November, 1922
THE WESTERN AMERICAN
THE AMERICAN BALLOT AND AN ADOPTED
CITIZEN’S AMERICANISM
A TRANSATLANTIC passenger steamer, bound
B- for America with its human cargo, chiefly con
sisting of immigrants in the third class, hove in sight
on the horizon off Sandy Hook.
An immigrant was leaning over the railing. With
searching eyes he measured the skyline before him—
through the mist he saw the rugged outline of Amer
ica, the land of his dreams.
■As the huge vessel steamed past Sandy Hook light,
the mist cleared over the New York harbor. He saw
the Statue of Liberty and the forest of towers and
tall buildings of America’s great city of New York.
In this panorama he saw, as he thought, the reali
zation of his dreams. In the new land, wealth and
leisure were to come at his call. He saw himself
kindly received and treated with justice and under
standing everywhere.
That was several years ago. In the world of real
ity, the dreamland faded away.
■How this immigrant found himself in America
is a story of interest to native born and foreign born
alike. As he tells his story today, it contains a mes
sage to all Americans. Let us tell it to you:
At first, I was bitterly disappointed. I
■ made a mistake of supposing that I was com-
I ing to a civilization that would relieve me of
K all responsibilities; one that already was per-
I feet and complete. I thought I had only to
■ stretch forth my hand to pick the golden fruit.
It is well that I was mistaken, for my strug-
B gles made me strong. I have helped to build
I up America. America is in the making. What
■ America will become depends on those who
I labor for it as they labor for themselves. The
■ Declaration of Independence says there are
■ three great rights—“Life, Liberty and the
■ Pursuit of Happiness.” But they are not things
■ for each man to enjoy for himself—they are
■ to share with his fellow men, whether foreign
■ bom or native bom, irrespective of race or
■ religion. If we want them, we must work for
■ them, and work together!
First I found I had to learn the language
■ of the country. Then I studied its customs
■ and government. I complained of race preju-
■ dice; then I discoverd that I also had perju-
■ dices against other races. As I came to know
fl other people, to work with them and for them,
■ my prejudices began to disappear. Now I am
■ an American citizen and this month I shall
■ cast my first ballot.
For this new American, citizenship has a real
meaning. Trained in the American school of intelli
gent thinking, grounded in the principles and the ideals
of America, to him the ballot is a sacred thing. His
will be an intelligently marked ballot, free from pre
judices, racial or religious. No selfish interest will
dictate how he is to mark his ballot. He knows but
one creed: With malice towards none: with charity
for all!”
The spirit of this new American is exemplary. He
went out in search of the true citizenship and was
amply rewarded. His reward is America’s gain.
His Americanization is complete. The color of his
eyes, the shade of his hair, the texture of his clothes,
19
the place of his birth, the religion he professes and
the racial strain that is his, are elements of no con
sequence in this man’s Americanism.
Hundreds of thousands of native born and foreign
born citizens in America are today casting an un-
American ballot, a ballot of prejudice, malice and
intolerance.
There are an alarmingly large number of citizens
in Oregon who, unfortunately, have become alienated
from the true course of citizenship. They, too, will
cast an un-American ballot this month in the state
election: a ballot of religious, racial and nationality
prejudice. If they win, government for all the people
in Oregon will cease but in name.
The one, who as an American citizen desires to help
in the making of America should not let his personal
likes and dislikes dictate the marking of his ballot.
He should cast his vote intelligently, in the best
interest of all the people. He should not vote just
to oblige a friend whose very speech is a flame of
hate and malice, nor should he follow blindly the ad
vice of the so-called leaders. He should cast his vote
for fair-minded citizens, who stand out in the open,
espousing the interests of all citizens alike, regard
less of race, religion or place of birth. He should
vote for policies not as they favor the interests of a
particular group, but as they affect the welfare of all
the people. In this way he also can help to make
America the ideal country of his dreams.
NEW FEDERAL LAW CHANGES STATUS OF
CITIZENSHIP FOR ALIEN WOMEN
A NEW and timely law was recently enacted by
™ Congress and signed by the President whereby
alien women no longer obtain United States citizen
ship through marrying an American citizen, or
through the naturalization of their husbands.
That condition ceased to be satisfactory with the
enfranchisement of the women, or by the adoption of
the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution of
the United States, which conferred the rights of the
ballot to all the women of this land.
When the suffrage amendment became operative,
hundreds of thousands of foreign-born women in
America were given equal rights to determine the des
tiny of this nation by the use of the ballot, without
having in the slightest degree met any requirements
preparatory to cast an American ballot, and largely
without the knowledge of our language sufficient to
read even the ballot titles.
Picture and correspondence brides by the thous
ands, who had married American citizens of their
own nationalities, living within nationality confines,
only geographically a part of America, automatically
became citizens, and obtained rights to decide Amer
ican issues and vote over American law measures,
while they hardly had learned their A. B. C. to Amer
ican citizenship.
On the other hand the nineteenth amendment dis
franchised thousands of American born, intelligent
and patriotic women who had married foreign born
men, who had, as yet, not become naturalized.
That this strange situation among our American
electorate has had a serious effect upon our body po
litic is so evident that there is no argument necessary
to prove it.
This state of affair will, to some extent, be