The Washington herald., 1921-09-04

6 makes the folio"-
Ing preliminary statement to the
men and women, youths and girls to
whose interests this department Of
the paper Is dedicated:
The washington Herald has
opened its columns to consideration
of a subject that has come to be
known, in these latter days, as
.Americanism.' 1t will. from time
20 time, publish articles from com
petent pens thst will inform the
reading public of the progress OF
the movement intended to bring
about a finer and a better Ameri-
can citizenry; the agencies that nave
been and which are employed IN
carrying on the work, and the
methods by which it can be most
effectively enhanced 1t has con-
cluded to do this in pursuance OF
liberal newspaper policy that Is de-
signed to keep its eVer-Sro"ins
number Of readers informed as 70
the progress and development u
the movement. 1t recognizes that
rnueh that is unwise has been both
spoken and written regarding the
foreiEn-born element of our popu-
Iation. an element that has con-
trihuted very much indeed to the
upbuilding and progress OF these
I-nited States. 1t realizes that the
limited States are a product indeed
~ foreign element, beginning
with the colonists themselves, ana
there are very few families IN
America that can claim, at most
more than hve generations OF ma
tive-born members.
with the enormous increase IN
immigration to the United states
that followed the termination OF the
civil war, an immigration that was
in every way stimulated by the
ITnited States, there flowed each
ysar TO our shores by the hundreds
Of thousands those who sought
larger opportunity in life's struggle
and to escape either from political
or economic burdens in the LANDS
whence they came In our anxiety
10 increase our Industrial popula-
ton to meet an ever-expanding IN
dustriaI need. little or no attention
was paid 10 the immigrant after
he had reached the United states
and had been steered to the place
of employment Our interest In
them seemed to cease excepting as
they proved to be an efficient body
OF Industrial laborers on farm or in
factory. Alert but unscrupulous
uolfticians made use of them during
= election periods, and they were ad-
mitted TO the right of suffrage with
practically no reference. to their
preparation to intelligently exer-
else 1t.
Our earlier naturalization laws
with their loose administration were
calculated to give to the foreigner
the idea that we regarded American
citizenship rather lightly. and, in
deed, so lightly, that for many years
nearly half of the States of the
Union admitted the alien to the bal
lot box for the purpose of voting
for members of State legislatures
and elective administrative and ex-
ecutive officials. In the retrospect.
II Is not surprising that the foreign
element of our population tended to
segregation
That like seeks like is more or
less a law of our nature. and so a
very large part of our population
remained a lien in sentiment, in
speech and in habits OF thought and
social action and the foreign ele-
ment groups became something
apart from our own social order
OF late years the foreign press in this
country has been much criticised,
but the foreign press was a natural
outcome of the processes to which
We have briefly adverted. The prep
arations for our participation in
the world war brought sharply home
TO thinking Americans the problem
that their ow1 supineness was
largely responsible for producing.
Not that before the war we had
not already realized the fact that
instead OF being homogeneous pe0-
pie. we had become a rather het-
erogeneous mass, or as expressed
in the picturesque phases of the late
Theodore Roosevelt. when referring
to this condition and meeting the
contention that someone had made
20, him that ours was a homoge-
neous- people. he is said to have re-
marked. Why. the United states is
nothing but a polyglot boarding
house
The effort to change this condi-
tion. to overcome. if possible. the
idea prevailing among 80 many mill
Hons of our population that their
concern is much more for the place
of their birth than the place of
their adoption. and that il was en-
tirely legitimate to actively promote
in the United States movements de-
signed not at all for the benefit of
this country hut for real or agined
benefits to the countries in which
they had first seen the light of
day. and :he question is, can this
condition ne remedied. and how so.
that while losing none of the very
real. benefits in industry and in the
realms OF the arts and sciences that
the foreign born can confer upon US,
wa may at the same time influence
native born and foreign born to
reanze fully and completely the
value of American citizenship and
all that IL means, in the building
up of our moral, mental and poll
tical stature. This The Herald con-
ceives to be the real spirit of Amer
icanism as IL Is now being preached
and taught Mistakes have been
made In the doing Of this and are
being made, and 1t is the hope Of
The Herald that in the discus
sions that may take place in its
columns under such limitations as
not only. space exacts but as weil.
those that make for wise and tenn
perate exposition, these mistakes
may re corrected and the sober
mind may be convinced of the
sound patriotism that is the base
of American citizenship.
sFredk. l.. Siddons.,
Walter I. Mccoy. another of the
justices Of that bench before which
aspirants to citizenship must appear,
has this advice to give to students