Straight
Frances A. Kellor
Dedicated “To the President-Elect of 1916”
CHAPTER ONE – WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH
Our shame
is shown in our inaction. We are unprepared
for united service in any field including military, industrial and educational
ones. We are particularly unable to act
because we are divided. The coast needs
protection and the interior feels safe.
“We see
a conglomeration of colonies and ghettos and immigrant sections in our large
cities, and the country dotted with settlements quite as un-American as
anything to be found abroad. We face the
fact that
Thanks to the war we have been freed from the delusion that we are a united nation marching steadily along an American highway of peace, prosperity, common ideals, beliefs, language and purpose.” (4)
Our
citizens are backing
One seventh
of our population being foreign born it is no small task “to give them enough
of
We don’t
know if such a foreign presence is good or bad.
“This we do know, that every government but our own has a national
purpose which it is carrying out in America with its own subjects –
nationalized or alien – through its representatives and agents, its
publications, institutions, and business interests.
We are militarily unprepared. Will the alien help in the war effort? Will we have time to Americanize when the war has started?
“In the growing demand for a more united America it is apparent that America needs a national spirit which shall combine reverence and service; a national consciousness which shall be willing to give as well as to receive benefits and to put into politics as well as take something out; an ideal, which shall make every resident give something of his interest, service, time, and money voluntarily to America without quibbling over “rights,” “emergencies,” “time of need,” or “obligations of business.
“The
practical questions before
“I believe our capacity for nationalism is in exact proportion to the measures we take for its achievement.” “A general melting pot tended by o one in particular does not necessarily brew a nation. This is even more true when we find so many other self-interested nations and people stirring the pot.” (12)
“If the pending immigration bill represents the sum total of the wisdom we can summon on the first subject [immigration], we shall fail miserably to improve this opportunity for our prevailing negative policy. Such arbitrary tests as the literacy clause based on race and class theories and antagonisms bear no real or lasting relation to the fundamental national needs of the country. This country needs a statesman like policy in its international relations based not upon theoretical makeshifts, but upon a knowledge of existing conditions, upon capacity for assimilating the immigrant, and upon our power to develop the machinery which will make assimilation possible.
“Admission of aliens to this country should be based upon their capacity for Americanization.” (13-14)
“I believe that every incoming immigrant should declare upon arrival his or her intention to remain here and become a citizen. Every immigrant should be required to become literate in the English language (the minimum standard to be definitively set) within five years after arrival, provided facilities are offered him Deportation should be the penalty for failure to do so.” (14).
“A policy of national education is required for a statesmanlike consideration of nationalism. Local communities cannot carry the burden of educating large numbers of incoming residents concerning whom they have not been forewarned and who have not grown up in an American community.” (15).
Migrant workers necessitate an educational and cultural forces shall follow the man from place to place if we are to achieve nationalism through assimilation.
Immigrants first contacts should not be with members of their self-interested country men and the exploiter.
“May we
fairly conclude that the real matter with
“
CHAPTER TWO – AMERICANISM ………………… Page 21
In
answering “what is Americanism” she is fighting the sentiment that we can never
hope for the compelling devotion which has animated
“I believe the foundation stones of Americanism are exactly what they were 140 years ago, - liberty, opportunity, and obligation. We have lost sight of the third. The conception of liberty upon which this country was founded was a chastened and a disciplined conception. It was chastened by a menace to rights as dear as lie itself. It was disciplined by the immediate duty of defending these by life itself, if need be. That chastened and disciplined conception of liberty is Americanism. We have now the sacred tradition. We have now the liberty. We have now the opportunity. Our task is to restore to it the austerity and the discipline of obligation.
“A combination of rights and duties of obligations and privileges, is the determining idea in those first vehicles of Americanism, our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution.” (23) But we have drifted away from the true balance between these fundamental rights and duties, a balance which is at once the delicate spring and the solid rock of our existence. Prosperity, unusual freedom of choice in vocations, varying and broad opportunities to control the vast material resources of the country, have made us complacent about accepting the privileges of a democracy.” (23-24).
Few Americans think that they have an obligation to place their time, their resources at the disposal of the nation.
Remember that in the DOI it not only has “We hold these truths . . “ but “And for support of this declaration, with a firm reliance upon the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor.”
People are afraid of the Southern European hordes. But we are champions of liberty. Our living up to the ideals of the DOI can best be measured by how well we treat our immigrants.
