Entered as Second Class Matter, at Portland, Oregon, October 13, 1904, under the Act of Congress of March, 1879.
Volume 1
|
Portland, Oregon, May 13,1920
10c
$3 S^ubY'^ion
Number 3
A. Foreign Language Press Preceptor’s View
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KT HE FOUNDERS of the foreign lan-
1 guage press in America without known
exception, were men who were enthusiasti
cally and wholeheartedly all for the coun
try in which they cast their lot, and in
which they labored for the good of their
¡people, and for the general good.
But with the passing of these pioneers
and with the succession of a foreignborn
and foreign educated element to editorial
capacity on these publications, many doc
trines that would have appeared strange,
and would not have been countenanced
[for a moment by their predecessors, have
for a number of years been preached and
are still being preached. Many of these
doctrines will no doubt appear strange to
the American reading public when they
are made plain to them, whether or not
[they will be countenanced remains to be
keen.
A brief review from the beginning of
the war will enable us to a fuller under
standing of the present, which is where
The Northman takes up the subject.
(While the foreign language press from
¡America’s entry in the war proclaimed it
self wholly loyal in carrying this country’s
interests to the fore, Government agents
¡nosing into its columns soon found that
such was not the case. A complete investi
gation revealed a direct and well-formed
Opposition, if not in whole, at least in part,
to the American program. It then became
¡necessary to take steps against the most
¡vicious and render them ineffective for the
duration of the war, while the larger group
of less offenders was admonished to pro
ceed along altogether different lines.
[There are a few notable exceptions, but on
¡the whole it was found that the editors of
the foreign language press in America held
a decidedly different conception of Ameri
can ideals than did the great majority of
American speaking Americans.
In order not to suppress all, which would
pot have served the best results at the
rime, the Government found it advisable
to establish a coaching bureau and issue
a correspondence training course for those
¡whose hearts were not in America but in
pome foreign land where they had ac
quired their education, their process of
reasoning and logic—and whose mental
attitude was too fixed to become American
in the proper sense of the word. A bureau
was established with capable American
writers who were entrusted with the task
of interpreting in brief editorial and com
ment this country’s cause in such a man
lier as to convey the unity absolutely
Necessary to success. Writers of all the
various nationalities represented were set
/ \
SAMPLE OF UNIFICATION MATTER
FROM FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN
FORMATION BUREAU.
BULLETINS SENT OUT UNDER THE
AUSPICES OF THE AMERICAN
RED CROSS.
to work translating the articles by the
American writers. These were set up
in type in all the different languages and
a sufficient number of proofs printed of
each to cover the foreign language field of
about 1500 publications, and sent out with
request that it be published. Then the
papers were again searched to find if the
request had been complied with. This
program entailed the employment of a
small army in itself in order to secure co
operation with the American reading
people, and the attendant cost of colossal
figures.
Shortly after the armistice this bureau
with many others that were created for
the duration of the war should have been
discontinued, but it appears that the
government thought it advisable to con
tinue the foreign language bureau with
the translators and writers at work, in or
der to continually reach the foreign field
with some brief information deemed
necessary, therefore the press sheets con
tinued to go out to the foreign language
papers with regularity. The continuation
of this service was finally transferred to
the supervision of the American Red Cross
and is known today as the American Red
Cross Bureau of Foreign Information
Service. The following letter explains:
New York, April 28, 1920
Editor, Pacific Skandinaven,
Portland, Oregon.
Dear Sir:
The Bureau of Foreign Language Informa
tion Service of the American Red Cross has just
moved its offices to our new permanent head
quarters at 1107 Broadway, New York City. We
would therefore ask you kindly to change our
address on your exchange mailing list to con
form to our new address. Kindly see to it that all
of your editions are sent us regularly each week
so that a proper record may be kept and due
credit given. All the Norwegian language papers
are now being sent us as exchanges for our
weekly “clip sheet” news service, which we
supply the papers free of charge.
As this institution is a continuation of the
government’s Committee on Public Information
and the Foreign Language Governmental Infor
mation Service, Scandinavian Bureau, 95 Madison
Avenue, New York, and 6 West 48th Street,
New York, as well as 124 East 28th Street, New
York, please strike all these addresses off your
mailing list, if you still have them, and enter us
on your exchange mailing list as follows:
Norwegian Section, American Red Cross, Bu-
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reau of Foreign Language Information Service,
1107 Broadway, New York, N. Y.
Thanking you for your co-operation, I beg to
remain,
Very truly yours,
H. Sundby-Hansen,
Manager Norwegian Section.
It now appears that writers in this bu
reau do not hesitate to inject their per
sonal views and doctrines of foreign line
age, under the auspices of the American
Red Cross, and under guise of approval of
the U. S. Government, the President of
the United States being president of the
Red Cross. The text in the original of the
current issue of this “clip sheet” news
service is herewith presented, together
with the American translation, that the
American reading public may be enabled
to grasp the situation and possibly the im
port and that those who read the original
may see the fairness of the translation:
American Red Cross.
Bureau of Foreign Language Information Service.
—Norwegian Section
No. 589.
FEMMEDSPROGPRESSEN.
I et land som De forenede Stater, hvor
den invandrede del af befolkningen udgj0r
en saa stor del af hele folkemaengden at an-
tallet gaar op i flere millioner, er med-
delelsesmidler i andre sprog end engelsk
en absolut npdvendighed. Blandt de ind-
vandrede af fprste generation er der frem-
deles flere millioner, som ikke er det en-
gelske sprog msegtig og som tilfredsstillen-
de kun kan laese og skrive sit eget mors-
maal. Disse mennesker er stort seet gode
og retskafne folk, som pnsker at leve i
fred, arbeide, bygge sine hjem og opdrage
sine barn til at bli gode amerikanske bor-
gere.
Det er et brud paa det amerikanske
samfunds- og retsbegreb at “gj0re for-
skjel paa folk”. Hvorfor da skilie frem-
medfpdte ud fra de andre ? Hvem har be-
gaaet dette brud? Visselig ikke de ind-
vandrede. Betragter man til eksempel
den norske, svenske og danske indvandre-
de del af vor befolkning finder vi, at de
kom til dette land for stprsteparten med
de bedste forudsaetninger og en udprseget
retfaerdighedssans.
De hadde store forhaabninger. De var
begeistret for Amerika, for dets store
pkonomiske muligheder, for dets frie for-
fatning, dets jevne velstand og den for-
mentlige fordomsfrihed, som her var
raadende.
Sent og tidlig blev det tudet dem i prene,
at her er frihedens land, her er retfaerdig-
hedens tempel. Ingen vilde spprge om hvad
du var, kun om hvad slags mand eller kvin-
de du er. Fordomme mod alt det gamle
skulde vaere banlyst fra dette frie, oplys-