Evening star., 1922-05-28
AIM rs TO HELP ALIENS
TO BECOME u. S. CITIZENS
Central Organization in Washington Pro-
posed, the Work Of Which Would Be
Supported by Registration Fees.
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.

7 I YPHENATED. Americans were
- not popular in this country
during the war. A man was
either an American or he was,
not an American. When the selective
draft law became effective and mil
lions of young men were drawn into
the military service of the country it
was found that thousands upon thou
sands. of aliens living in the United
States-many of them having lived
here for years-could not speak or
read or write American-English, as
1t is commonly called.
America had ceased. it seemed, to
function as a melting pot" or at
least it was functioning badly. The
demand for Characterization of all
the aliens within the borders of the
country. and of the countless thou
sands who will come here in the fu-
ture, was insistent AmericaniZation
classes were established in the pub
lie schools. Various organizations
and institutions undertook to aid in
the work, and it has been pressed in
various ways and in various degrees
in different parts of the country ever
since the war.
Radicals Are Opposed
To Federal Supervision.
The administration, however. has
reached the conclusion that the ef-
forts to Americanize the aliens with
in the borders of the country should
have the aid fo the powerful federal
government; that for greater eff
cheney in carrying on this most i'm
portant work, there should be some
central organization. The ideas of
the administration have been embod-
led in a bill, and this bill has been
introduced in the Senate by Senator
Shortridge of California, republican,
and is now before the Senate COM
mittee on immigration
The proposal of the administration.
however. had scarcely taken definite
form before there was a burst of
criticism from radicals and from per-
sons who perhaps were not fully in
formed in regard to the proposals. 1t
was charged that the proposed law
established kind of espionage over
the aliens in this country. repugnant
to the principles of America. OF
course, the anaTchistically inclined
were up in arms against the measure.
The bill is comprehensive. 1t not
only provides a uniform rule of natu-
ralization, but it also amends and
codifies the laws relating to the ac-
QUESTION and loss of citizenship in
this country; it equalizes the citizen
ship status of men and women; it es-
tablishes a method for the registra-
ton OF aliens for their better guild
ance, education and protection"
Legislation Has Backing
OF Secretary of Labor.
Secretary James J. Davis of the De-
partment of Labor, under whose
jurisdiction the enforcement of the
proposed law would come. is a strong
believer in the advisability of the
legislation. In this connection it is
interesting to remember that the
Secretary himself came to America as
an immigrant. He came to this coun-
try when he was eight years old,
from Wales, with his mother and four
brothers and a sister. His father had
already preceded them to the land of
promise, and had sent back for the
rest of the family. He still distinctly
remembers, he says. the confusion'i
and the difficulties which faced aliens
when they landed in this country.
His desire, he says. is to make it
easier and simpler for them, and par
ticularly does he desire to make it
possible for them to become Ameri-
canized as rapidly as possible and to
get tho full enjoyment and benefits
derived from citizenship in the great
republic.
The chief necessity in bringing
about the Americanization of aliens,
the Secretary holds, and SO does Sena-
tor Shortridge, is to bring about a
full understanding of America. it's
institutions and the principles for i
which the nation stands. For this a
knowledge of the language of the
country is essential. They must have
this knowledge to considerable ex-
tent to become naturalized. Tables
prepared by the Department of Labor
show the percentage OF naturalized
American citizens among the foreign
born Of various nationalities, and the
showing is by no means what it
should be, if the bad situation-dis-
IN 1C NM