The united American : a magazine of good citizenchip., September 01, 1925, Page 7, Image 7

SEPTEMBER 1925
THE UNITED AMERICAN
Page Seven
Viewing the Immigrant’s Americanization From Ellis Island
A Wholesome Analysis and Some Conclusions by the United States Commissioner of Immigration, Who is
Pointing out Some of the Specific Things We Might Do to Americanize the Foreign-born, and Inci­
dentally Touching a Few of Our Most Acute Omissions and Commissions of the Past
[The Americanization of the millions of aliens in America
II.
who have lived here for years as foreigners and as partis
'THERE
is
no
way
of
taking
part in the human jack­
of the foreign country from which they, eacn of them, have
straw game that goes by the name of Ellis Island,
come, as well as the Americanization of the present daily
quota of approximately one thousand new arrivals who pass without being stood up against a wall twice a day and
through the gates of Ellis Island to the accompaniment of told to explain “How we can Americanize all these
the dull thud of the triphammer, has somehow become one foreigners who are coming in.” That much is sure.
of the most vexatious problems of present-day America. No
matter how you personally regard this problem, it is here, I know, because for some time now I have been running
and will continue to hold the center of the stage of public Ellis Island to the daily trip-hammer accompaniment
attention for years to come. Thousands express their opinion of the old question, “How can we Americanize them?”
on the subject, but only a few contribute anything of merit
That is a fair question, too. You and your wife,
sufficient to pass on. Among the Americans who today are
with
good reason, want to know how to take into the
discussing this question in an intelligent and interesting way
is the present United States Commissioner of Immigration family these foreigners who come from every corner
at Ellis Island, Major Henry H. Curran. Few Americans of the globe, who boast every race, creed, color and
can have the opportunity to study the immigrant so closely shape of political head; who possess every degree of
as the man who admits him, the man who actually controls
the gateway through which flows the human tide that is still innocence or rascality, virtue or vice, intelligence or
coming in under the American code of restriction. He is charged ignorance; who come here to be your intimate
with the responsibility of passing upon the admissibility of each neighbors and, shortly, your political equals. You
individual immigrant before the immigrant is finally permitted know that they are still coming, in the hundreds of
to enter America proper, to take his place among the people
of this country—in the language of the marriage ritual— thousands every year—small wonder that you nourish
“for better or for worse.” Few of those who have -held the a natural curiosity as to where they turn up and how
post of United States Commissioner of Immigration before they turn out! For the sake of your children, to
him have given the problem such careful study as Commis­ whom you bequeath our common country in the exact
sioner Curran. He has gone to the trouble of following the mold in which you and I fashion it, you would Mke
immigrant on his way into the new homeland. He has studied
the defects in our assimilation and naturalization code, or to have a look into the future loyalty, patriotism and
shall we say the unfortunate circumstances arising from the understanding of the foreigners of to-day who will
fact that we are still floundering between “the devil and the be the Americans of to-morrow. And so naturally
deep sea” because we haven’t been able to agree sufficiently enough, you turn first to the men and women at the
on the subject to set up a decent code or tangible formula. gate—at Ellis Island—where the foreign thousands
He has seen the need of a complete change in the whole
system of. dealing with the immigrant, if the object—his troop off the ships and into the U. S. A. every day
complete assimilation—is to be realized for the good of the in the year—and to us who actually see them go by,
future America.
who sort them, know them, admit or deport them,
In the following article, the second of a series from Major you put that puzzling old query, “What do we do with
Curran, which appeared recently in the “Elks Magazine,” them?”
he discusses intimately some of the fundamental elements
Let me say what I can of it, now in passing, while
for consideration in the all absorbing question of Americaniza­
tion. In the first article, which was reproduced in the October, the thousands still go by. In a former article I put
1924, issue of The United American, he discussed the immi­ down some suggestions that are agreed to by those
grant question from many interesting angles and concluded who have been at Ellis Island many years more than
with a plea for federal action for an adequate national Ameri­
canization plan and program. In the present article the( I, as to “how not to do it,” in this game of Ameri­
Commissioner has touched, perhaps lightly in some instances, canization.
almost every phase of Americanization, deprecating the wrong
By way of beginning, there is this to be said. You
and pointing out the right attitude and action. Read between
will
have many a plan, backed by actual accomplish­
the lines and study the views of the Commissioner, and you
will agree that his perspective is as all-embracing as his logic ment in your own experience, that you find no hint
is sound. Perhaps he has not given the attention and space of in these few words from Ellis Island. All that is
to some of the remedies suggested that he has given others; so much to the good. We do not know it all here at
but, nevertheless, through these articles the Commissioner has Ellis Island, even when it comes to studying the
proved himself fully conversant with all the phases of immi­
grant life in America with which we come in contact in our arriving foreigners—not by a long row of apple trees.
For, foreign or American or half-and-half, they aré
analysis of the Americanization question.
The United American hopes within the near future all human beings, and no one yet has made a map of
ultimately to have a closer contact with the Island and! the human nature that can be hung on a wall and taken
problems which are daily passing there in review, not alone as a text. Human nature is a baffling, vanishing,
present a close-up of Ellis Island and the Commissioner, and reappearing proposition, and the end of it is never.
the problem of the immigrant, but the problem of the suave
agitators, muckrakers and “friendly” interpreters who frequently But, if a suggestion out of our Ellis Island experience
call at the Ellis Island immigrant station, generally for other is worth something—is worth anything— then we
purposes than those stated.
have helped, be it ever so little. And, heaven knows,
The Commissioner’s entertaining style adds enjoyment we need help nowadays in these United States of ours,
to the reading of his treatise on the subject, but his earnest if we are to continue to be a nation and not break
appeal for an American sense of responsibility alone, is so
captivating that no intelligent citizen can read without asking up into a collection of contending foreign colonies that
himself the question, “what am I doing to live America and will some day make a mess over here like a second
set the foreign-born an example conducive to his Americaniza­ edition of all Europe at war over there! So too, it is
tion and assimilation?”
—The Editor]
(Continued on Page Twelve)
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