When the immigrant arrives, no one gives them a friendly greeting. Rather they are turned loose to be met by exploiters interested in his money. Then he meets folks that want to abuse his labor. People want to “send his money home” and steal it and then politicians who don’t care about him.
She wonders
how those studying at night to be citizens with their experiences under the
peonage system of the South and other injustices, with the courts in which they
have no interpreter, with prohibitions from working in certain trades and other
discriminatory laws. She asks when we
will restore democracy as the framers intended it. Those who exploit are
anti-Americans. Those who emphasize
liberty and not duty are anti-Americans.
“We are beginning to see that the native
American is anti-American who perpetuates class consciousness and race hatred .
. .” is indifferent to those living in slums (32). Those who use workers and
do not consider their value to
“We point with pride to the immigrant who succeeds in spite of it, but I suspect that often we judge by his clothes and his house and his speech rather than his outlook upon life and his inlook upon himself. We satisfy ourselves by comparing his lot here with what it was in his home country – often without real knowledge of either.”
“This country is full of so-called un-American types. Some of them are native born and some are foreign born. Immigrant men and women in this rank of lie or that, who have been in this country for years, have found themselves isolated from and ignored by Americans. American customs and standards have therefore failed to alter them. The result is the perpetuation of foreign types or the creation of distinct types which we refuse to accept as ours., but in the making of which we hae certainly had a controlling hand.” (33-34). There are foreign types, but we have had a hand in their making via neglect.
People
break laws and exploit each other till
Certain
things are essential to elucidating and preserving
The second is a common citizenship. We allow aliens to vote and undermine the value of citizenship. We tell aliens they are not required to defend this country. Schools do not make any provisions for teaching him about American conditions, life, and government. This all makes him a skeptic of democracy.
We want
Americans to have a stake in
She is against those who seek to substitute “the brotherhood of man” for all the loyalties and obligations and relationships of life. The I.W.W. and uniting the Workers of the world is no good. (40-41). Great ideas, but when the immigrant goes back to his tenement, he needs a government to carry and control the conditions of their lives, to safeguard their rights, to aid them to right their wrongs.
Because we
have no zeal for American ideals we have failed
CHAPTER THREE – THE NATIVE AMERICAN …………. Page 43
She is not more worried about the alien with the family back home than of the American with no family at all.
When we think of Americanizing we think first of the immigrant. That is not where the greatest difficulty
lies. Rather I fear that we shall have
to Americanize our native Americans first. “We have, I think, to return to the civilian training
camp and universal service as a melting pot for natives before we can make
She decried racial epithets. Native Americans carry their responsibility to the verge of reaction and antagonism. (45). “… the native American has a point of view, a state of mind, a prejudiced observance, a sense of superiority – which makes him greatly in need of Americanization.” (46). Schools do not stress the seriousness of holidays. She ties citizenship to civic participation and government participation.
Government
and industry are the keys to the hope and future of
“We shall
never solve the immigration problem so long as we begin with the immigrant’s
shortcomings, nor shall we attain Americanism so long as we define it as
Nativism. We need not fear that we are
not as much in control as we ever were.
We set the standards. The question
is whether we have cause to be satisfied with the way in which we do it. The ideals and standards of
She puts
down Mr. Ross who in the “
She decries miss Repplier’s argument that the immigrant hordes are destroying the best traditions of opportunity sealed in 1776. Immigrants do not prefer dirt and dangerous conditions, Says FK, make a friendly visit and help. Bosses who set up big businesses put up terrible homes for their workers. The rich then despise the homes the immigrants live in, but it is what is set up for our American workers (not immigrants, she says, they are American workers).
Decent pay is important for decent
citizens, but education is also needed (56).
People are housed 5 – 15 per room without privacy. The owners of the factories would rather have
high turnover than build housing. One
American controls the fate of 8000 immigrants and fails to provide. The worst part is that the immigrant gets
used to this treatment. He believes that
this crass exploitation is what
“The trouble is the native American does not regard the immigrant as anything
but a workman – and so long as he ignores
“Another native-American illusion
is that the immigrant will not appreciate our efforts. Since when has
A third illusion is that native Americans think of the immigrant getting stuff from
The immigrants come here with
“racial powers” Some come with “vision trained for centuries in beautry of line and color, with the skilled hands of races
that have been shaping arch or temple or cathedral for thousands of
years.” “Does
She attacks Horace Kallen as saying “Only men who are alike in origin and spirit and not abstractly can be truly equal.” And says miss Replier, rightly, “We have no mutual understanding, no common denominator.”
