The Theodore Roosevelt Centennial CD-ROM

benefit he should from American citizenship. And, on

the other hand, it is impossible for him, under any

circumstances, to retain the benefits incident to being a

member of the nation of which he has left. It would be

hard to imagine another alternative where the advantage

was so wholly on one side. The case stands thus: by

becoming completely Americanized the immigrant

gains every right conferred upon citizenship in the

country to which he has come; but, if he fails to become

Americanized, he nevertheless loses all share and part

in the nation which he has left, and gains nothing in

return. He cannot possibly remain an Englishman, a

German, or a Scandinavian; all he can do is to refuse to

become an American, and thereby make himself a kind

of mongrel waif, of no importance anywhere. America,

April 14, 1888, p. 2.

____________. It is our duty from the stand-point of

self-defense to secure the complete Americanization of

our people; to make of the many peoples of this country

a united nation, one in speech and feeling, and all, so

far as possible, sharers in the best that each has brought

to our shores.

The foreign-born population of this country must

be an Americanized population. . . . It must possess

American citizenship and American ideals—and

therefore we native-born citizens must ourselves

practise a high and fine idealism, and shun as we would

the plague the sordid materialism which treats

pecuniary profit and gross bodily comfort as the only

evidences of success. (Before Knights of Columbus,

New York City, October 12, 1915.) Mem. Ed. XX, 468;

Nat. Ed. XVIII, 401.

____________. What we should have done, what we

must do, is see to it that the immigrant is taken in hand

and given a square deal. We must see to it that a real

effort is made to Americanize him—he should have the

opportunity to become Americanized. He should be

given an opportunity, should be compelled to learn the

English language, and if at the end of a stated period he

has failed to do so, he should be sent back to the place

from which he came. He must not be left to the agitator

and the demagogue to exploit.

It is foolish to imagine that the immigrant will

automatically and of his own will be converted into an

American by his mere presence among us, so long as he

comes here in masses, and settles down among his own

kind, as ignorant of our ways, our customs, and our

institutions as he is. (Fall 1917; reported by Leary.)

Talk with T. R. From the diaries of John

AMERICANIZATION — ESSENTIALS FOR. I ask

you to make a special effort to deal with

Americanization, the fusing into one nation, a nation

necessarily different from all other nations, of all who

come to our shores. Pay heed to the three principal

essentials: (1) The need of a common language,

English, with a minimum amount of illiteracy; (2) the

need of a common civil standard, similar ideals, beliefs,

and customs symbolized by the oath of allegiance to

America; and (3) the need of a high standard of living,

of reasonable equality of opportunity, and of social and

industrial justice. (Before Knights of Columbus, New

York City, October 12, 1915.) Mem. Ed. XX, 470; Nat.

Ed. XVIII, 403.

AMERICANIZATION AND LANGUAGE. America

is a Nation and not a mosaic of nationalities. The

various nationalities that come here are not to remain

separate, but to blend into the one American

nationality—the nationality of Washington and Lincoln,

of Muhlenberg and Sheridan. Therefore, we must have

but one language, the English language. Every

immigrant who comes here should be required within

five years to learn English or to leave the country, for

hereafter every immigrant should be treated as a future

fellow citizen and not merely as a labor unit. English

should be the only language taught or used in the

primary schools. We should provide by law so that after

a reasonable interval every newspaper in this country

should be published in English. (April 27, 1918.)

Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star, 143.

AMERICANS, HYPHENATED. We welcome the

German or the Irishman who becomes an American.

We have no use for the German or Irishman who

remains such. We do not wish German-Americans and

Irish-Americans who figure as such in our social and

political life; we want only Americans, and, provided

they are such, we do not care whether they are of native

or of Irish or of German ancestry. We have no room in

any healthy American community for a German-

American vote or an Irish-American vote, and it is

contemptible demagogy to put planks into any party

platform with the purpose of catching such a vote. We

have no room for any people who do not act and vote

simply as Americans and nothing

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