JANUARY, 1925
but such mild argumentation made little
headway against the storm. She de­
parted.
But the following Saturday the prima-
donna appeared at the school in that
district, accompanied by her entire en­
tourage—husband, maid, chauffeur and
Pomeranian — took the examination,
passed it with flying colors and left ex­
claiming: “What a wonderful place is
America, so demoratic, so fair and just!”
One is almost tempted to feel that one
practical lesson in democracy of this
kind is worth the entire expense and
time of the examination.
In practically every one of the eighty
schools some attempts were made to in­
fluence unduly the examiner or actually
to evade the law. In one school the
tired Principal was overwhelmed by the
appearance of a striking-looking Italian
gentleman in full evening dress who in­
troduced himself as “Signor Amato.”
Taking him for the famous baritone, the
Principal extended every courtesy, apolo­
gized for the small seat in which he was
forced to sit and after he had written
his test was on the point of making out
the certificate and escorting him to the
door. Imagine the Principal’s astonish­
ment when he noticed that, in answer
to the question. “Who was the inventor
of the locomotive,” the reply stated,
“George Washington was the first
President of the United- States.” This
was a poser, but by a series of not al­
together tactful questions the harassed
Principal succeeded in discovering that
“Signor Amato” was an. Italian barber
in the district who, able neither to read
nor write English, had been coached on
J this one question by a local politician and
then decked out in full regalia to impress
any one who dared to say him nay.
Evidence of coaching was common,
although less frequent than might have
been expected. It is doubtful whether
I it was successful in a single case, for
I the examinations varied in the different
schools and even on the same night in
[the same school. The result may be il­
lustrated by the case of a Polish appli­
cant. His test was in regard to election
I day, the answers of course being printed
[plainly at the top of the page, but to
leach one of the ten questions he replied,
[“Lincoln freed the slaves.” Petty bribes
| of cigars, theatre tickets and in some
[cases a small amount of money were
[offered, although here again there was
I father less than was anticipated.
| In every school effort was made to
■give the applicant fair and just treat-
I »nt. If he did not pass the first night
| he was invited to come again, and those
■who took as many as three trials were
■ numerous. Each school, moreover, pre-
iiented a different problem, varying with
■he character of the neighborhood in
■which it was located. The value of put-
■ting responsibility for administering the
Best on the Principal of the evening
■school, intimately familiar with the so-
Bial groups in the district, was repeatedly
■demonstrated.
I The statistics from the different
■schools also reflect the characteristics of
B®e districts in which they are located.
■'Ike lowest percentage of failures, for
Page Thirteen
THE UNITED AMERICAN
example, was in a school on the upper
west side in the vicinity of Columbia
University. Out of 494 women Who took
the examination there were no failures
at all, while of 870 men only 13 were
unsuccessful. Greenwich Village proved
another very literate section, with a
large number of high-class 'Italians,
Spaniards and Greeks taking the test.
Out of 633 applicants at the school in
the district only 11 failed.
The highest percentage of failures, on
the other hand, came from a school in a
district almost 100 per cent, Italian. Of
592 who took the test 314 failed and 278
passed. In another 'school in an Italian
■and Jewish district, where 889 people
were examined, 433 failed — within a
fraction of 50 per cent. To those inter­
ested in the education and assimilation
of our vast alien population it may seem
significant that in general those schools
in cosmopolitan neighborhoods drawing
on a variety of racial groups reported
a higher percentage of literacy than in
| What’s the Good of Worrying I
e
Anon.
g
| The hardest work you ever do |
Is worrying about it;
| What makes an hour resemble |
two
1
Is worrying about it.
| The time goes mighty slowly |
when
|
| You sit and sigh and sigh
j
again,
| And think of the work ahead, |
and then
|
Keep worrying about it.
I Just buckle up and buckle in—
Quit worrying about it.
! By work, not worry, you will
win —
Quit worrying about it.
I A task is easy, once begun;
| It has its labor and its fun.
| So grab ahold and do it, son—
Quit worrying about it.
i
|
|
|
f
^Hi'iitiiiHii;ii>>*n)niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiih-
the Ghetto districts in which single
nationalities are compactly congregated.
Perhaps a final point, should be made
in regard to the number of women who
applied for certificates. They were in
a distinct minority, only 8,864, or 17
per cent, of the total. In some schools,
particularly in Italian sections, no
women appeared at all, in others only
a handful.
This year will see the schools even
better prepared to administer this law.
Careful statistics and records of our ex­
perience this year have been kept by the
Director of Evening Schools. A corps
of examiners with this year’s practical
experience behind them will be available.
The candidates, the public, the press and
co-operating agencies will be better in­
formed about the law. But the 'results
this year have demonstrated beyond
question its value and feasibility, while
to the devotion and willingness of .the
evening school Principals and teachers,
who assumed responsibility for the
examination itself, must go the credit
for an exceedingly gratifying achieve­
ment.
THE LAND I LIVE IN
By Robert Freeman,,
in “Pacific Christian Advocate”
I love the land I live in,
Happy land of heart’s desire,
Far-off land of prophet vision
Dimly limned in sunset fire,
Land of ancient song and story
Chanted low to lute and lyre —
0, I love it, and I have it for mine, own.
I love the land I live in,
Where the padres trod of old,
Soldiers battled for its booty,
Miners scrambled for its gold,
Sailors damned it for its dangers —
O, the wierdest tales are told
Of this land I love to look on as mine own.
I love the land I live in,
Where the mountains hail the sea,
Where the desert bounds the orchard,
And the future’s yet to be;
Where the sons of every nation
Say in divers -tongues, “I’m free,
And I love this land I live in as mine
own.”
For the milkman is a Belgian,
The baker he is French,
The butcher is a German
And the cook a colored wench,
The gardener came from 'Sweden,
Here’s a peddler from Japan;
The preacher is a Scotchman,
And the judge an Irishman.
I love the land I live in,
* Where the ranges lie in snow
While the golden fruit is hanging
And the roses bloom below;
Where the rich man has 'his palace,
And the poor his bungalow,
And each boasts the land he lives in as
his own.
O I love the land I live in,
Where the past is all behind,
Where the sons of men begin again
With health and daring mind;
And the chiefest of her virtues
Is her love of being kind —
“Blessed land of my adoption, she’s
mine own.”
WASN’T HURTING IT
A little Negro boy, clothes removed,
was splashing around to his heart’s con­
tent in a public reservoir; “Hey! come
out of that, you young rascal!” shouted
the keeper^ “Don’t you know that the
people in town have to drink that
water?”
The youngster dived under, came up
and innocently replied: “Oh, dat’s all
right, .mister; I ain’t usin’ no soap.”
ISNT HE RIGHT?
“Hiram, I notice you never borrow.”
“No, it’s a lot of trouble to borrow
and it’s a lot of trouble to pay back.
So I pass up the entire proposition and
save trouble at both ends.”
— The American Tyler-Keystone.