We have not. The first Americans whose opportunity and responsibility was to produce mutual understanding and a common denominator have failed. Repplier says that a Jew cannot become an Englishman.
“True, but what is an American? Is he an Anglo-Saxon racial type, and if so, by what law? Do we desire him to be this?
“I do not despise the conclusion of ethnologists, but they seem to have so few conclusions and so many theories. And the root of them seems to be, not experience, but apprehension. Meanwhile, I see all around me valiant Americans, Southern European by birth and tradition, Americans now in spirit and loyalty and tendency. These men and women have mastered the opportunity – for they had to seek and improve it themselves – to become assimilated. In spite of the thousands of their country men among us, still un-American, I am convinced of two things: That America can control its own destiny, that one of the greatest obstacles has been slothful neglect, another obstacle, Nativism; and that the way to attain control of our destiny is by aggressive, not passive Americanism. When this is under way, it will be easy enough to sort out and deal separately and finally with undesirable races and types or those that have no desire to become Americans.” (66-67).
“Surely we cannot expect the immigrant to distribute himself wisely, to protect himself adequately, to educate himself intelligently, to become a willing citizen without the full cooperation of the native American.: (68).
We think of our attitude towards the immigrant, but not the immigrant’s attitude towards us. Immigrants may make up 2/3rds of a town and the institutions still only cater to the needs of the original inhabitants.
“When will
We call the immigrant a criminal. We set up the courts for us and leave it at that with no interpreters. We are unsympathetic. An immigrant arrives and gets whatever work he can. No governmental agency takes the trouble to tell him, what restrictions there are on an occupation, what licenses are required and which jobs are only open to citizens. He does not know about garbage disposal laws. He may not know that he is obliged to send his child to school. Breaking these laws he is easily tried and convicted because he has a bad interpreter, or no interpreter, and no knowledge of our legal system. “His respect for American law and American justice does not outlive many experiences of this kind, and another door to Americanism is closed.” (78).
Our newspapers are nativistic. They are helpful to those who are assimilated, but not to anyone else. “It seems to be assumed that the readers know the form of history, the value, and the significance of American institutions and need only to have them attended to or referred to , the more casually the better. Some of our most significant journals take apparent pride in being cryptic. They ignore the presence in this country of millions who need to be informed, who ardently desire information, about our history and our institutions, and who do not know where they can obtain it from an English-speaking source.” (78-79).
9 million folks read foreign language newspapers. They may do so out of necessity while they transition to English or never intend to learn it at all. They could help us Americanize but we treat them all indifferently unless one is seen to be disloyal. These papers get little help from us. It runs for many reasons, “but it is run very little for the foreign-born citizen or alien who against odds is trying to accomplish his own assimilation. Yet this is exactly the task in which the newspaper that considered his interests and needs could help him most.” (80).
Libraries could provide books about
But native Americans are shortsightedly against providing works in foreign language and consider it better that the immigrant reads nothing at all while they transition to English.
She has been harping on the responsibility of the native born as a corrective.
“This fixing of initial
responsibility does not mean that the immigrant has no responsibility. Far from it. He must be ready to stay in
“Is it possible that we have been admitting too many people of too wide a variety for the native American to Americanize. It is certainly true that we should hesitate to admit many others until we have demonstrated our ability to provide an assimilation policy for the nation. We cannot forever depend on the missionary for the Americanization of aliens. Shall we close the doors as the only way to preserve Americanization? Will this be a confession of our utter failure to deal in a statesmanlike way with either the international or national situation which confronts us?
“It seems to me that our real enemy is not aggressive foreignism, but a passive, complacent Americanism or Nativism. What we need to fear is not that we shall be invaded by civilizations and ideals we cannot assimilate, but that we shall fail to develop and perpetuate and extend to all Americans the civilization and ideals we firmly believe to be American.” (84-86).
We should do everything we can to help the immigrant. “If under these conditions he prefers his home language to ours, pays his allegiance to a country other than America, sends his savings home to be invested, persists in a second-rate standard of living, asserts his rights but refuses to meet his duties, reads foreign language press instead of American, joins the racial society instead of the city club, - then we shall know the fault is not the native American’s, and we can put up the bars with a clear conscience and with courage in our hearts.” (87-88).
“Americanism faces the future and
is courageous. Nativism faces the past
and is apprehensive.” (88).
