=Americanization.=—­Intimately connected with the subject of immigration was a call for the “Americanization” of the alien already within our gates.  The revelation of the illiteracy in the army raised the cry and the demand was intensified when it was found that many of the leaders among the extreme radicals were foreign in birth and citizenship.  Innumerable programs for assimilating the alien to American life were drawn up, and in 1919 a national conference on the subject was held in Washington under the auspices of the Department of the Interior.  All were agreed that the foreigner should be taught to speak and write the language and understand the government of our country.  Congress was urged to lend aid in this vast undertaking.  America, as ex-President Roosevelt had said, was to find out “whether it was a nation or a boarding-house.”

=General References=

J.R.  Commons and Associates, History of Labor in the United States (2 vols.).

Samuel Gompers, Labor and the Common Welfare.

W.E.  Walling, Socialism as It Is.

W.E.  Walling (and Others), The Socialism of Today.

R.T.  Ely, The Labor Movement in America.

T.S.  Adams and H. Sumner, Labor Problems.

J.G.  Brooks, American Syndicalism and Social Unrest.

P.F.  Hall, Immigration and Its Effects on the United States.

=Research Topics=

=The Rise of Trade Unionism.=—­Mary Beard, Short History of the American Labor Movement, pp. 10-18, 47-53, 62-79; Carlton, Organized Labor in American History, pp. 11-44.

=Labor and Politics.=—­Beard, Short History, pp. 33-46, 54-61, 103-112; Carlton, pp. 169-197; Ogg, National Progress (American Nation Series), pp. 76-85.

=The Knights of Labor.=—­Beard, Short History, pp. 116-126; Dewey, National Problems (American Nation Series), pp. 40-49.

=The American Federation of Labor—­Organization and Policies.=—­Beard, Short History, pp. 86-112.

=Organized Labor and the Socialists.=—­Beard, Short History, pp. 126-149.

=Labor and the Great War.=—­Carlton, pp. 282-306; Beard, Short History, pp. 150-170.

=Questions=

1.  What are the striking features of the new economic age?

2.  Give Mr. Rockefeller’s view of industrial democracy.

3.  Outline the efforts made by employers to establish closer relations with their employees.

4.  Sketch the rise and growth of the American Federation of Labor.

5.  How far back in our history does the labor movement extend?

6.  Describe the purposes and outcome of the National Labor Union and the Knights of Labor.

7.  State the chief policies of the American Federation of Labor.

8.  How does organized labor become involved with outside forces?