Minnesota 1. University of Minnesota Letter from A. E. Jenks, Director of Americanization Training Course, Minneapolis, November 5, 1920: "Your letter is at hand. We are, of course, glad to know you are interested in the Americanization Training Course at the University of Minnesota. In answer to your questions I may state I have no knowledge of any other course so extensive as the one in Minnesota, but believe in the practicability of such courses as well as in the need for the same. It is not so complete as our plans wish, but it is limited today by lack of available resources." 2. Duluth R. A. Kent, Superintendent of Public Schools, has written the Committee an interesting letter in regard to his work of Americanization in Duluth, which we print in part: November 30, 1920. "The 1920 federal census shows the population of Duluth to be 98,908; the foreign population of this city is estimated at about 15,000; practically all the following nationalities are represented here in greater or less numbers Swedes, Norwegians, Jews, Germans, Danes, Russians, Czecho Slavs, Jugo Slavs, Austrians, Greeks, Roumanians, Bulgarians, Servians, Finns, Italians, Canadians, French, English, Scotch and Irish; they are employed by the American Steel Corporation and 140 other factories and manufacturing plants employing 18,000 people and producing 628 different articles. 85 per cent of all the iron ore of the United States passes through the Duluth port; facilities for education are provided for by the Board of Education, the Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A.; organizations conducting Americanization work are Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A., Recreational Department of the City, Duluth Drama League, the Bethel, Home Demonstration Bureau, and the Board of Education in its Night Schools. "The director of Night Schools and of the Americanization work in the city is Mr. H. J. Steel. He is employed jointly by the Board of Education and an Americanization Committee, which committee was formed during the war and is still continued by the civic council of the city for the sole purpose of assisting in the Americanization work. "We believe that our foreign-born population should be given the opportunity of training in the Night Schools and should have community centers open for them there, in clubs and under societies organized among them. We do not, however, consider that speaking of the English language should be the major objective in Americanization work, although we are of the opinion that no one should be permitted to remain in America over a certain minimum length of time, or save by special permission, who fails to learn to speak, to read and to write the English language. We believe furthermore that one of the greatest difficulties at present in the way of thorough Americanization is the continuous influx of immigrants of an illiterate or near illiterate type whose coming tends very strongly to perpetuate among the peoples of nationality similar to the immigrant those traditions and old world practices which are less desirable and which evidently give way to or else supplant the ideals which we at present think of as distinctly American. We believe furthermore that individuals should not be permitted to live in this country over a set minimum period of time, save by special permission, unless they meet the requirements of becoming an American citizen. We are beginning to feel the effects of being overloaded with a type of inhabitant in certain communities who is either passive toward the fundamentals involved in preserving our nation or aggressively opposed to them. The attempt to Americanize cannot liquidate this difficulty as long as the numbers to be Americanized so far outstrip the agencies at their disposal to perform the task. "We are inclined to be of the opinion that the agencies which should look after this work and assume responsibility for it should be public agencies and not private organizations, and that under present scheme of government, the public schools constitute the most logical and feasible agent for directing and assuming chief responsibility in this task. Assisting in the work there likely will be the Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A., the K. of C. and various other clubs, associaions, churches and what not. "We are not quite as clear in our minds concerning the requirements for teachers for this work as we are about certain other phases of the problems. Experience we hope will clarify our judgment in this particular respect. At present it seems desirable that these teachers should have maturity, that they should have a personality representing at least the highest one-third of personality to every one hundred individuals, that they should have an intelligent as well as a sympathetic interest in the whole problem involved in Americanization by reason of immigration and with that should find it passably easy to adapt themselves to the different groups and the individual variabilities represented in these several groups. We are not certain as to the minimum formal educational training which they should have, but we are of the opinion that an individual possessing the qualifications above stated who has had a Normal School training, and with an added two years of college, will possibly make the best instructor." NOTE ON CHAPTER XXIV Quotation from letter from State Department of Public Instruction, Helena, September 11, 1920: “There is a plan, however, to harmonize the provisions of the school law so as to make it clear that all children under sixteen must attend school in second and third class districts unless they have completed the eighth grade and all children in first class districts must attend school unless they have completed high school or are attending a part-time school." NOTE ON CHAPTER XXV 1. Omaha J. H. Beveridge, Superintendent of Instruction, under date of November 19, 1920, describes the local situation as follows: "The largest part of the Americanization work being done in this city is being done by the public schools. We have at the present time the following Americanization Schools: "In addition to this, in our evening high schools work is being done on Americanization, also in our Continuation Schools which have recently been organized. The Y. M. C. A. is doing excellent work in this department in connection with the industries. "I believe that the public schools should be made the center of such activities; that we should have home and visiting teachers for this work as well as those who instruct in the the evening. We find our regular teachers render best service in this department. It is a question however if they should be required to do day and evening work. It would be better, if we had the funds, if we could give people instruction in the homes and have the teachers instructing and visiting through the day." NOTE ON CHAPTER XXVII The following letter from Maro S. Brooks, Deputy Commissioner of Education, Concord, September 3, 1920, is self-explanatory: "No changes have been made in our laws since the last session of the Legislature which ended in March 1919. "No new plans for the Americanization of aliens have been formed. We are trying to carry out a very simple state program of evening school and community work. Under our existing law the Superintendent of Schools in each community is by virtue of his office the director of Americanization. This work may be delegated to an assistant but the superintendent is held responsible by the state board. It is as much his duty to carry on this work as to look after the elementary schools. "When our law was passed compelling minors between sixteen and twenty-one years of age who did not speak or read English to attend evening or special day school, many misgivings were expressed as to the feasibility of this regulation. You may be interested to know that the law was put into effect very quietly and comparatively few minors refused to attend school. A few did refuse but later saw the folly of their course and the justice of the requirement and entered the English classes. The most satisfactory feature about this law is the placing of the responsibility upon the employer. Our inspectors of child labor act as inspectors in the checking up of the number of non-English speaking minors. "The work of the commissioner and the four deputies falls into four Divisions: Statistics which include all matters relating to all office routine; Elementary Schools, including the work with superintendents and district finances; Secondary Schools; and School Extension. The latter was at first called the Division of Americanization' but as it includes not only the evening school and community work but also the approval and inspection of private schools, including parochial schools, and part-time schools and evening vocational schools, I asked as the Deputy in charge of this Division to have it rechristened Division of School Extension.' I do not know that this explanation of our organization is of any interest to you but I thought you might like to know how our work was laid out. "The part-time and evening vocational school work is entirely new. We are operating under the Smith-Hughes Law. As yet, none of these schools has been organized but we hope to secure sufficient co-operation on the part of some of our industrial plants to establish enough of this work to show its value. It is quite probable that a bill with compulsory features providing for this work will be submitted to the next session of the Legislature." NOTE ON CHAPTER XXVIII 1. State Activities Following is a letter from John Enright, Assistant Commissioner of Education, dated Trenton, Steptember 3, 1920: "The most recent legislation pertaining to education of minors is the Continuation School Law of 1919, which |