Revolutionary Radicalism

45. Watervliet

Data furnished by Hugh H. Lansing, Superintendent of Schools.

The population of Watervliet is about 16,000, including 3,500 foreigners, mostly Poles and Italians. Most of the foreigners are employed by the Malleable Iron Works, West Side Foundry and D. & H. Shops. I understand they do not conduct any factory classes.

We have no educational facilities for adult foreigners at the present time. I have urged the Board of Education for the past four years to establish such schools and hope in the near future with the assistance of the State Education Department to have such a school open where foreign-born adults may be taught English, American history, civil government and become thoroughly Americanized.

Recently the local Red Cross has aided greatly in this movement to get night schools established for adult foreigners.

46. White Plains

Data furnished by Superintendent of Schools.

The population of White Plains is about 22,000, 20 per cent. of whom are Italians. No other nationalities are prominently represented.

We have 187 foreigners in our night schools. The attendance is not regular. The average age is 24.

At present the evening school teachers are for the most part. selected from the day school list and we have had no experience with special teachers for this work.

47. Yonkers

Data furnished by Charles E. Gorton, Superintendent of Schools.

The population of Yonkers is about 100,000, 33,000 of which is foreign. We have 10,000 Italians, 10,000 Slavs and Poles, and the rest are Armenians, Russians, Greeks, etc.

The sugar refineries, hat shops and carpet shops take most of the foreign labor. There are no factory classes.

We have 300 foreigners in our night schools and they attend fairly regularly. They average 25 years.

Many of our teachers have had special Americanization training under the State Department of Education. We pay them $1 per evening.

etter from Charles E. Gorton, Superintendent of Schools, ember 14, 1919:

"Many of the figures given in this report are estimates but I think they are pretty nearly accurate.

"We have made a great effort to bring foreigners into the schools where we have every facility for teaching them English, civil government and American ideas but we fail to secure anything like the attendance we ought to have. We have tried also to establish classes outside of the school but have not succeeded in getting classes large enough to justify the expense of their maintenance. The state agents are working here now and report to me weekly but so far have not accomplished much.

"As the result of many years of experience and observation, I am convinced that there is only one way to Americanize these foreigners and that is to allow them a limited time after they reach this country to learn English, secure a knowledge of our laws and institutions and secure papers of citizenship, and if they do not take these steps within the allotted time they ought to be deported."

Letter from J. J. Eaton, Director of Industrial Arts, Departent of Education, November 20, 1919:

"In reply to your recent inquiry for information regarding the work of this school in the education of adult foreigners, I am pleased to state that for the last ten years we have had an evening trade school, of which the attendance is largely foreign. These foreigners are attracted to the school by the trades which are offered, particularly machine shop, plumbing, electricity, sewing, millinery, mathematics and drawing. Up until the last two years a large number came for carpentry, but owing to the depression of building trades in this section the popularity of that work has fallen off.

"In my opinion this evening school is one of the greatest socialized factors maintained by the Board of Education. We endeavor to co-operate with the general High School of the city which makes a special effort to bring the academic side of education to the notice of the foreigners, and has been, I think, quite successful.

"While we make no special effort to teach academic subjects, many have been led to appreciate their value and have taken steps to avail themselves of the opportunity offered.

by the Board of Education through the interests that have been aroused by their work in the shops in this school.

"We estimate that in most of the courses about half of the enrollment are distinctly foreigners. We find the average age is 22, and of the nationalities represented I might mention the Italian, Greek, Slav, Polish, Hungarian, and Jewish as predominating. They are for the most part earnest and interested in their work and fairly regular in their attendance. Of these of course are special cases which are notable in their progress, and in some cases these especially interested pupils have made arrangements to attend the day school part of the time. We have kept no special statistics, but as these foreigners have presented themselves for any particular work we have endeavored in every way to make our program flexible enough to permit them to secure the work that they wished."