by the United States, two hundred and fifty thousand miles of railroad, two hundred and forty thousand schools, colleges, water-powers, mines, furnaces, factories, the industrial life of America, the sports of America, the baseball game in all its glory. History and tradition. And I would give to that man a knowledge of America that would make him ask the question, "How did this come to be?" And then he would discover that there was something more to our country than its material strength. It has a history. It has a tradition. I would take that man to Plymouth Rock and I would ask, "What does that Rock say to you?' I would take him down on the James River, to its ruined church, and I would ask, "What does that little church say to you?' And I would take him to Valley Forge and point out the huts in which Washington's men lived, three thousand of them, struggling for the independence of our country, and I would ask, What does this example spell to you? 66 What induced those colonists to suffer as they did - willingly?" And then I would take him to the field of Gettysburg and lead him to the spot where Lincoln delivered his immortal address, and I would ask him, "What does that speech mean to you; not how beautiful it is, but what word does it speak to your heart? How much of it do you believe?' And then I would take him to Santiago and I would ask, “What does that bay mean to you?" And I would take him over to the Philippines, where ten thousand native teachers every day teach eight hundred thousand native children the English language. And I would bring him back from the Philippines to the Hawaiian Islands. In Honolulu a procession of school children passed before me and presented me with the flags of their countries. There were represented every race, from New Zealand clear along the whole western side of the Pacific. They laid at my feet twenty-six flags. I went from there to Mauna Loa, to a school, a typical school, in which there were Filipinos, Javanese, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Samoans, Australians, Americans, Koreans; and I would show the man how these children, whether Japanese or American, no matter what their source, stood every morning before the American flag and raised their little hands and pledged themselves to one language, one country, and one God. A nation that has lived through struggle. And then I would bring him back to this country and say: "Grasp the meaning of what I have shown you you and will know then what Americanism is. It is not 110,000,000 people alone; it is 110,000,000 people who have lived through struggle and who have arrived through struggle, who have won through work. Let us never forget that we are what we are because we have accomplished." The march of civilization is the epic of man as a workingman, and that is the reason why labor must be held high always. ... If you will visualize President Wilson at the Council Chamber, striving for the happiness of mankind, together with the boy in khaki, whose love of righteousness alone carried him into the Argonne Forest there to perish for the might of law and the salvation of mankind, you have a picture of the spirit of the Americanism that you must exemplar, too a spirit which the traditions and the history of our country demand of you. The school's part. How best may we spread that spirit through the land - how best can we explain our purposes and interpret our systems? Through the community council; through the school. First of all, the hand of friendship for the new American, the voice of a friend who shall be an unselfish adviser, a guide in this strange land of troubles, small and large, but equally incomprehensible. Then the school, the night school, or if not that, the shop school: And with these the community center, the gathering place that represents all America. This is a program that has been well thought out. It has been tried out in a small way and found successful. It needs but nurturing to develop into a plan that will make the word “ Americanization" one of exceptional pride. And I want you to help. We want to interpret America in terms of fair play, in terms of the square deal. We want to interpret America in healthier babies that have enough milk to drink. We want to interpret America in boys and girls and men and women that can read and write. We want to interpret America in better housing conditions and decent wages, in hours that will allow a father to know his own family and to support his household like a man. That is Americanization in the concrete- reduced to a practical, uplifting force. A FINAL PLEA FOR AMERICANISM 1 By Theodore Roosevelt THERE must be no sagging back in the fight for Americanism merely because the war is over. There are plenty of persons who have already made the assertion that they believe the American people have a short memory and that they intend to revive all the foreign associations which most directly interfere with the complete Americanization of our people. Our principle in this matter should be absolutely simple. In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here does in good faith become an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with every one else; for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed or birthplace or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American and nothing but an American. If he tries to keep segregated with men of his own origin and separated from the rest of America, then he is n't doing his part as an American. There can be no divided allegiance at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language; for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, of American nationality, and not as dwellers in a polyglot boarding-house: and we have room for but one sole loyalty, and that is loyalty to the American people. 1 An extract from the last message of Colonel Theodore Roosevelt read at a meeting which he was too ill to attend. |