We provide entertainments to bring before the American public the gifts brought to this country by the foreign-born newcomers.

Another thing we stress is recreational activity. I am sorry that more attention has not been given here in this conference to the problem of the son of foreign-born parentage. We hope to reach him through recreational activity. In our organization we have the advisory councils where the foreign-born man may go for advice to protect himself against exploitation and other evils. This advice is free. Americanization is a group of men and women enthused by the spirit of service who are interpreting the spirit of America and not a little English, a little lecture course, or an advisory council, or naturalization, but everybody working together.

The Y. W. C. A. Part in the Movement

MISS EDITH JARDINE, International Institute, Y. W. C. A., New York City

Realizing the need for immediate action, the Y. W. C. A. organized the International Institute as its machinery for work among foreign-born women and girls in 1912. Such work is today being extended into communities under the same designation. Now there are forty of these institutes embracing the New England states, California, New Jersey, Honolulu, Texas and New York. Over 22,000 foreign-born women have been reached through the New York center alone during the past six years.

We have been successful in reaching the hearts of the foreignborn women and girls because we have touched the women of their own respective races. We believe that we have made our best contribution to the movement of stressing the importance of using the best type of the foreign-born woman leader to help the people of her own nationality. Among the offshoots of the institute work are the mother's clubs, which are designed to reach the stay-at-home women. Parental clinics, cooking classes, food demonstrations, and English classes are taught in these clubs. The hospitality of the International Institutes are always extended to the masculine relatives of the women. We hope that our place is to act as a link and an interpreter between our foreign-born and native-born people to draw them a little nearer together in that community of spirit which constitutes real Americanization.

The Catholics in the Work

JOHN O'GRADY, National Catholic War Council

If you desire to regard our attitude in regard to democracy, read the reconstruction program of the National Catholic War Council. We are interested in co-operating with all agencies for the promotion of citizenship and the teaching of English. We are willing to co-operate with them provided we have a say in the plans that are formulated. We are endeavoring at the present time to interest all Catholic societies in America in the promotion of citizenship and the teaching of English. We are endeavoring particularly to interest the various racial groups. It is impossible to outline in detail in such brief time what is being done, but we are having published a textbook on civics for immigrants that will be translated into all the important languages.

This conference ought to keep in mind that the two great immediate objectives in this Americanization work before us are the teaching of English and the promotion of instruction in citizenship. We ought to get together and find out what additional machinery we need to put these great objectives into reality. We ought to have some say in any form of legislation that is proposed, for we are in closer touch with the immigrants than any other institution. We are willing to do our best for the making of a better America.

Jewish Women Aid Immigrants

MISS HELEN WINKLER, Council of Jewish Women. Less than 16 percent of the girls employed in factories drawing their workers from a large foreign settlement take advantage of the night school facilities, and under one percent of the mothers attend such classes. This was learned in the industrial survey made by the Council of Jewish Women.

The reasons given by the girls of the factories for not attending night schools were mainly these: Long working hours and consequent fatigue; need for wholesome recreation which could be had at night only; natural discouragement in ungraded classes made up of aliens of both sexes and all ages; poor teaching standards. Mothers could attend daytime classes, but these are available only in very few localities.

The council has about 28,000 women representing 106 local branches in as many cities throughout this country and Canada,

each organization having its immigrant aid committee, which protects the immigrant woman and girl until her destination is reached.

Civic Organization as One of the Agencies

T. A. LEVY, Americanization League, Syracuse, N. Y., The Americanization committee of the chamber of commerce found the social gathering the highest type of activity for assimilating the foreign-born. After having the leaders brought together, the committee advanced to the point of having a group of native-born entertain a foreign-born group. This was followed by the foreign-born group playing host in turn to the native-born. group. The University Club, the Rotary Club, and like societies have also been asked to engage in this program.

Although the chamber of commerce initiated the work of Americanization in Syracuse, in a broad-minded way, it worked itself out of a job and turned over the control of the problem to the municipality, believing that the city was less likely to incur any suspicion of a partisan basis. It thus changed its position from being the parent of the movement to that of becoming a distant relative.

