New Britain herald., 1923-04-14
BILL WOULD LIMIT
 SCHOOL LANGUAGES
Dr.. A. |. Dean Advocates Inter.
 estine Project for Hawaii

Honolulu. April 14.-The teaching
 of Oriental languages in the public schools of Hawaii and the Pacific Coast states, as a means of bringing about better relations between the
 United States and Japan, was advo-
 cated here by Dr. A. L. Dean, presi- dent of the University of Hawaii, at q public hearing held by the terri-
 torial house educational committed on alien language school measures which have been introduced into the legislature.
 One of the bills would carry into effect the recent order of the board of education providing that no child may attend an alien language school until after he completes successfully the first two grades in an American public school. The other bill im- poses an annual tax of Fl upon all pupils of allen language schools. the proceeds to be used in defraying the expenses of inspections of such schools by the territory.
 Argue Against Bills.
 Dr. Deans statement came after the presentation of argument against both bills by Joseph Lightfoot, for mer deputy territorial attorney-gen- eral, and Judge s. c. Huber, former United States district attorney, who are acting as counsel for the Japa- nese language schools.
 Lightfoot. in his argument. desig- mated as Jap baiters" the members of an inter-racial committee who had been appointed to outline courses of study and textbooks for alien schools. Dr. Dean, chairman of the inter-ra- cial committee, answered this by de- claring that 1S members of the joint committee were Japanese.
 Lightfoot reviewed the history Of Japanese schools in Hawaii, saying that there are now 147 of these in- stitutions in the territory, attended by 23,000 pupils. He said that the bills aimed at the elimination of the schools and not their regulation. He pleaded against what he character ized as "class legislation" and said that enactment of the bills would de- prive the Japanese of treaty and con- stitutional rights.
 Urges Liberal Attitude
 Judge Huber urged liberal atti- tude toward the language schools, pointing out that litigation is pend- ing before the supreme courts of the United States and of the territory, testing the rights of such schools. He asked that legislative action be de- layed until these cases were settled.
 Dr. Dean said that the problem was not question of teaching Japanese to speak the language of their parents, but of teaching Amer cans to speak Japanese, since prac- .ically all the pupils at the alien schools are American citizens. He said that the inter-racial committee lid not aim at the abolition of the schools, but 1t did desire to limit .heir activities, and that under the new program all of the work of the schools could be done in six years in ,tead of eight.
 He declared that one of the strong st arguments against the alien chools was that few children could master two languages at the same ime, and that, since the children, porn of alien parents, were to be fu- ure citizens of the United States, it vas desirable that they be able to lse effectively the medium of express ion of their country. He denied the committee was actuated by spirit [ f "Jap batting" ,