Evening star., 1922-12-03
REORGANIZATION
SOCIETY ORGANIZED
District Civic Leaders Hope
to Eliminate "AIienism''
Problem Here.

Americanization work among un-
I naturalized residents Of the District
of Columbia. now struggling under
tremendous handicaps, was cham
pioned by a group of public-spirited
and patriotic citizens last night. and
I steps were taken not only to elm
mate that problem from the National
! Capital. but set an example for other
1 municipalities throughout the coun-
try to follow.
, Meeting in the Board of Trade
I rooms In The Star building at the
call Of Arthur c. Moses. who. with
Chief Justice Walter l. Mccoy and
Associate Justice Frederick L. Sid
dons Of the District Supreme Court
. and Q. T. Moore. chief naturalization
examiner. about ten days ago. formed
nucleus of a general committee to
I work out this problem. number OF
Washingtonians formed an organiza-
l tion ito promote Americanization
work in the public schools"
J Justice Siddons Speaks.
1 Temporary Chairman Moses called
the melting to order and the opening
address was made by Justice Siddons.
| who declared 1t the plain civic duty
Of every one to give support to the
i, proposal for more money and teach
ers for the Americanization school.
4 Support of the school Is through an
. nual appropriation by Congress. he
\ said. adding that this appropriation
y may go out any time on a point of
order. He declared the teachers
should be placed on permanent basis
] and attached to the regular staff
i, There is no more important work in
y the public schools today than Ameri
4 canizing the foreign born" he added
/ There are 10000 foreign born in the
\ District. Justice siddons continued.
= so per cent of whom are not citizens
\ of the United States, and there is a
demaad coming from this element
making 1t the plain civic duty of every
one to give support to this work. he
d said.
:: The platform Of the committee was
! stated by Mr.. Moses as follows:
NJ First. to secure an adequate appro-
I priation for Americanization schools
: for the District of Columbia.
Would Coordinate Agencies.
Second, to coordinate various agen-
cies of the city now engaged in
characterization work.
]; Third. to conduct survey of the
foreign situation in its relationship
! to illiteracy; and,
Fourth. to cooperate with other
J state organizations OF like charac-
, ter. looking to a national uniform
policy
!, Following Justice Siddons' talk, Mr.
Moses was unanimously elected chair
4 man of the organization. with powers
Ito appoint an executive committee.
He named Chief Justice Mccoy. Merle
Thorpe, editor of The Nations Busi
] ness; John Thomas Taylor. chairman
. of the legislative council, American
, Legion: Mrs. Lyman B. Swormstedt.
, president of the W'oman's City Club:
! o. r. Moore and himself.
n Chief Justice Mccoy, who was the
principal speaker. gave the cause for
I present Americanization methods by
> l. ln nnl,
! to the eighties. At that time, he said.
industries were in demand of cheap
labor" and. taken up by the steamship
. companies. resulted in hundreds of
, brought to this country and use made
of them in "a heartless way-'to get all
4 and give nothing
Enterprise Of Patriotism.
-Ayaericanizaticn must be looked upor
! from an educational point of view. he
stated. 1t is an enterprise of patriotism
: founded on the teaching Of the English
language. teaching them what our sys-
l tenn of government is; teaching them
what 1t means in a country where there
| is ballet, the only instrument with
which those things desirable can be
obtained.
1T is time for us here in Washing
ton to stop talking in generalities
! but to talk in concrete terms and do
concrete things" the chief justice
: declared, "and bring about a solution
Of this problem as it confronts us
i ington. the name OF which l will not
] mention, where there are growing up
the first and second generations OF
, | non English speaking immigrants.
. who are unable to speak the English
language"
1: Enrolment figures at the Ameri-
canization school for the past three
/ years were presented by the speaker
I To-
] women and children. attending day
and night classes: 1924 in 1921 and
J in 1922 there 1.s47. The teaching
, staff consists of one principal. three
full time teachers ard eleven part
! time teachers. he said. giving about
sixty students to each teacher
I other cities have twenty-five" he
added, which is too many for stu
dents who speak English and were
born and raised here"
Funds Are Inadequate.
I Justice Mccoy said If adequate ap-
!. preparations had been obtained this
problem could have been solved long
ago.
} DR.. Abram Simon. president of the
, board of education. gave his per-
sonal support to the, Americanization
work Sa., hs;a heart and ID soul" % Some of the
d said, was done by the Americaniza-
tion school. DR.. Simon believes be-
] tween $4,000 and $4,000 is neces-.
sary for this type of educational
J work here. He promised the meet
, ing that If Washington school teach
y ers secure permanent tenure from
I Congress. then the tenure of the
. Americanization teachers would also
be secured. He suggested that it
may be possible to obtain financial
support from organizations In the
. city working on the Americanization
question.
Il There is in this country what 1
call an 'alienism'-a deliberate alien
I ism,' which becomes hostile and
criminal. We cannot ask too much
! money for that" declared DIR. Simon.
First-hand information of the re-
suits of the Americanization school
was given to the meeting by three
graduates. Messrs. Chipouras, now a
freshman at the University of Penn
sylvania and Koutsoukas, Washing
, ton merchant. both from Greece and
Private Anessian. L. S. A, an Arme-
: nian.
! $4,000 Held Annual Need.
Mr.. Moore stated that If 5000 was
: appropriated for the Americanization
work for three consecutive years. the
solution would be reached at once and
there no longer would be need for
|