“It is not too late for the American to face about from his
Nativism, from his contentment with considering only the needs and interests of
the native born, and to consider the needs of
CHAPTER FOUR - AMERICA-MADE CITIZENS ……………. Page 91
Every state
has a different standard by which people can become citizens and vote. And overall we have no standard definition of
citizenship. Were it not for war
preparedness “we would still believe that the granting of papers to
foreign-born men sealed their loyalty to
“The
naturalization law provides that an alien before becoming a citizen shall have
a continuous residence of five years in
For 9 years the federal government has applied the letter of this law, but not the spirit of it. We have done nothing to help the immigrant pass his naturalization tests. NY and CA only created education programs to this end and only Cleveland and LA connected the public schools to the courts and had the school give credit for the naturalization process to the judge. (101).
In 1914, the Bureau of Education started the division of immigrant education which began a nation wide campaign of education through the public schools.
A big problem was politicians putting people through the courts without English or civics to get their votes.
She feels that it will take laws requiring English attainment to get immigrants into the school. Some night schools are empty. Why? “The foreign governments and the bulk of the foreign-language newspapers are against immigrants learning the English language.” (102-3) Employers also fear that it will empower employees.
In
“Citizenhship cannot be a paper propaganda - It must bear a vital relation to the work,
play, and living conditions of each citizen and take him not only to the school
but to the military training camp; not only to the job but to the polls. Not only to better conditions in
In
“It is sound policy that the instruction in our public schools should be by American citizens with an American point of view and loyalty.” (107). But papers cannot insure this.
Local
temporizing with national honor and fair play has led to too much
discrimination. In some states the
alien cannot be an attorney; in other it is open to declarants. In some he can’t be a printer, in some he
can. In twenty-nine states resident
aliens are given the same property rights as citizens; in two other states the
same rights are given to white aliens.
In others, no aliens can own land.
In
The laws concerning selling to aliens can only be sound if they are uniform in all states. Dispersing aliens can be effectuated by allowing ownership some places and giving rural credits. Some insurance companies don’t pay the full amount to alien beneficiaries. In NY getting the benefits is contingent upon getting citizenship. If two men contribute equally to the state, only one may get funds to keep him from starving, via work. That isn’t fair. In some states aliens can’t have guns. “One cannot read the hundreds of discriminating laws without a sense of the utter prostitution of American citizenship to prejudice, race hatred, greed, cupidity, and to the selfishness of groups and individuals.” (113-114)
Companies that will only promote citizens are moved by patriotism and the need for a stable work force and reduced accidents by having English speaking encouraged.
Packard Motor Company noted that the workers are divided over the war and it causes friction among the men. Men of one nationality object to working under men of another. So the bosses must be Americans. Whatever they be when they come in. Having American loyalty and patriotism will make the worker more efficient and happier without old country feuds.
We do not want to put citizenship on a commercial basis though. We should tell all immigrants over school age but under 45 that they have 5 years to learn English or be deported. But only if facilities for learning English are provided.
There are
two theories of citizenship. Ours is Jus
Soli or the law of the land. This makes the person a citizen where he is
born. The second is jus sanguinis,
this is citizenship depending on where your parents were born. This is in
CHAPTER FIVE – THE POPULAR VOTE …………………… Page 127
We need to know if the foreign vote will be cast in racial interest. Will the 1500 foreign-language newspapers influence the foreign towards national goals or racial interest?
There will be three levels of preparedness voted upon. There will be a sincere one including international duty (progressives and republicans), there will be a middle of the road preparedness (democrats) there will be a third part of pacifists (anti-preparedness with a socialist and labor following). All will bombard with advertising galore. In addition to information, however, will be ties to the fatherlands of many. They have family in the old country.
One way we
can ameliorate this is to have business war profiteering by native
Americans stop. What are schools doing
and how have they taught about
There is no ceremony when the boy casts his first vote, as there should be. No one makes him welcome as a citizen of the country. Voting becomes an obnoxious duty that interferes with his week. Some schools teach about the world situation, but most have to get their information from newspapers and their fellows. The vote requires a lot of knowledge. It is difficult to obtain an impartial and scientific statement on any political controversy. All is special pleading. We need training on how to vote.
The acquiring of citizenship by aliens should be connected with the vote, not jobs. The immigrant often sees his vote as something he can sell or is necessary to keep his job. This is set up by native Americans. The Padrone gets the contract to make worker housing, he then is supposed to deliver the votes. The politician then stokes the business. (136).
