The telling to foreign-born people why America is at war, why we must all stand together, and how they can help to win it. These general purposes have been promoted by the Immigration Committee through practical programs of work which have included: 1. Appointment of Americanization Committees in local chambers to deal with local conditions. The majority of the 150 chambers doing Americanization work have appointed special Americanization committees to act as the local clearing house for community or plant work. Others have assigned this activity to existing committees. In several cities the full time services of Americanization secretaries have been employed, either directly or in co-operation with local defense bodies, as in Detroit, Youngstown, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Syracuse, Milwaukee, and Hartford. In other cities, chairmen of committees have given freely of their time and energy, as in Rochester, Philadelphia, Boston, Providence, Jamestown, Omaha, Des Moines and Pittsburgh. In still others and in the majority of cases the chamber secretary has taken direct charge of the work. 2. Surveys of immigration conditions in communities and industrial plants.- Conferences on Americanization have been held with industrial leaders in some twenty-five cities and with engineers and leaders of industry and finance in New York City. Addresses on Americanization were also delivered at the national conventions of such trade organizations as the National Associa tion of Clothing Manufacturers, National Lime Manufacturers' Association and the National Association of Cotton Manufacturers. Ten other trade organizations, such as the Rubber Associa tion of America, the American Pulp and Paper Association, Structural Bridge Builders' Association, and the American Paint. Varnish and Oil Manufacturers' Association, circularized their firm members urging them to take a plant alien census and organize activities for Americanization. These conferences and activities have resulted in the making of surveys of communities and plants, and the submission of detailed recommendations for the development of intensive work. So many requests have been received for information, and sug gestions as to methods employed, that the Immigration Committee has prepared for publication a special pamphlet on "Americanization Forms and Methods." which contains exact copies of forms used by various agencies and which will shortly be printed for distribution to chamber members. 3. Adult Immigration Education and Citizenship Work.Matters relating to the education of immigrants which involve the technical method and content of study or the creation and organization of adequate facilities, were carried on in co-operation with the United States Bureau of Education, and all naturalization problems with the United States Bureau of Naturalization. The Immigration Committee, however, distributed directly suggestions for the adjustment of working shifts to school classes, and prepared plans of campaigns to increase night school attendance which have been followed in a number of cities. 4. Publication of Bulletins of Americanization.- Sixteen special bulletins on Americanization have been issued by the Immigration Committee during the year and have been distributed to the entire membership of the national chamber and to some 2,500 other interested organizations and individuals. These bulletins have kept all interested organizations informed of the progress being made throughout the country and have stimulated work in many communities through social and civic, as well as industrial agencies. They have also contained detailed program of war Americanization work for chambers of commerce and for industrial plants and suggestions on how the war message can be carried to foreign-born employees. Copies of some of these issues are still available for distribution at the office of the Immigration Committee and can be secured upon request. Wherever such practical interest in foreign-born workmen has been taken by the industrial leaders of the community, it has brought about a more wholesome fellowship and a better understanding between the native and foreign-born groups and has promoted the efficiency and earning power of the workmen in the plant. The results in Detroit and Cleveland are especially interesting. In Detroit, the Board of Commerce reports, after its fourth city-wide campaign for the Americanization of foreign-born residents, that "practically every large employer of labor (foreign) has incorporated Americanization into his regular program of work." It says: "There is not a large concern in Detroit where a foreignborn person who applies for work is not requested to fill out a record which includes his citizenship status and a record of whether or not he should be a pupil in the free public. evening schools. In the three years of work in Detroit we have been so successful that several of the large concerns who were conducting factory classes for their non-English speaking men have abandoned these classes, stating that they no longer had any trouble securing English-speaking men for their plants." In Cleveland, the Chamber of Commerce co-operated with the Americanization Committee of the Mayor's Advisory War Committee in a city-wide effort to make Cleveland ̈a one-language city-its shops, one-language shops-its homes, one-language homes." Its Americanization program includes a training institute for teachers of immigrants, a campaign to enroll all nonEnglish-speaking people in the evening schools, the establishment of plant classes, community citizenship and naturalization classes, and the development of an Americanization service to relate definitely the immigrant to the public library, the city departments and social agencies. In submitting this brief summary of its work, the Immigration Committee desires to emphasize the fact that not only must we combat the work of alien enemies, but we must also change the ignorance and prejudice of friendly aliens through Americanization and capitalize the splendid gifts and qualities the immigrant brings to us for Americanism. We must approach our foreign language people with patience and sympathy, and deal with them in a spirit of justice, liberty and fair play, so that they may intelligently understand America and actively participate in our war for democracy. IMMIGRATION COMMITTEE, FRANK TRUMBULL, Chairman, WM. FELLOWES MORGAN, J. F. DENECHAUD, GANO DUNN, RICHARD H. EMONDS, MARION E. HAY, ALEXANDER HILTON, W. F. HYPES, HERBERT MYRICK, RAYMOND B. PRICE, JULIUS ROSENWALD, BERNARD J. ROTHWELL, BOLTON SMITH, FELIX M. WARBURG, A. C. WEISS, WALTER F. WILCOX, B. L. WINCHELL. |