Part 19

Next, we foreign-born American citizens must read the story of the Revolution into our blood. What is the significance of the Revolution for the foreign-born American citizen? These men were Englishmen or the sons of Englishmen; they loved the British Isles better than any portion of the earth’s surface, except their own Colonies; they loved them with an inexpressible love. Yet when it came to question of principle they stood out and said, “We must be free; the Colonies, or the United States, first!” You recall Daniel Webster’s splendid eloquence here:--

“On this question of principle, while actual suffering was yet afar off, they raised their flag against a power to which, for purposes of foreign conquest and subjection, Rome in the height of her glory is not to be compared,--a power which has dotted over the surface of the whole globe with her possessions and military posts, whose morning drumbeat, following the sun, and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth with one continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England.”

Against that power to which they were as nothing, against that lovely land of their origin they stood out when it was a question of their own independence and their own manhood.

That applies to every foreign-born American citizen to-day,--Saxon, Celt, Scandinavian, Teuton, Slav, Latin, Syrian, bond and free. Learn the lesson of the Revolution. This country will have no hands upon it, from any origin, anywhere outside of itself. Learn the lesson of the Civil War; the nation that set to work to keep its integrity as a political whole, to keep its integrity as a human whole, to fight, as it had done a foreign dominion, an evil genius inside its own border. There again is a vast lesson to all of us who are foreign-born. Once again we should store in memory and ponder in clearest conscience and intelligence the great ideas, the great political ideas of America as they are exhibited in Washington, in Hamilton the Nationalist and in Jefferson the State Rights’ patriot; and again in Webster and Calhoun, in Lincoln and the Confederate, and as they issued at last in a true conception of State freedom in a sisterhood of States that constitutes a great nation. These things should be part of the common store of knowledge of the adopted citizen. They are the great forces that have moved this country from its earliest beginning, and that have lifted it into power and renown.

America must be first; cherish your love for the old country, your tenderness,--a man does not need to hate his mother because he loves his wife, but it is his duty to stand by his wife even against his mother. What kind of a country should we have if every citizen, when trouble comes, should prefer in loyalty the land of his birth! What a confused mob of a country we should have! Duty overrides origin, tradition, sentiment. Here and here alone is our supreme and inviolable obligation.

I often think that this great country of ours is ultimately to be the deepest-hearted and the brightest-minded nation of the world. Hither come, with sore hearts, burdened humanity and quickened intelligence, the elect from all nations. You look at them when they land, and you laugh. If you had been in Quebec when I landed, perhaps you would not have wanted me as your minister! The elect from all nations, parts of a splendid orchestra,--violin, flute, cornet, drum, trumpet, and a score of other instruments, all pouring forth their genius to make the great, swelling, soul-stirring symphony of this mighty nation. Thus from Scandinavia, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Armenia, Greece; from England, Ireland, and Scotland they come,--all are here with great souls to make a new and greater America. Out of this composite land, this Pentecostal nation,--sometimes it seems to me minus the Holy Ghost,--this nation gathered from every people under the heaven, rags and tatters and dirt and all, I believe the Eternal Spirit will evolve and establish the most gifted, the most far-shining and the mightiest people in the world. God grant that our dream may come true!

FOOTNOTE:

And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this citizenship.--Acts xxii. 28.

SERAPHIM G. CANOUTAS

An American Greek who has traveled extensively throughout the United States, and has mingled freely with his people and therefore understands their aspirations and needs, is Seraphim G. Canoutas, member of the Boston Bar and author of the “Greek-American Guide” and the “Adviser for Greeks in America.”

The following plain recital of Mr. Canoutas’s struggle and achievement is worthy of presentation here, because it shows that what the immigrant seeks for in America he may find, and that back of real success and contentment lies the will to serve. He says in a letter to the editor:--

“I arrived in this country fifteen years ago, and my hardships during the first five to seven years cannot be briefly told. Still, I am glad that I have suffered so much. I was born in a little village of Greece, in 1873 or 1874; I do not know the exact date of my birth. There were no records kept in those days, and my parents were illiterate. There was no school in the little village; no church either. I went to school to another village at a distance of about three miles. I do not know how I managed to go to what they call Gymnasium in Greece, and finally to the University at Athens--a very uncommon thing for a poor peasant’s son. I graduated from the University of Athens, Law Department, in 1898, and in 1899 I received my license to practise law. But a poor young man in those days had no chance whatever to get any clients in Greece, except by selling his conscience and his principles to some politician. I left Greece immediately after my admission to the bar and settled in Constantinople, Turkey, where I started to practise law before the Consular Court of Greece. (Each nation maintains separate courts for its citizens or subjects in Turkey.) I practised law there for over five years and was doing very well. But I wanted to see other countries; there was something there which I did not like. I went to France, Italy, Austria, and at last I decided to come to America. When I arrived in America, I found myself wholly discouraged. Nobody could give me advice what to do. There were very few educated Greeks, fifteen years ago, in this country, and they did not know how to help others; they rather discouraged me. I knew not a word of English; but, knowing French, I managed to learn some English in a few months. Two years after my arrival I started to write a book for the new immigrants under the title of ‘Greek-American Guide,’ giving them as much information about the country as I knew. But books do not pay. Although everybody appreciated the usefulness of my book, the purchasers were very few.

