5
THE NORTHMAN
tices which have existed in America.
Secret societies and other organizations in
foreign languages are aware of the fact
that we have arrived at the crossroads.
The national unification thought is gather
ing strength #nd gaining ground. Lan
guage standardization is an epoch-making
issue that moves forward. The press of
the land must follow. Foreign language
newspapers must begin to change form
and gradually adopt the language of the
country if they are to continue to function
as a helpful unit in the movement forward
toward greater achievements.
The cards must be laid on the table. It
can no longer be tolerated that any person
of any nationality, shielded by a foreign
language, may express himself in a man
ner he would not in the language of the
country. Too many committed that crime
during the war. It cost the United States
many millions of dollars to keep the au
thorities reasonably well informed on the
contents of some 1200 foreign language
newspapers for the short period of the
war.
Why the necessity for this^expenditure ?
No institution so discolored by sedition
and imbued with enmity toward the inter
ests of this country in her hour of travail
that it must be placed under surveillance
can, with reason, claim right to continue
undisturbed and unmolested in the old, ac
customed way. Better far will it be for
the foreign born to see himself forced by
sheer necessity to seek the intelligence of
the public prints in the American lan
guage than to gain a wrong impression of
the better things in the interest of his
adopted country.
The Pacific Skandinaven has, as one of
the humblest representatives of the for
eign language press in America, held to
the precept that it is the duty of every
immigrant to learn to understand more
fully and more clearly the institutions of
the country he has chosen to make his
home and thereby learn to render the love
and loyalty due. Our people here in the
State of Oregon, with few exceptions, have
become imbued with this deeper under
standing of the demands of their adopted
country. While we may not have been
able to interpret the American spirit in all
•the fulness of its better meaning we have
never belittled or beclouded any of the
institutions of this country, veiled by deri
sive, sarcastic and “smart” utterances
that have been as effective as open attack
from other sources in some of the foreign
language papers we have had access to
during the past few years.
The open contempt which the foreign
educated newspaper editors have shown
for America only proves that they lack
conception of the deeper source and
significance of American ideals and the
spirit that vibrates in the true interpreta
tion of the liberty that had its birth on
American soil—that idealism which had
its inception in the covenant which bound
the poor and oppressed of Europe who
came to this new country enduring atten
dant hardships and tribulations—the sub
stance of the dream they saw realized in
the birth of this new nation which
brought joy to their hearts and which
should bring happiness to their kindred
and those who came afterward.
* * ♦
We, too, have now come to the cross
roads—to a milestone of action. We look
back upon many a struggle to maintain
this publication in the Norwegian-Danish
language. The capital of others has never
been used in the enterprise. From year to
year it has represented personal effort and
we have progressed.
A call of duty has now come to take an
other step forward—a step into a new
epoch, in a new language, the language
that is America’s own. The name, form
and size of this publication will be
changed. It will go to our present sub
scribers and many others with greetings
and messages from the old world in the
field of cultural value as well as matters
of the deepest interest to all striving to
ward a higher plane of citizenship in
America.
Remain with us in our new field. It will
have a double reward. We need not throw
overboard the things of cultural value we
have brought with us to America to show
a willingness to adjust ourselves to a new
form of expression. With gratitude for
the kindly patronage we have enjoyed in
the years that have gone, we hope for a
continuance of the relationship.
In the broader field we shall endeavor
to maintain a position of usefulness and
helpfulness to our old as well as our new
constituency, in a manner creditable to all.
NON PROGRESSIVENESS IN POLITICS
'T'RUTH remains constant but conditions
1 are ever changing. It is one of the
peculiarities of statesmen and politicians
that they are seldom able to grasp this
fact and keep pace with the progress of
events. It is to be deplored that among
venerable legislators in point of service
we find a pronounced proneness to hold to
the issues of yesterday; to consider prob
lems of state in the light of the past de
cade and to talk of things which are as
dead as the first Rameses as though they
were living questions of the hour all un
mindful of the fact that they have failed
to keep pace with the movements of Old
Father Time, and that they present a
figure at once pathetic and ridiculous.
