Germany one is that
which made the empire possible, common speaking
and reading speech. II this which formed, in
spite OF nterwars, the lasting tie between that
pire and Austria. Today this tie persists and
always will. To speak the tongue is to read
the same literature, to have and cling to the
ideals, to have lore, and largely to think
the same thoughts, everyone thinks in the lam
guage which he speaks.
In country as the world over the Ger
mans have been the one foreign increment that have
cung most tenaciously to their native tongue. Ger
many has fully realized what would be the conse-
quence of this. Born a German, of German pa
rents, always German. The empire never recog-
nized dissolution of allegiance no matter where
her and daughters might CO. The main sup
port of this to preserve the German tongue and
so. to read, speak and think German. No matter
where they might be- this must be the language of
the home and it must be taught in school.
The Germans have been the only in this
country systematically insist that their language
must be taught in all the schools. 1t would be diff
fcult to find public schools which employed for
egn-speakng teachers using text books printed in
foreign text, and where only foreign tongue
used, these German. But there have
been many of these. All other foreign speaking ma
tionaIs have readily adopted language, even for
getting their Not the Germans
While reading, writing and speaking our Ian
gusge is by all of Americanization, it is
the one basic essential No immigrant should ever
be permitted to become citizen, naturalization
should never be granted to man or woman, who
cannot speak, read and write our language not
haltingly, but readily as their own. No one who
does mot habitually read and speak United States
will ever think United States. No one who does not
think America first will be American first
A foreign language should be preserved in this
country only as accomplishment.