Dr. H. R. Carveth, general manager, Niagara ElectroChemical Company, Niagara Falls, November 24, 1919:

"We have started factory classes for our foreign-born employees.

"At present they are being taught to speak, to read and to write English. The teacher is supplied by the Board of Education for this city.

The classes are so arranged that the men can go to them either immediately before going to work or on leaving work. There is nothing compulsory about the men's attendance but we try to persuade them to attend.

"We now have fourteen students who are regularly attending classes twice a week, all of whom are Poles. We believe that this number will be considerably increased in future years as the men who are taking the classes will no doubt help to advertise the work.

"We believe that more can be done by voluntary work, such as we are encouraging, than by compulsory education of adult illiterate foreigners. It is also our hope to be able to interest the women members of the families of our men in learning to speak English, as we believe that if this can be done it will go a long way to help solve this problem."

C. M. Graves, superintendent, National Carbon Company, Inc., Niagara Falls, December 8, 1919:

"We give you below information relative to Americaniza tion classes at this plant.

66

Subjects taught include English, civics, spelling, reading and writing. Teachers are furnished by the Board of Education, Niagara Falls, N. Y.

"We have sixteen Italians, three Poles and three Spaniards in attendance at the present time and the classes meet at 4:30 until 5:45 P. M. This is after working hours. This opportunity of attending classes is offered to all employees, so that those wishing to take it up may do so."

Robert F. Coleman, assistant general superintendent, the Pierce Arrow Motor Car Company, Buffalo, November 7, 1919:

"It is evident that you have been misinformed regarding the Americanization work done by this company.

The

nature of our work is such that it is impossible for us to employ men who cannot read and write. We, also, give Americans preference and at this time there are only twentythree aliens employed by the company, these men principally being Canadians.

"We have something like 200 men who have not yet secured their second papers who are supplied with suitable books relating to the question of citizenship and are called into the office occasionally for personal instruction."

J. G. Acker, assistant general sales and advertising manager, Pyrene Manufacturing Company, New York City, November 24,

1919:

"We have published in our house organ, 'The Pyreneer,' articles, cartoons, posters, etc., on Liberty Bonds, Thrift Stamps and other material sent us from Washington.

"We will be glad to publish any material on the subject of Americanization if you contemplate getting this out in galley form."

James F. Foster, vice-president and treasurer, the Republic Metalware Company, Buffalo, November 25, 1919:

"We have to say that we do not maintain factory classes for our foreign-born employees. We tried this a year or two ago and had to give it up for certain external reasons. have not felt sanguine of success in this direction since."

We

F. J. DeBisschop, president and general manager, Rome Hollow Wire and Tube Company, Rome, November 12, 1919:

"We wish to state that we have no classes in our factory. Some of this work, however, was carried on through the local Y. M. C. A. and we have, of course, supported this."

E. L. Spriggs, general superintendent, Rome Manufacturing Company, Rome, November 11, 1919:

"In regard to program of Americanization and education of illiterate foreigners, would say that all work of this kind in Rome has been carried on by the Industrial Department of the Y. M. C. A.

"During the past winter, they taught English, American history, arithmetic and naturalization with the following numbers of people in attendance:

"Teachers were furnished by the Industrial Department of the Y. M. C. A. and this department is supported almost entirely by the manufacturing industries.

"Classes were held in the evening and weren't compulsory. "It is our opinion that this is not satisfactory. We believe that the education of foreigners should be handled by the school system and, in order to accomplish anything, should be made compulsory.

"Practically all those who entered these classes were Italians and represented only a very small percentage of of those in need of this education."

Dudley D. Sicher, president, D. E. Sicher & Company, New York City, October 30, 1919:

"I am delighted to hear that the Joint Legislative Committee has in mind the formulation of recommendations to the Legislature for an increased educational program for adult foreigners and that it is interested, in this connection, with the elimination of illiteracy and the relation of industry to this type of work.