“In 1909 to 1910 I made a trip all over the United States and Canada to gather information about my countrymen from personal experience. Finally I met a good American who told me how I could study law in this country and be admitted to the bar. In 1912 I was admitted to the bar in Boston, and have practised law since; but I like social work better than law. I have continued to lecture to Greeks throughout this State and in New England; and I feel a great satisfaction that I have been able to do some good for my countrymen, as well as for my adopted country, which offers the greatest opportunities to everybody, although it takes a long time for a foreigner to find out.”

In 1918 Mr. Canoutas published his “Hellenism in America,” dedicating the book “to the Greeks in America in general, but those serving under the glorious American flag in particular ... in perpetual remembrance of their devotion to our beloved country and their heroic sacrifices for the cause of democracy.” From this volume the following sensible advice on Americanization is quoted.

AMERICANIZATION: ITS PRINCIPLES AND MEANING

It was a wrong practice, in my opinion, and against the principles of true democracy, for certain Americans to induce foreigners to become American citizens quickly if they wished “to make more money and to get better jobs.” Because love of mere money and better jobs, above all other things, leads to materialism, plutocracy, bureaucracy and aristocracy, and not to true democracy.

Candidates for admission to citizenship of a democratic country should be taught to understand and appreciate the superiority and the beauty of its democratic principles instead of being promised “better jobs and more money.”

When a man or woman is inspired by those high and noble ideas and principles stated in the Declaration of Independence, and repeated by such unselfish and magnanimous heads of a Republic as Lincoln and Wilson, and feels them and applies them, we can say that person has been influenced by Americanism or is Americanized. But unfortunately a tendency prevails lately to confuse the word “Americanization” with the word “naturalization.” There is nothing more erroneous than to consider every naturalized person as Americanized, or to accept as a general proposition that a person not naturalized cannot be Americanized. Naturalization is simply a matter of form, while Americanization refers to a person’s heart and soul and mind. A naturalized American citizen who has not been inspired by the lofty principles which Americanism stands for, but who has been induced to acquire American citizenship for some material profit, bears the same relation to the State as a hypocrite bears to the Church. For this reason I have always been astonished to hear Americans, even among the best statesmen and educators, encouraging wholesale naturalization before they become sure of the Americanization of the applicants. What has the State or the nation to gain from the man who is induced by the petty politician to become a citizen because it pays? What has the State to profit by me, for instance, for being an American citizen if I am not Americanized? On the contrary, it is dangerous, because in a serious crisis, like the present one, I may use my citizenship as a shield in defence of my un-American conduct. Common sense therefore requires that the foreigner should not be given that powerful weapon before we are sure that he will use it in defending his fellow-citizens and American institutions, and not in destroying them.

Prudence requires us to educate the foreigner and thoroughly Americanize him, if he appreciates Americanism, before admitting him to citizenship. But this education and Americanization cannot be carried out successfully by words or preaching alone. We must show to the foreigners by our example, by acts and deeds, that we ourselves stand for Americanism and apply the American ideals in our daily life, in our every-day contact with foreigners.

If Americans look down with contempt upon the immigrant, because he is poor, uneducated, or cursed with certain faults which he acquired while living in a poor or ill-governed country, they cannot make him believe that America stands for democracy, justice and general brotherhood....

When Americans, in their struggle to instruct the foreigners, have acquired for their own part a better knowledge of the characteristics of each race, when they rightly attribute the faults of foreigners to the painful conditions under which they lived in their own country, when they patiently bring to light the better qualities of those whom they aspire to educate, then that unity so desirable, so necessary for this great nation, will be perfected. Then there will be no more “foreigners,” but all races will be one people, offering their best efforts to the land in which they have equal obligations and equal rights.

FOOTNOTE:

This and the two following paragraphs are part of an address given at an Americanization meeting held in Attleboro, Massachusetts, in 1917.

STEFANO MIELE

That one should come to America for the sole purpose of making money, as the author of the following selection frankly states he did, may seem an unworthy motive; but, after all, it is not essentially different from the impulse that causes the country-bred American boy to seek the larger cities for what he thinks will be greater financial opportunities. Motives, in the final analysis, must be judged in large part by their issues and results.

This young Italian, ambitious to become a lawyer and finding it impossible in Italy to get employment with an opportunity to study, decided to try his luck in America, where he was willing to “shovel coal,” “wash dishes,” or “do anything to get up.” In a little more than five years after landing at Ellis Island he was admitted to the New York bar.

The following selection is reprinted from his article, “America as a Place to Make Money,” published in the issue of The World’s Work for December, 1920.

SOME OBSTACLES TO AMERICANIZATION