They continue to cling to precedent and
drag forth the past as a guide to present
action affecting the future, forgetting
that Progress is he law of life in politics
as in other things.
<
PROGRESS OF CHURCH RE
TARDED BY HOLDING TO
FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Dr. G. A. Brandele, of Rock Island,
Illinois, President of Augustana
Synod, of the Swedish Lutheran
Church of America, delivered a lec
ture in Immanuel Lutheran Church of
Portland on the 13th instant, in the
course of which he said :
If the American language had been
used from the beginning the church
would have had much greater and
more rapid progress than it has by
insistently holding to the “old coun
try” language.
Probably no man in America is
more competent to deliver an opinion
on this subject, and his statements
are causing consternation among
those who would hold to the Swedish
language in the press and pulpit
perpetually in this country.
AT A MEETING of the National Confer-
ence on Immigration, held in the City
of New York on April 7, 1920, under the
auspices of The Inter-racial Council, the
following resolution relative to naturaliza
tion was adopted:
There are now in this country several millions
of unnaturalized aliens. From time to time
there will be others who under existing laws
will be eligible to citizenship. There are those
who insist that whoever comes to this country
must become a citizen. There are others
who deem it desirable to dispense with
the present qualifications for citizenship. There
is a general failure to recognize the distinction
between immigration and citizenship and the
laws that should appertain thereto. While we
believe in a liberal immigration law for the rea
sons already stated, we are of the opinion that
citizenship should not be easy of attainment, but
should be regarded as so precious a privilege as
to make it synonymous with the possession of
those qualities which justify the exercise of the
elective franchise. While, however, the qualifica
tions should be of high grade, the machinery for
granting naturalization should be simplified.
Be it therefore;
Resolved: (1) That it is the sense of this
National Immigration Conference that there be
no relaxation of the present requirements for
naturalization and that proficiency in the Amer
ican language to the extent of ability to read it
fluently and to understand it be made a pre
requisite.
(2) That naturalization be permitted without
exacting a compulsory preliminary declaration of
intention; that proceedings for naturalization
may be transferred from one State or District to
another; that the present requirement of one
year’s continuous residence in the State in which
the application for naturalization is filed be re
pealed; that depositions of witnesses within as
well as without the State in which the applica
tion for naturalization is made may be taken,
and that but one fee be required of the applicant
for citizenship upon admission.
(3) That sessions of the various courts having
jurisdiction to naturalize be frequently held with
in the several districts and, if practicable, in the
communities in which there is a large immigrant
population, and that such sessions be held at
fixed times, not only during the day, but also in
the evening, in accordance with the special needs
of the several communities.
(4) That such naturalization courts be em
powered to accept as evidence of the possession
of the necessary educational qualifications for
citizenship certificates issued by public schools
testifying to the attendance and proficiency in
the standardized courses of instruction in the
American language and civics maintained by
such schools.
(5) That public officials be charged with the
duty of assisting the courts in their investiga
tion into the qualifications and character of the
applicant for naturalization, to the end that the
proceeding shall be regarded as one of due
solemnity.
(6) That the induction into citizenship of
those who have met the necessary requirements
shall be accompanied by a fitting ceremony that
will impress not only the applicant, but the
public generally, with an appreciation of the
honor and dignity conferred.
(7) That the opportunity to earn a living shall
not be contingent upon citizenship, to the end
that the desire to become an American citizen
may be through devotion and loyalty to the new
country and not from mercenary motives, or
from necessity to comply with industrial compul
sion.
You can think American in any lan
guage, but other languages are not usually
concerned in expressing American ideals.
There is one broad sky over all thè world,
and whether it be blue or cloudy, the same heaven
beyond it.
'
Dickens.
Thé great thing in the world is not so much
where we stand, as in what direction we are
moving.
Holmes.
Bacon.
It is a prince’s part to pardon.
More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of.
Tennyson.
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INTERRACIAL COUNCIL RESOLUTION
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