doctrine and stultify ourselves by allowing practical colonization? And if you do not believe that we have foreign colonies, study your census map and the history of the American Protective League.
Is it bitter, such a belief? You think we still need the German language in the United States? One hundred and forty-two Illinois schools eliminated the study of German from their curriculums during the last year, while twenty schools reduced the courses offered in that subject. Ninety-six schools introduced the study of French for the first time and twenty-one schools added it to their curriculum in that one state.
You still think this is rabid? Read from the report of the Secretary of the Interior of the United States.
There is even a larger problem than this that challenges
our attention, and that is the teaching of the English tongue
to millions of our population. Dr. John H. Finley, president
of the University of the State of New York, in a recent speech
presented this picture which he found in one of the cantonments:
"How practical is the need of a language in this country common to all tongues is illustrated by what I saw in one of the great cantonments a few nights ago. In the mess hall, where I had sat an hour before with a company of the men of the National Army, a few small groups were gathered along the tables learning English under the tuition of some of their comrades, one of whom had been a district supervisor in a neighboring State and another a theological student. In one of those groups, one of the exercises for the evening consisted in practicing the challenge when on sentry duty. Each pupil of the group (there were four of Italian and two of Slavic birth) shouldered in turn the long-handled stove shovel and aimed it at the teacher, who ran along the side of the room, as if to evade the guard. The pupil called out in broken speech, 'Halt! who goes there?' The answer came from the teacher, 'Friend,' And then, in as yet unintelligible English (the voices of innumerable ancestors struggling in their throats to pronounce it), the words 'Advance and give the countersign.' So are those of confused tongues learning to speak the language of the land they have been summoned to defend. What a commentary upon our educational shortcomings that in the days of peace we had not taught these men, who have been here long enough to be citizens (and tens of