The foreign-born employee spends more time in the factory, shop, or store than in any other place. His health and even his life to some extent is in the hands of the manager of the plant in which he is at work. The ethical and economical part of Americanization should not be sundered. There remains a vast field for correlation of these forces by the chamber of commerce and other civic agencies.

Using the Women's Clubs

MRS. PERCY V. PENNYPACKER, Honorary President of General Federation of Women's Clubs

I fully believe that there is no greater duty before this conference than to present a sane, practical, comprehensive plan of work to the organized womanhood of this country. Such a plan must be scientific without being too technical and must be presented to the club women sympathetically, dramatically, and persistently. It must be presented sympathetically, because the trained worker does not always realize the power of the volunteer force represented in an organized body of club women.

The trained worker should not expect from the volunteer worker just what she would from the person who has had all the

advantages of training; but, on the other hand, she should not undervalue what the volunteer can give. She has learned lessons in the school of life that some experts have not; she has a certain practical contact with the community life about her that renders her invaluable. We have preached year in and year out that there is nothing so dangerous as ignorance at work, and we would like to make every woman's organization see this, too.

Women have proved, during the war, that they like to work under the government's direction, so if we have the government at the head of this movement it will be a tremendous incentive to women all over the land to do their best work.

Libraries: The Friend of the Foreign-Born

Prepared by JOHN FOSTER CARR; Read by MISS THERESA HITCHLER

In some respects the library has a far greater opportunity to be an aid to the foreign-born than do the schools, because being friendly and helpful its aid is oftentimes less formal and more inviting. It is open throughout the year, it makes no strenuous demands on a man after a hard day's work, and it welcomes those who think themselves too old to go to school. The library brings the immigrant in effective touch with American democracy and American ideals and helps destroy the impression of heartless commercialism that many of our immigrants continually assert is the main characteristic of our civilization.

Nearly 800 public libraries are taking part in the forward movement to aid the foreign-born. In New York City, with its forty-three branches, those branches having the largest so-called immigrant membership lead all others in circulation. The use of books in foreign language has increased so rapidly that their circulation now reaches nearly 700,000 a year. The results have been so pleasing that the supply of foreign language books have been increased 30 percent in the last two years. Once the foreignborn reader enters the library he needs personal attention to have the simple rules given him in his own language, to have the different rooms explained. He cannot use the index cards nor understand the mysteries of registration. They may be brought in by various devices, publicity and service to classrooms being handy

ones.

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Public Health Nurse in Americanization

MRS. BESSIE HAASIS, Educational Secretary National Organization for Public Health Nursing

The public health nurse enters the home of the foreign-born at a time when there is trouble. Service is needed and needed badly. Her uniform proclaims her as a worker, and to the men and women who have toiled in the workshop or field this is a passport to confidence. Those who have come from countries where ministry to the sick is the function of the church, recognize in the uniform the added sanction and beneficence of religious service. It is their thought that the priest might have sent her.

Nine times out of ten her visits bring immediate and tangible benefit. A few simple dressings for the burned hand and the father is able to return to work in three or four days. Once the gratitude of the family and its confidence is gained there is no subject on which they will not ask and accept advice. Herein lies the opportunity of the public health nurse to win the family over to such American standards and habits as are better than their own. There is no reason why the public health nurse's advice should be limited to matters of health. Her aim is to remedy not only the case of illness, but to remedy whatever is wrong with the family. The nurse can get greater results and sooner through the children. The amount of time it takes to teach one foreign-born mother how to properly care for her baby will teach a class of twenty little girls the same knowledge. The children can convince the mother, especially when the nurse works with both.

Boys' and Girls' Organizations

BURDETTE G. LEWIS, Commissioner of Institutions, New Jersey We should welcome boys' gangs and function them for the purpose of Americanization. Some of the things we may do are: Select the best out of all cultures and use it as a basis of our educational work; link up our educational and recreational systems; see to it that the schools teach our boys and girls how to make a living, as well as how to read and speak English; recognize juvenile delinquency as a family affair and turn our children's court into domestic relations' courts.

We should take the finger prints of all offenders, whether they may be young or old, so that no one may make a joke of the laws of the land by falsifying about their identity. We should utilize the boys who organize the bottle-fight gangs and the girls who form peculiar cliques to bring home to their parents the benefits