"For the past four or five years my concern, here, has been doing very active pioneer work in the elimination of illiteracy among our wage-earning personnel. We employ women, about 500 as a rule, and have had, at various times, an average of about 10 per cent. of those who couldn't read, write or speak English. These were, to a considerable extent, Russians and Italians. We had very good results and, in co-operation with the local Department of Education, conducted classes from nine to twelve o'clock every morning of the week-except Saturday, on company time, paying the worker for the time she spent in the classroom. During the course of four years we changed the mental status of a

considerable number of persons and we believe, also, that we changed their communal reactions.

"The little booklet entitled, 'Where Garments and Americans Are Made' will, we think, give you more than we would dare undertake in a letter. It was not printed, as you can readily see, as an advertisement, but was prepared to take care of the hundreds, yes thousands of requests for information on the subject.

"As the originator of the thought I felt gratified to learn that a very considerable number of employers have emulated our example in establishing factory classes on company time.

"Here in our own plant we have temporarily suspended the classes for we found that we have only four illiterate girls this season and the Department of Education would only supply a teacher for a minimum class of twenty.

"It is our opinion that employers have a definite obligation to the community which can be discharged in no better way than in conducting classes of this kind. The cost is not very great and the possible benefits are incalculable

to

say nothing of the opportunity for service which employers are, I think, recognizing, in the light of good judgment, from day to day."

Note. A chart compiled for D. E. Sicher & Company by a statistical expert shows that the average hourly wage of workers attending school increased from 19.5 cents to 22.2 cents in sixteen weeks.

WHERE GARMENTS AND AMERICANS ARE MADE

Fore-pages Summary of the Idea

"Invective and abuse will not drive the hyphen out of our national life. That can only be done through a process of education, when it can be demonstrated that a man with two countries belongs to none, and that here we have the highest ideals and the finest country in the world."— Lewis H. Pounds, President of Brooklyn Borough, New York City, in address to Public School teachers, September 14, 1916.

It is my purpose in this little book to tell the story of an interesting experiment, absolutely unique in the annals of education the transforming of illiterate foreigners into literate, intelligent, alert, self-respecting, efficient Americans. Long before the demagogic politician learned the magic that lay hidden in the

catch-cry, "Hyphenated American," and began to use it as a sort of campaign fanfare, Mr. Dudley D. Sicher, of D. E. Sicher & Company, No. 49 West 21st street, Manhattan borough, New York City, the largest manufacturers of muslin underwear in the world, had undertaken, with the co-operation of the New York City Board of Education, the task of turning illiterate foreigners into literate Americans by teaching them in the factory while engaged at their work.

"We aim," Mr. Sicher explains, "to hasten assimilation neces‐ sary to national unity; to promote industrial betterment by reduc ing the friction caused by failure to comprehend directions, and to decrease the waste and loss that always mark the presence of the illiterate worker."

In its beginning the factory school was humble, just as the beginnings of the educational ideas of Pestalozzi, Froebel and Montessori were humble, but the day will come when this little school will be the Mecca, the holy place of a movement that is certain to spread as employers of labor catch glimpses of the dawn of the better day. It is backed by the faith and money of Mr. Sicher, the solid support of the Board of Education, and the active and enthusiastic co-operation of Mr. P. P. Claxton, United States Commissioner of Education; Professor John H. Finley and his associates, Mr. Arthur D. Dean and Mrs. Anne Hedges Talbot, of the New York State Board of Education; Mr. William H. Maxwell, Superintendent of Schools, New York City; Miss Lizzie E. Rector, Dr. Julius Sachs, Mary Antin, author of "The Promised Land; " Professor Jeremiah W. Jenks, of New York University School of Commerce, and hosts of others.

The experiment, now in its third year, has demonstrated that in thirty-five weeks the illiterate girl, foreign-born and trained, can be transformed into a literate American woman with a good mental equipment and social knowledge essential for the battle of life. This school, in its conception and the potentialities that lay back of it, is an original, epochal idea worked out into definite, concrete form, and is in no sense a continuation school or part-time factory school, as some educators and writers with imperfect knowledge of its methods have mistakenly believed. It is a school where girls are taught in actual working time by a teacher from the New York public schools, and is perhaps the only factory school in the world where pupils are paid while learning.