DECEMBER 1925
Page Three
THE UNITED AMERICAN
Alternatives
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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............................ . . .
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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.
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