The alien vote can only be controlled by is by controlling preparations for citizenship. Locals don’t care, no schooling is set up. You need a lot of assimilation to vote on the issues impartially. The average voter is too heavily localized. We need to Americanize the American voter nearly as bad as we need to do so for the foreign voter. But the foreign voter needs to live a real American life to be fit for the vote.
This is why naturalized folk must have good morals, speak English and be attached to the constitution. To this end the schools have been revising their civics education for aliens. She wants to see the political forum become a recognized part of American life. The parties should do political education on national issues. This should not just be fliers and speeches and such emotional appeals but real education, real debate at a local level sponsored by the parties. (142). Studies facts and opinions must be disseminated.
The natives are voting for socialists at just as great a rate as foreigners. The talk of foreigners voting radical is incorrect. When the new immigrants are allowed to vote immediately upon getting their papers, fraud and graft are the result. In some states you can be there for only 6 months, with an intent to be a citizen coming after three, and you can vote Without knowing any English, anything about the Constitution or the name of the political parties. These people are citizens of the state, but not of the nation.
So long as we have citizens of states that vote who are not citizens of the nation, we have a disrupting force in our national political organization. In the Constitution citizenship is defined as national.
A woman, no matter what her qualifications, becomes a citizen when her husband or father naturalizes. In 11 states she can vote. It is too bad that so much civic force is lost to the community.
Immigrants get information from their ward boss and foreign-language newspapers. The circulation of these papers is 9,000,000! Some are about American affairs, but some editors only look at things from a German or Italian point of view.
Via education, “we shall secure Americanism in politics, without which we can have no genuine preparedness.” (152)
CHAPTER SIX – NATIONAL UNITY …………………….. Page 153
“The decision is called upon to make to-day is whether America shall emerge from this world-wide struggle as a nation of many peoples or whether it will imperil its very existence by remaining half native, half alien; half free and half slave to foreign influences.” (153).
“Preparedness
means something more than a larger army and navy. It means also having a united
We leave
our transportation lines to be manned by immigrants to which we have not shown
how to love
“Shall we
have citizens’ training camps and train to higher efficiency only those already
filled with patriotism, or shall we in these same camps bring new and old
citizens together and bring up the ranks in discipline and efficiency for a
better
“Can we become a really strong nation if Americanization is for native-born men and women only, while we do nothing for the millions of foreign-born men and women who constitute our reserve strength?” (154-155)
“We cannot Americanize by
legislation or proclamation, but only by the patriotic action of each and every
resident in
Our defense bills are marred in that they assume that all that is needed for defense is weapons. Preparedness is not weapons alone. National preparedness must include “military preparedness, industrial mobilization, universal service, Americanization, and international duty.” (157)
Our national preparedness measures
have been haggling reports and bills that favor a congressperson’s district
here and there and disgraceful and pathetic.
Had we done a national program based on information from many sectors we
could have avoided this mess and would be coordinated. “we would have an
aviation corps and training schools worthy of the name – and Villa would not
have raided
We still have no comprehensive plan or action going. Remedy this.
In addition “The country needs to
keep every able-bodied man in
The railroads and the War department need an understanding and agreements.
The weakest part of preparedness is
that of the labor supply. (170). This weakness is partially shown by an
interview of 2 million foreign-born persons on steamships. The questions being put to them concerned
what the immigrants guessed migration patterns would be like after the
war. They are worried that people will
go back to look for loved ones. They
have been having conferences with industrial leaders concerning keeping
immigrants in
Volunteer service camps are being filled with cooperative employers that are willing to give people vacation, with pay, during the training period.
“No military system can operate
successfully without understanding effort on the part of production and
transportation of men. The pursuit of
Villa showed the absence of this, and to date it seems to be largely a moral
victory.” (173)
For
preparedness we must realize that the job of the industrialist does not stop
when his workers leave the plant.
Workers must have, “the right kind of recreation and getting a home
stake in the country to defend is important.
There are minimum standards in separation of the sexes, family privacy,
sanitation, and cleanliness which no American workmen can fall below and be a
loyal citizen fit for defense. It is
part of the mobilization of industry to see that conditions do not prevail
which give American defense men unable or unwilling to defend it.” (174)
There can be no preparedness without the nationalization of industry. We must inventory all. The labor market must be allocated accordingly. This is not a matter of legislation, “it is a duty and obligation of each responsible person in industry – all working together on a national cooperative basis instead of a on a local, sectional, competitive basis. It means a new spirit abroad in business – patriotic nationalism.” (175).
