Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The united American : a magazine of good citizenchip. (Portland, Or.) 1923-1927 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1923)
I CENTS $2.00 copy y ™’ AM ERICAN A MAGAZINE OF GOOD CITIZENSHIP RESPONSIBILITY AND REMEDY FOR SOME INFRACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN LAWS w IEN THE foreign born residents, through ignorance of our laws and because we have neglected to instruct and impress upon their minds the importance of observing the legal and moral principles of America, are caught in acts of violations of our municipal, state and na tional statutes and penalized for their transgressions, a charge of con- tributory guilt may from a moral standpoint be properly placed against the American citizenry at large. Having failed to take proper interest in these strangers who have been given the privilge to come and make their homes in America, to seek in this new land, in exchange for honest toil, the measure of happiness for which all humanity yearns, a degree of responsibility rests upon EVERY AMERICAN for their shortcom ings, their infractions and their failure to grasp the importance of a literal application of the American code of conduct, their failure to make proper distinction between right and wrong, between liberty and license. This responsibility extends to all our citizens; it includes the officers of the law, the public prosecutor, the judge who passes sentence, the mayors and city councils of the municipalities, the governors and legislatures of the states, the president and the congress of our nation. Failure to establish facilities to train the mind of these strangers com- mensúrate with our highly efficient means of practical training of the hand to perform the tasks assigned to them, constitutes ground for a blanket indictment against the American people, containing charges of moral delinquency that could never be adequately disproven before the tribunal of American justice, at the bar of American conscience. Contributors to this nation’s wealth, its progress and its achieve- ments, these strangers within, who largely perform the menial tasks in every field, are entitled to American justice, tolerance and a square deal. They are entitled to educational facilities in proportion to the wealth they have produced. There should be a willingness on the part of the Americans to right this injustice of the past. The time has come for all Americans to give earnest thought to concrete, simplified, COM- PULSORY educational plans for the intellectual development of every foreign born adult resident of America and the establishment of ade- quate facilities for putting them into practice. We should cease wasting time in antagonism and instead demand that our government forth- with set in motion a nationwide machinery of educational scope to instruct the foreign bom intelligently in the language, the funda mentals, the history and the laws of America. MAY. 1923 I I | 1 I | | i | | | | I f | | | I | | | | | | I | | | | I | I Í PORTLAND. OREGON