international mind"-it is our most pressing duty just now, because international sentiment has as yet been so little cultivated. But to suppose that the era of international co-operation and loyalty is going to lessen our national pride and patriotism is a serious blunder. It is going to clarify and purge them, it is not going to make them less coercive or less beautiful.

Certainly if we fail to achieve a successful international organization in the near future, the effort and sacrifice of the War will have been largely wasted, The organization of an enduring peace is the only result which could compensate the world for these years of destruction, and death, and the serious setback to civilization. Mr. Wilson, who, whatever his mistakes, has been the prophet of the new era, stated clearly what was implied in the slogan, "The war to end war." He declared, in an address to the Senate, on January 22, 1917, that "if the peace presently to be made is to endure, it must be a peace made secure, by the organized major force of mankind . . . It is inconceivable that the people of the United States should play no part in that great enterprise . . . It is clear to every man who can think, that there is in this no breach in either our traditions or our policy as a nation, but a fulfilment of all that we have professed or striven for."

SUGGESTED READINGS

Washington's Farewell Address.

W. H. Taft and W. J. Bryan, Addresses at Lake Mohonk, 1916. (Reprinted in International Conciliation, no. 106). Woodrow Wilson, The Hope of the World. (Addresses, 19181920).

A. Lawrence Lowell, H. Holt and others, in Towards an Enduring Peace.

C. W. Eliot, The Road toward Peace, Chap. XVII.
R. Goldsmith, A League to Enforce Peace.
H. N. Brailsford, A League of Nations.

J. A. Hobson, Towards International Government.
Norman Angell, America and the New World State.
William H. Taft, The United States and Peace, IV.
D. H. Trueblood, The Federation of the World.
L. Curtis, A Commonwealth of Nations.

D. J. Hill, American World Policies.

S. P. Duggan, The League of Nations.

J. B. Moore, American Diplomacy, its Spirit and Achievements.

Raymond Fosdick, in Atlantic Monthly, vol. 125, p. 845. Pamphlets of the International Conciliation Association.

CHAPTER XXVIII

AMERICANIZATION

We have now completed our survey of American ideals, from the stout assertion of political independence, of 1776, to the keen realization of interdependence, of 1917. It remains to ask whether our people as a whole, or certain classes of our people, are clearly enough conscious of these ideals; and whether forces should be set at work to accelerate their spread, and to deepen devotion to them. It is that process of awakening comprehension of, and loyalty to, these ideals, that we call today Americanization.

Between a seventh and an eighth of our population today are foreign-born. Concerning these no sweeping statement can be made. They are of all types, of every nationality, of all degrees of education. Among them are some undesirables, as among the native-born. But the great mass of them are hardworking, honest, and loyal. The majority of them become citizens; and if they do not, their children are citizens by birth. In general, these aliens, when they arrive, are eager to learn our language, our customs, our ideals. If some of them become indifferent and cynical and lawless, it is usually because we have failed in our duty to them.

It may be questioned, however, whether, on the whole, the immigrant needs Americanization more than the native. From many schools comes the report that the children of immigrants are more eager and

industrious and patriotic than the children of the older stock. From many public libraries comes the report that the immigrants and their children read the serious books while the children of the upper class read novels and detective stories. In some towns, indeed, the public library does not welcome the immigrants; or at least they do not feel at home there, and have not the boldness to intrude. But where an effort is made to show them that they are welcome, they often turn out to be ardent readers of history, science, poetry, biography, and the drama.

The boys and girls of American parentage are very apt to have a sense of superiority which is not warranted. As a matter of fact, most of them know little enough about the duties of citizenship, and think little about either the history of our country or its present problems. They become citizens automatically, by growing up, and are less apt to be conscious of the meaning of citizenship than the alien to whom it is granted as a privilege. We hear of the danger of the "foreign element." But on the whole, the ignorance of the foreigners is no more dangerous than the apathy of the natives. The bigger part of the task of Americanization is that of Americanizing our native youth, keeping alive in them the vision that fired their fathers, and adding to it the wisdom that our national experience has brought.

There are, of course, special needs of the immigrant. If he does not speak or read English, we must offer him every facility to learn the language of his adopted country. There is no difficulty here except that of the cost of providing instruction and of finding spare energy for learning on the part of tired, hard-working men and women. There is no lack of desire to learn; the immigrant has every reason for learning, it is to

his advantage more obviously than to ours. There is no need of coaxing him to learn; and it is a tactical error to require him to learn, by compulsory legislation. There is so much forcing of the national language upon minority races in Europe that many immigrants instinctively resent it; it is a sign of the sort of thing they have come to America to escape. We must remember that a knowledge of English by no means ensures loyalty; and we must beware of sacrificing the end to the means.

Many an immigrant who can not speak English is intensely loyal. And if the conditions of his life and work are such that it is practically impossible for him to find the time or energy to learn, we must blame ourselves rather than him, and worry more over a harsh industrial order than over his ignorance of English. His children will learn it in the public schools, and will use it in preference to their parents' speech. (Of course it goes without saying that all the public schools in the land must be conducted in English.) Meantime, the foreign-language press can do, and is doing, a valuable service in teaching the non-Englishreading aliens about America and reporting for them the events of the day. With few exceptions, this foreign-language press has been loyal, and of great service in the Americanization process. To attempt to censor it is unnecessary, and would be extremely unwise, undoing our best attempts to describe America as the land of liberty, and showing it to be actually a land of mistrust and repression.

Every effort, also, should be made to teach the various groups of immigrants the meaning and history of our institutions. Much can be done through the trade unions, the churches, the public libraries, the social settlements, community centers, and open