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1 ~ masses 2 a : WINNETKA WEEKLY TALK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 1921 2 AMERICANIZATION IS CALLED BIGGEST JOB Ray O. Wyland Tells New Trier ~ Business Men United States Must "Discover America To the Foreign-Born Americanization was the keynote of a discussion Monday evening at Winnetka Community House where upward of fifty business and pro- fessional men foregathered upon the occasion of the monthly dinner and lecture given under auspices of the New Trier Township Commercial association. "Americanization as Business In- surance," was the topic of the even- ing admirably presented by Ray O. Wyland, director of Service of the United Americans of the State of Illinois. Mr. Wyland in offering a solution to the present situation outlined as our national duty the education and "spiritual assimilation" of the great of foreigners within our gates. Must Acquire Language "We must discover America to the foreigner, 'he said. "To be a great nation it is not necessary to be of - one blood, but it is positively essen- tial that we be of one mind and one heart, loyal to one government and one flag. All must learn to speak one language--the American lang- _ uage; we must learn to understand each other that we may be loyal to each other." It is by special request of those who heard Mr. Wyland that a portion of his address is published in these columns. It is a message that every American should read, presenting a movement that should enlist the active support of every lcyal citizen of the United States, The address is in part as follows: "About one year ago the business men of Chicago decided that it was time that action was being taken to meet the rapid spread of revolution- ary propaganda that was being car- ried on by the friends of the Com- munist government and the I. W. W. These men felt that our dear old Uncle Sam was suffering a rather = severe attack of influenza; that the feverish aftermath of a world war had reduced his vitality somewhat; = that the presence of millions of sons and daughters of every nation under the s# did not help the situation a ~great deal. This-naijonal experiment of ours, which began with our na- . tion's birth and has come down until - 'now, resulted in the influx of some thousands of people annually from a few of the nations until 1900, but since that date and until 1915 we have received 14,000,000 immigrants from 50 of the nations as they have come pouring into the land of free men and equal opportunity. These 14- 000,000 immigrants have given birth to 21,000,000 children,'and their homes now provide 35,000,000 of our popula- tion, which means that every third home would contain the family of an immigrant if they were evenly dis- tributed over the United States, but 'they are not so distributed; they are congested in the great centers of population, such as New York, Phil- adelphia, Pittsburgh and Chicago, where they constitute a large major- ity. A Case In Point "I met, about a year ago, an old man sixty-five years of age, who had been in America twenty-eight years, and when asked how it came that he was unable to speak the American language, he told this story, through his little boy interpreter. He ar- rived in New York 28 years ago; was met by Hungarian friends, put on a train to Chicago, where he was again met by Hungarian friends, and 'was settled in Burnside among Hungarian neighbors, where he talked Hun- garian on the street, in the store and in the church. He worked for an Hungarian boss in the Burnside Illinois Central shops among Hun- garian workmen. His two boys were born in America and had gone into service; one laid burried in Flanders Fields; the other came home without an arm, and at the age of 65, after 28 years of residence in our country, the old father was attending night school to learn to speak the Amer- ican language in order that he might become a citizen of the country for which his boy had made the supreme sacrifice. "This is typical of what happens in PAINT LARGE AND SMALL CANS PAINTING Ask for our Free Service on all your Paint Problems. TELEPHONE WINNETKA 344 ASMESEN PAINT every national group residing in Chi- cago today, or any other American city which contains a foreign-born population. The Bishop of the Pitts- burgh Polish church said, "My people live in Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh is in America, but they do not see Am- erica. America goes on over their heads." That is exactly the point; we have not broken into the life and thought, social customs and stand- ards of living of these immigrants with our American culture. They have been accustomed to look upon all government with suspicion and distrust. Government to them is op- position. It means taxation and privileges taken away. They have not learned that government means to American citizens protection, op- portunity, co-operation, freedom and the self sovereignty of free born men. We must discover America to them, which means more than the knowledge of the map of the United States and a great deal more than a simple form of government. We must reveal to them the fact that America is a soul, that the real America is the spirit of our Democratic society in which every citizen meets every other citizen on equal level politically and on any other basis according to his | gifts and achievements. It is not a | mechanical melting pot process, it is | a spiritual transformation that must be accomplished. We must assimil- ate our foreign population, which means that as the food which we eat is assimilated and metabolized being transferred into living tissue, brain cell and nerve fibre of our living or- ganism; so shall the immigrants be transformed and assimilated into the living soul and idealism of the Am- erican society. To be a great nation it is not necessary to be of one blood, but it is positively essential that we be of one mind and one heart, loyalty to one government and one flag. All must learn to speak one language-- the American language; we must learn to understand each other, that we may be loyal to each other, If we can talk together we can think together and act together in support of our ideals. As the fifty nations come filing through the doors of our republic, we must teach them that these are the fires of God,, that they have come to, and that their old na- tional feuds, race hatred and petty jealousies which have divided the nations of Europe for centuries. must be blotted out and forgotten. If the American soldiers, representing all these racial groups billeted together on the battle fields of France wear- ing the khaki, could pull together as "buddies" and comrades in time of war in a strange land, under the stars and stripes, surely these same citizens of the American repubiic can live to- gether in our land of freedom in time of peace as neighbors, friends and feilow citizens under the same flag of stars and stripes. : The Effective Plan "I have outlined the problem and have suggested the. solution. The business men of Chicago have faced this problem for some years, but only in the last year have they de- vised a plan which comprehends the need of our vicinity and state. The United Americans of the State of Illinois have organized a complete service for the racial groups and the American people. It has provided a Speakers' Bureau, which has carried the message of Americanism to a million people in the last eight months. This Speakers' Bureau stag- ed more than 1000 meetings on the street corners of Chicago, which were distributed over 67 centers, especially chosen because of the fre- quency of radical meetings in those sections. It has trained a corps of soap-boxers and to increase the force will open a school for soap box speakers within the next six. weeks. It has carried a series of lectures into more than 60 of our largest Chicago T would assist your food to some considerable degree if you should visit this grocery store and shop around a bit. 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When your battery is truly worn out--and not before then--we will be glad to sell you an Exide, the long-life r what make of battery Winnetka Exide Battery Service Station Phone Winnetka 1387 2 and 3 Prouty Court WINNETKA, ILL. ro. --T Th oO 7 ry ~~ sy ! = he i, E54 EE ol. ee = po 3 J res} | i ms oo i "fd ey - et YA af = = fon ps |r J fed cud FA gL , 6 bo » = a ~- ne on LARVESY Disappoint 7el that was never planted - ARR XANES Fin the field of your life there have 'been no seeds of saving planted you will harvest nothing but the weeds of re- gret. Open a savings account with this HHI bank today and plan a happy harvest : time. 3 WINNETKA TRULY & EAVINCDS CLIN WORKER, (Lo Automobilelnsurance Clark T. Northrop, agent for the Continental Auto Insurance As- sociation of Springfield, Ill., says that the joy of automobiling is to know that your car is insured and if you should have an accident your claim will be paid at once. You can afford to insure with us. Business is good. Come in and talk it over. C. T. NORTHROP 556 CENTER STREET WINNETKA, ILL. Paulson's Observations Good men are hard to get in the Sum- mer, and especially so in the Spring. Arrange for your work ahead HERBERT W. PAULSON THE DECORATOR WITH IDEAS INTERIOR EXTERIOR DECORATING & PAINTING REMODELING PHONE WINNETKA 1127