We now see military training only as a war time quick thing. The up and running training camps have taught us two things: individual proficiency, and a national spirit and point of view.
“The American factory and the
American city have failed as a melting pot. – The dog tent may succeed. It may become the best school of practical
civics there is – a place where all Americans can meet together for the common
good of
‘It may restore the balance to our
triumvirate of the Declaration of Independence –
“It could not bestow any greater favor upon its young men than to give all of them the benefits of military methods of drilling and education. It would “set them up” physically; they would acquire a knowledge of hygiene, sanitation, prevention of disease, etc., and they would also learn, to their great advantage, obedience, promptness, precision, regularity of habits, abstinence, economy, avoidance of waste, and respect for authority, all of which would make them more competent in their daily tasks – whatever they may be.” (177).
“Many of our young men, in their desire to remain “independent.” Are inefficient, unreliable, and irresponsible.” (177).
“Inevitably all of this leads to slovenly work; to indifferent to citizenship; to play in which entertainment, not participation, is the rule; and to a shifting responsibility in all walks of life. In the supplementing of individual by social ideals; in the transition from individual to social conscience; in the great change from personal to social control of many individual affairs, we have somehow lost the finer traits of character and those ancient Christian virtues which make for strong nations as well as for strong men.”
“I believe the training camp is
unparalleled in its power to develop social consciousness and social control,
and to show men the means by which they can work together for a common
end.
Many want to serve that cannot go into the dog tents.
As a whole the civilian defense movement is confused and incoherent, not nationally coordinated, having no national guidance or even suggestions. The “preparedness organizations in combination could work out the mobilization of civilian resources and activities throughout the country. In some way all of these efforts should be brought into relation with each other under control and direction and discipline. They should be associated with the training camps and recognized as volunteer corps and be given thee standing necessary to perfect their organization and administer their control. We have passed the stage of propaganda; we now need organization and administration of volunteer efforts if we are not to waste the precious patriotism and enthusiasm for Americanism throughout the country.” (182). “the American religion of individualism in arrogant array against a critical national need.” (183). Americans must rediscover their sense of duty. With the immigrant it is different. “. . . here we need to assume a constructive and painstaking task – that of interpreting the principles of Americanism and the obligation as well as the privileges of American citizenship to the men we invite to come here to do American work, and permit to be a large percentage of the population of many American industrial towns.” (184).
“Immigration
is a great force in American life. It is
not, as has often been hitherto been regarded, a labor subject or a health
subject. It is primarily a citizen
subject, to be administered along the broad lines of nationalism and the future
best interests of all
“What does Americanization mean in national defense?
“It means putting the American flag above
all others, abolishing dual citizenship, and pledging open allegiance to
“It means American citizenship for every alien within our borders, or deportation and closing our doors to political scouts and birds of passage. We can no longer endure as a “polyglot boarding house.” Citizenship will give us an intelligent body of voters, for it will mark the end of the “voting the hunkies” by ward bosses. This desecration of American citizenship cannot exist on the part of the public schools of the country to instruct the foreign born, adults as well as children, in the real meaning of citizenship. It means, finally, economic stability.” (185-186)
“It means one language for all and the elimination of illiteracy. Confusion of tongues and ignorance of American institutions and opportunities are foes of efficient preparedness. This means the end of “Little Italys,” “Little Hungaries,” and the end of flilthy, remote foreign villages on the outskirts of our towns and cities, inhabited by foreign-speaking men and women with no way of learning American standards of living and American customs, and with no way to protest against standards of living which in many cases they do not “lower” at all, but which they accept only because they are too ignorant to protest when the conditions are forced upon them.” (186-187).
“It means the abolition of class prejudices and of racial hatreds and of the intolerance of the old stock for new stock which stand in the way of United America.” (187),
“It means the American standard of living.” (188), People that are unable to speak English and are not Americanized are ghettoized and subject to foreign radicals speaking their own language.
“It means the Americanization of women. Now women automatically become citizens with their fathers and husbands, although in some states they vote.” “We must reach foreign-born women in their homes, and we must go to them. They are now isolated forgotten, ignored and constituted the greatest single backward factor in the progress of citizenship among women.” (189).
“The
figures for 1910 tell us that