But fancy the quest I had been compelled to make to acquire the simple information that should have been placed in my hands or made readily accessible to me.  And how many foreign-born would take equal pains to ascertain what I was determined to find out?

Surely America fell short here at the moment most sacred to me:  that of my first vote!

Is it any easier to-day for the foreign citizen to acquire this information when he approaches his first vote?  I wonder!  Not that I do not believe there are agencies for this purpose.  You know there are, and so do I. But how about the foreign-born?  Does he know it?  Is it not perhaps like the owner of the bulldog who assured the friend calling on him that it never attacked friends of the family?  “Yes,” said the friend, “that’s all right.  You know and I know that I am a friend of the family; but does the dog know?”

Is it to-day made known to the foreign-born, about to exercise his privilege of suffrage for the first time, where he can be told what that privilege means:  is the means to know made readily accessible to him:  is it, in fact, as it should be, brought to him?

It was not to me; is it to him?

One fundamental trouble with the present desire for Americanization is that the American is anxious to Americanize two classes—­if he is a reformer, the foreign-born; if he is an employer, his employees.  It never occurs to him that he himself may be in need of Americanization.  He seems to take it for granted that because he is American-born, he is an American in spirit and has a right understanding of American ideals.  But that, by no means, always follows.  There are thousands of the American-born who need Americanization just as much as do the foreign-born.  There are hundreds of American employers who know far less of American ideals than do some of their employees.  In fact, there are those actually engaged today in the work of Americanization, men at the top of the movement, who sadly need a better conception of true Americanism.

An excellent illustration of this came to my knowledge when I attended a large Americanization Conference in Washington.  One of the principal speakers was an educator of high standing and considerable influence in one of the most important sections of the United States.  In a speech setting forth his ideas of Americanization, he dwelt with much emphasis and at considerable length upon instilling into the mind of the foreign-born the highest respect for American institutions.

After the Conference he asked me whether he could see me that afternoon at my hotel; he wanted to talk about contributing to the magazine.  When he came, before approaching the object of his talk, he launched out on a tirade against the President of the United States; the weakness of the Cabinet, the inefficiency of the Congress, and the stupidity of the Senate.  If words could have killed, there would have not remained a single living member of the Administration at Washington.