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About The united American : a magazine of good citizenchip. (Portland, Or.) 1923-1927 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1925)
DECEMBER 1925 Page Three THE UNITED AMERICAN Alternatives B Ë S 8 S I A CRY OF despair which issued ** from a recent Des Moines meeting of the Educational Coun cil of the Iowa State Teachers’ Association, over the increasing and costly maintenance of Iowa’s penal institutions, contained the novel suggestion that the only remedy to save the state from its crime malady lay in the in troduction of religious training in the public school. Could a civic or educational body, indirectly write an indictment of its churches and homes in a clearer language than the school teach ers of Iowa have done? What have the church people of Iowa, native and foreign born, done for good citizenship in their homes and thru their churches, their church schools and church colleges of many languages and nationalities ? The presumption is that they have been more con cerned with their dogmas and lan guage differences than they have been in the application of practi cal religion and its relations to citizenship. What defense can the people of Iowa make for their evident failure to inculcate in the minds of their children a thoro appreciation of the religious vir tues they have espoused? Admitting all, does this state of affairs justify the suggested alternative — that they proceed to overthrow the American prin ciple of religious freedom in Iowa? There is no evading the issue. The teachers have forced an unpleasant deduction. Put religion in the public school and the public school is in immediate danger of becoming sectarianized. This accomplished and a joint government of church and state is not far from materi alization and the church majority will again wield its influence up on the government of state and nation. If the home and the church have failed in cultivating the spiritual virtues in citizen ship with the growing generation, a remedy should be found without forcing the STATE to conduct the religiousltraining ofthe child. A far preferable plan it would be to set aside one or more periods during each school week for the children to attend strictly denominational religious schools of the parents choosing. AM EBICAN A Magazine oi Good Cicizensnip Issued Monthly in the Interest of Americanization and Adult Education H. J. LANGOE, Editor Associate Editors: Robert G. Deming, State Director of Americanization, State of Connecticut (President Department Adult Education, National Education Ass’n. U. S.) William Chandler Smith, Chief State Bureau Immigrant Education, New York (Chairman Editorial Board “Interstate Bulletin”) Charles M. Herlihy, State Superviser Adult Alien Education, Massachusetts R. E. Dugdale, Director Extension Dept., Board of Education, Toledo, Ohio Geo. A. Green, Director Citizens’ Bureau, Immigrant Aid, Cleveland, Ohio A. C. Strange, Oregon State Director of Americanization Schools, Portland, Or. Publishers: The Northman Publishing Company (Inc.) Officers: H. J. Langoe, President; B. G. Skulason, Sec-Treasurer Unices and Publishing House Labbe Building, 227% Washington Street, Portland, Oregon Phone Broadway 6600 Vol. 4 Volume 22 December, 1925 Number 3 CONTENTS EDITORIAL SUBJECTS— Liberty Bell to Ring Once More; To Transport Immi grants Free; Under the Mistletoe; Untold Chapters of the Ancien Story of Israel; A Cause for the Mothers of America; Solving the Problem of Strikes and Industrial Conflict in Belgium; Professional Alimony Diggers, etc.,............... STRIKING A NEW CHORD IN THE AGE-OLD SONG OF PEACE ON EARTH............................................................... ALTERNATIVES .................................................................................. THE ROMANCE ON THE TREE...................... ................................. By Martha M. Thomas KING OLAF’S CHRISTMAS ............................................................... By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow A SCHOOL OF CITIZENSHIP FOR NATURALIZATION ........... By C. C. Kelso, Los Angeles YULETIDE GREETING ............................................. ........................ THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS .......................... . ............................. By Katherine Edelman OLDER AN NEWER YULE CUSTOMS OF PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN TIMES ............................................................. By H. J. Langoe SHATTERING THE RAMPARTS OF HATE ......... . ........................ By H. J. Langoe BECOMING AN AMERICAN ............................................................ By A. C. Strange, State Director of Americanization Schools. QUESTION AND ANSWER PAGE FOR FOREIGN BORN....... THE BLESSING ................................................................................... By Bjornstjerne Bjornson RECEIVING MORE THAN FAIR VALUATION IN ADVER TISING ................................... ............................................ . ATHEISTS ORGANIZE TO WAR ON ALL RELIGION................. BITS OF HUMOR FOR THE HOME CIRCLE............................ . . . 14-20 1 3 4 4 6 5 7 8 9-10 11-12 13 21 22 23-24 27 Subscriptions, twelve issues, Two Dollars yearly; single copies, twenty cents. Remit by United States Mone y. Order, Express Money Order or Check. In Canada and other foreign countries, belonging to the Postal Union, fifty cents additional should be added. Back numbers, not over three months old, twenty-five cents; more than three months, One Dollar each. Instructions for change of address should be sent two weeks in ad vance of mailing. Always give old address, as well as the new, and al ways write plainly. The Editor will be glad to consider contributions; but a stamped and addressed envelope must be inclosed, if the return of unavailable manu scripts is desired. ■ Entered as Second Class Mail Matter in the Post Office at Portland, Oregon, under the Act of Congress of March Third, 1879. liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiifflimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiimHiimiim^ »BBS»«
