The Denver Jewish news., 1922-07-12
(COntinuation.)


The afternoon session of the Secrc-
tarics' Conference WAS given over To n,i
animated discussion of program
Making" for communal institutions.
Led by Mr.. Louis Kraft, Director of
Jewish Center Activities of the Jew
ish Welfare Board. and participated
in among others. by solomon $.
Lasky. superintendent of the Jewish
Communal Home OF Syracuse, Charles
Nemser. general secretary of the Louis
vile Y. NJ. II. A.. Benjamin Rabin-
owitz. executive director of the New
Haven Y. VI. II. A.. Tobias Roth. exc
cutivc secretary of the Rochester j.
y. VI. A. and Rabbi Z. Charles sgd
ney. director of the Army and Navy
Service Department of the Jewish
Welfare Board. the discussion develop
ed the existence of strong sentimen.
among the secretaries for emphasis of
the Jewish clements of the work. and
for greater attention To the adult
foreign elements of the community.
What he termed "The nonsense OF
professional .tmericanization artists"
was severely scored hy Thomas J.. Cot
ton. secretary for Foreign Born Men.
of the 23rd Street Branch of the New
York Y. NJ. c. A.. who led the discus
sion ON Citizenship Activities in the
Jewish Center" on Tuesday morning
characterization is the process
oh ,,.ht t,I so, ns
to make him articulatc with and an in
tegral part of his environment" said
Mr.. Cotton. Citizenship means much
more than making mark on a ballot.
II means life. and living as mem
her of society. The real work is not
50 much the making of an .American
hut the making of n citizen. whether ii
he American or Polish or Russian. or
German. Americnnizatiol work. So
called. therefore. covers every branch
Of education. including the religious.
the physical and the secular. Our
task is 10 help people to know. be-
cause to know is to respect To know
right from wrong impels people to
IlSill i'lltll. bf'l'I'
lively want 10 do right. though very
often they don't know what is right.
Mr.. Cotton was equally sharp in his
criticism of the mass meetings and
public gatherings as the principal
means for .Americanization purposes.
His experiences in that field had con-
yinced him that these methods were
most Ineffective Nor is Amcricani-
Zition in his opinion an i1dividualistic
effort. He favored working with small
groups composed of persons who had
something in common. BY developing
their common purpose. or in other
words elciting the group coutribu-
ton. the hest results were attainable.
The group should he led to blaze the
way from the known to the unknown.
Harry L. Glucksman. executive di-
rector of the Jewish Welfare Board.
corroborated Mr.. Cottons views in the
. main The group cannot be sledge-
hammered into citizenship said Mr..
! Glucksman. II cannot be, submerged.
1t has Il group contribution TO make
and ii must he encouraged to make 1t.
Citizenship. he declared. is not Il mat
ter of singing patriotic songs, reciting
pledges of allegiance or even the study
of history alone.
But citizenship training is not to
he confined to the foreign horn. was
one of the points made by Mr.. Glucks-
OF, nI -,
of similar training. and above all. he
must he brought into contact with the
foreign born. to get from the latter
what he brings with him of general
culture and idealistic aspiration.
1T is n matter of wise craftsmanship
for the Jews of this country to cause
the uanaturalized to become natural
lied as speedily as possible. and in
. the largest possible numbers said Mr..
Glucllsman. But even more import
ant is thei task of integrating them
with American life. Mass-action is
like shcep-gathering. accomplishing
little. if anything"
Tn the Jewish center the citizen
Siib pi'Si - INV it-'iii way
aHd day out process of education. II
includes with equal emphasis the for
eign born and the native born, and
each individual is followed until he
Becomes an integral part of the com
munity'
The remarkable work along these
lines by the Jewish Peoples Institute