The united American : a magazine of good citizenchip., February 01, 1923, Page 7, Image 7

February, 1923
problem; the actual survey has been
done by the women’s organizations of
the whole city,—more than a thousand
persons having co-operated!
With respect to the immigrant the
Council must have a clearly defined
policy. First of all, it works in the spirit
of friendship. It is not enough for the
newcomer to learn English and con a
few facts from books: he must come to
love his adopted land and its institu­
tions; friendly contact with Americans
is the surest if not the only path to this
love. Too often the immigrant spends
years in this country without a friendly
look or word from the native-born; too
often he is shut up in colonies of his own
race; too often his only contact with
Americans is with the unthinking or the
hostile, from whom he suffers contempt
and repulsion. This will not create the
true American spirit on either side. The
Council desires to do its part to foster
a kinder attitude and a better under­
standing: the American people are in
fact kindly and generous; but some ef­
fort is needed to bring this kindness into
operation toward the man who has
chosen this land as his home and is
seeking citizenship.
The army of workers who labored on
the survey of the foreign born went as
genuine ambasadors of American friend­
ship to the thousands of foreign born in
our community, citizens or prospective
citizens. Every action of the Council is
aimed to increase the stream of friendly
association which will prove the most
powerful force in Americanization.
The Council sees in the foreign born
aspirant for citizenship an asset to
America. It seeks to foster his self re­
spect, for without self respect no man
can be a worthy citizen in a democracy.
It is assumed that the incoming citizen
will pull his own weight in our economic
and social and political life, like any
• other good citizen; and in no small pro­
portion he will do more; history gives
plenty of examples,—Carl Schurz and
Franz Sigel of Civil War days were im­
migrants; tens of thousands of the
American armies of 1917 and 1918 were
i foreign born, from almost every quarter
of the globe. The scientist Michelson
who startled the world by measuring a
fixed star for the first time in history, is
a foreign born American; and Pupin,
I also world famous scientist, was a Ser­
bian peasant lad who sought his life
career in America.
The United States has adopted a
•policy of limiting further immigration:
we now have an immense number of un­
assimilated foreign born, too often
massed in our large industrial centers,
where they may easily become a peril
Ito themselves and to the nation. We
cannot but hold that our immediate duty
is not so much to admit more immi­
grants as rather to incorporate those now
here into a living unity with their
adopted land. For these reasons the
Portland Americanization Council has
declared itself in full accord with the
[policy of limitation, and opposed to any
THE WESTERN AMERICAN
restrictions. This is in no way contrary
to our firm friendship to the foreign
born now here and seeking citizenship,
Finally, on behalf of the Portland
Americanization Council, let me greet
the guests of honor of this celebration,:—
the men and women who have become
citizens of the United States of America
in the course of the past twelve months.
May the finest American citizenship be
yours; may you rejoice in freedom your­
self and so act as to enhance freedom
for others; while you enjoy the exalted
privileges of membership in the Repub­
lic, may you also render full return by
discharging nobly the obligations which
bind every member of the Republic.
In the absence of Judge Charles
Wolverton, United States District
Attorney John S. Coke gave a
brief address of welcome in behalf
of the government. In his address,
Judge Coke said in part:
You have taken the solemn obligation
that you will defend the constitution and
laws of the United States. I have no
tear as to your sincerity. I know that
you are now Americans. I know that
you meant what you said when you took
that oath. In America the power and
responsibility of government rests with
the citizens, and for this principle, in
Washington’s time and on many a later
field, tens of thousands of lives have
teen gladly given.
Representing Governor Pierce,
who had been prevented from at­
tending in person, B. F. Irvine, ed­
itor of the Oregon Journal, gave a
stirring address in welcoming the
new citizens in the name of the
state of Oregon. Though unable,
because of blindness, to see his
audience, one could not help being
moved to feel that words as ut­
tered by Mr. Irvine were inspired
by a spiritual vision which had en­
abled him to see the vast throng of
wistful faces before him, people of
a score of nationalities, who had all
given the same pledge, to the same
ideals, the same nation, to defend
and love it henceforth as no other
country, including the land of their
birth. In the course of his address,
Mr. Irvine said:
First, I congratulate the new citizens;
second, I congratulate the Americaniza­
tion Council; and third, I congratulate
the city of Portland and the state of Ore­
gon that there is such a movement as
is symbolized by this magnificent dem­
onstration.
Shall I tell you what Governor Pierce
said, when I asked him what message I
should give to you from him? He said,
“Tell them first of all that I welcome
them to membership in the common­
wealth. Tell them that I say to them
that American citizenship is a crowning
7
glory to any man or woman—a heritage
not to be lightly held, but always to be
cherished. Tell them to love the Stars
and Stripes, and to be good men and
women.”
In behalf of the city, Mayor Geo.
L. Baker, his sonorous voice rolling
back through the house, bid the
new citizens welcome, saying in
part:
I am sure that you are Americans this
night. Americans at heart as well as by
process of law. Yet I find myself won­
dering if you have thrilled to the air of
the “Star-Spangled Banner” as I have.
I wonder how you would feel to stand
at Bunker Hill, or Gettysburg, so richly
nurtured with patriot blood?
These are mere fancies of mine. On
this sort of thing I was raised, you might
say. Actually all that you need to know,
or I need to know, is that you are Amer­
icans at heart. The rest will come. And
so long as you are one of us at heart
then none shall say there is a difference.
If you have lived up to the principles of
this land the same consideration must
be yours. But if you cannot, if doubt
comes to you, then I say that America is
not your home. It is the privilege of
the naturalized citizen to attain in a
few brief years that which the native-
born receive only at maturity, and for
which certain of their fathers left the
plow. This gift is nevertheless gladly
given. I want you to remember that this
gift is priceless.
From out of the two front rows
of seats in the auditorium, re­
served for the venerable men of
the Grand Army of the Republic,
came the G. A. R. commander, Mc­
Kay, himself of foreign birth, a
typical representative of those
“boys in blue” who a half a cen­
tury ago fought to keep the Union,
to keep the country “one and insep­
arable.” Bent and gray, he strode
to the front of the platform, a true
picture of that patroitism we hope
to preserve and deliver faultless
from the America of yesterday to
the America of tomorrow. In ad­
dressing the new citizens, he,said:
Listen, you men (with a gesture to­
ward the draped flag)! Of all the signs
and symbols since the world began, ex­
cept the cross of Calvary, there never
was another with the meaning of that
flag. It is my flag. And it is your flag.
I have seen and never forgotten how
aliens learning to love this land, will
fight and die for it. That spirit is sym­
bolic in the flag of America.
During the intermission in the
program, two of the citizenship
class, Cecil Teague, a pipeorganist,
and Christian Pool, a ’cellist of this
city, rendered beautiful selections,