The Denver Jewish news., 1922-04-19
Jewish Immigrants of a
High Grade
DR. JOHN CONSTAS REPORTS TO
THE DEPARTMENT or LABOR
ON CONDITIONS ABROAD.

praise of the newcomers.
Some months ago. the Hon. James J.
Davis, Secretary of Labor. commits
stoned DIR. John COnstas, n we'll
known physician, 10 investigate con-
ditiOns abroad. DIR. Constas has just
returned to this country and has sub
nitted n report to Secretary Davis on
Conditions in certain European cOun-
tries ns affecting immigration to the
United States. We give here below
some excerpts from that interesting
report:
In Germany | was exceedingly i'm
pressed with the great desire on the
part of large number of young men
to come to this country. Most OF them
seem to he of n very high grade type.
especially the German and Russian
jew. Most of us will acknowledge that
this class make good citizens and are
an asset to the community
1t will be noticed DIR. Constas re-
fers to the Jewish immigrant in quite
n different tone than adopted by Ken.
meth Roberts and Lillian Russell.
Discussing the question of distribu-
ton of immigrants. DIR. COnstas says:
Much thought has been devoted to
the question of the distribution of i'm
migrants who arrive in his country
and suggestions have been made to
distribute them throughout different
sections of the country according to
their respective vocations. My iat-
mate contact with this body of people
forces the conviction upon me that
such method of distribution cannot
be made practical, for the simple
reason that most of the immigrants
coming to this country have relatives
or friends. with whom they have kept
in touch previous to their departure
from the old country. and naturally
their desire is to he near them. They
therefore choose as their homes the
section of the country in which they
are located and engage in WORK there
or establish their business there
Referring to the Americanization
process. DIR. Constas makes the follow
ing suggestion:
There is no doubt that the so-called
AmericaniZation schools are rendering
II great service to the foreign born.
hut when it is realized how few at
tend these schools in proportion to
the number of foreigners located in
the particular community. 1t will le
seen that they are not accomplishing
their scope is only limited to the few
who find ii practical for them to at
tend. Some of the principal reasons
why these schools are not more large
ly attended are 1 Lack of time.
Most of the foreign born. shortly after
their arrival In this country, are
straining all their energies to earn Il
livelihood. working from early in the
morning until late in the evening. and
even if few hours were available
after work they are so tired ont that
it is almost impossible for them to
rdapt themselves to any kind of stud
les. co Suspiciousness. This is n
very natural characteristic of the new
ly arrived immigrant. Many of the
AmericaniZation schools are held in
public schools and in churches. prob
ably of different faith from which
they have been brought up. and often
times they have the feeling that they
are expected to affiliate themselves
with that particular church ms a re.
turn for the teaching they have re-
ceived. (3) Many deceive themselves
with the idea that they will renal
plishing what they want. will return
to their native country. and for that
reason AmericaniZatiOl is unnecessary.
in order to offset these objections and
to make up for the deficiencies of the
Americanization schools. it has occur
red to me that it would be most
splendid schem" If the various or
ganiZations. clubs, and societies
throuhout this country would pledge
their individual members to take II
upon themselves. whenever opportul-
ity afforded it. of getting in touch
with the foreign born in their imme-
diate neighborhood and assist him in
acquiring knowledge of the laws.
customs, manners, etc, of the Ameri-
can people. In other words. let him
take adva ltage of few moments con-
V, v,rsation by explaining to him some
of the important points of Civil Gov
crnment, explain to him In general
way some of the salient features OF