The united American : a magazine of good citizenchip., September 01, 1925, Image 5

THE
UNITED
r ican
A MAGAZINE OF GOOD CITIZENSHIP
Devoted to the Cause of
Americanization, Assimilation and Group Elimination; Pointing the way to a Constitutional
Americanism, to Equality in Citizenship, and a better understanding
between Native born and Foreign bom.
Vol. 3 V“OUB 21
September, 1925
Number 12
ANOTHER STATE BACKING THE CAUSE
ORGANIZING AMERICANIZATION SCHOOLS IN OREGON
By H. J. LANGOE
IVHILE the hustling in Oregon is largely tuned to
’’ the thud of falling timber, the buzz of the mill
saw and the industrial wheels, with the chief concern
of public interest centered on profit and gain and the
undivided attention of substantial businessmen given
to bank-clearing, current sentiment and concern in
constructive citizenship building has gained sufficient
ground to enable those who are giving civic better­
ment their undivided attention a measure of public
consideration for every just requirement necessary
to safeguard the sacred institutions upon which
our government rests.
While there are captains of finance and industry
in Oregon who are so absorbed in their daily routine
that they even scoff at constructive Americanization
work, considering such activities in the language of a
prominent Portland banker, as “war emergency active­
ties, which are no longer needed, because we are getting
along with the foreigners in America today as well
as with those who were here before the war,” the over­
whelming majority of influential citizens of Oregon,
as well as of other states, are conscious of the greater
values to the commonwealth and the nation that are
accumulating as substantial returns from every agency
of constructive Americanization work.
More than one third of the states in the Union
have already considered Americanization work,
beginning with adult educational schools, of sufficient
importance to create state departments of America­
nization, and incorporating citizenship training in the
system of public education under the supervision of
the state.
It is no longer a question of “getting along with
foreigners” as well as we have before, war or no
war, it is a question of imparting to every foreign-
born as well as to every illiterate native-born the
intelligence that is necessary to sustain an American
citizen in his citizenship. Governments have tottered,
according to history, because nations neglected to
diffuse the knowledge upon which rests the super­
structure of government.
Under a liberal form of government such as ours,
it is of even greater importance that intelligence in
citizenship be diffused most thoroughly. Naturalizing
an alien deficient in the fundamental knowledge of
this country, its history, its principles in government
and the obligations assumed in citizenship is a civic
crime, blacker than treason. Yet, this is a crime com­
monly committed in even the best regulated com­
munities where high-pressure organizations of foreign-
born and native-born and individuals with social and
political prominence take it upon themselves to become
godfathers and godmothers to aliens who are anxious
to become naturalized in a hurry and in whom they
have suddenly become interested. The curious part
of it is that these well-intentioned people cannot think
of a single solitary thing to do for these aliens except
to use their influence to get them naturalized. Much
better it would be if they used their influence to get
these people to go to night school and helped to make
such schools the best possible for the alien and his
needs. The alien’s naturalization is not half as im­
portant, to begin with, as it is to have him thoroughly
prepared and trained for the obligations that are
involved in the franchise.
To remedy these conditions and establish proper
centers of schooling for the aliens who live in this
state, the legislature during the last session authorized
the establishment of a department of adult education
and Americanization to be conducted in conjunction
with the state department of education. The financial
provisions for this department allowed by the Ways
and Means Committee were somewhat limited due in
a large measure to an apparent lack of coordination
of interest on the part of the exponents of such an
establishment.
The broad powers of supervision and control of
the “department of Americanization” which should