Lessons in democracy; for use in adult immigrant classes

Front matter

* MOLEY & COOK ^

• • • * • 1^ • •

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

Foreword

This book nas been prepared to assist newcomers in America to acquire a working knowledge of the duties and pri\dleges of citizenship. It has been written for readers whose knowledge of the language is limited and whose previous education has not been extensive. Nevertheless ^ every effort has been made to use facts of interest to mature minds.

While primarily designed for use in schools, it is hoped that it may serve a much wider group than those who attend adult immigrant classes. Most immigrants never attend formal classes. Their knowledge of English is picked up in the associations of daily life. This book should find a useful place among those who do not attend American schools. It may thus supplement as well as assist in the institutionalized process of education.

As a text for schools it is intended for two types of students. It may ^I^e* ? ^d . -as a supplementary reader in beginning English classes and as a text for more advanced students. In this way the learning of the language may go hand in hand with the acquisition of information concerning American vi FOREWORD

institutions. The second type of student that may find it useful is the candidate for naturaHzation. It is now ahuost universal for judges granting citizenship to recpire of all candidates an elementaiy knowledge of American institutions. The information most commonly required is presented herein in a simple and convenient form.

The vocal)ulaiy has been carefully adjusted to the a])ility of the beginner. The first lessons are therefore much simpler than the later ones, and the more difficult and abstract facts are reserved for the last pages of the book.

Eveiy lesson presented here has been actually taught in classes and adjusted to the practical conditions which have been thus revealed. Most of those lessons have been used in the immigrant schools of Cleveland.

An attempt has been made to avoid the extreme localism of many courses in civics. We believe that good citizenship consists in much more than an ability to live usefully in a small community. Civics texts in seeking to be practical often overemphasize the concerns of the local community at the ex-pense of broader national affairs, and while they may develop community interest, they fail to produce a citizenship witli broad national and international ideals. We have sought to retain the benefits

FOREWORD Vll

of the newer civic education while at the same time,

we have presented adequately the national concerns

of the citizen, which have been made so important

by the Great War.

To the teachers and officials associated with us

in Americanization work in Cleveland who have

greatly assisted in the practical development and

application of this course of study, acknowledgment

is gratefully made.

R M.

H. F. C.

Part I. The Meaning Of Democracy

1. Working Together . . . . .

3. A Cooperation Owned and Managed by the

Workers

4. Our Free Government is a Cooperation Owned

and Managed by the Citizens ....

Part II. The Story Of The American Democracy

1. The Beginning of the American Democracy

2. Great Changes in American Life

3. The New Struggle for Democracy

5. American Holidays

6. The Meaning of the Flag

7. Our Nation, the United States

13 20 26 32 40 45 48

Part III. The Government Of The Democracy

1. Our Constitution . 53

2. The Powers of the States and the Powers of

the Nation 55

3. The National Government 56

4. How the Government of the Nation Serves

THE Public .62

5. How THE States are Governed , . . . 70

ix

X CONTENTS

LESSON PAGE

6. How THE Government of the State Serves the

Public 73

7. How the Cities are Governed .... 76

8. Laws and the Courts 80

9. How the People Pay for the Government . 86

Part IV. The Citizen In The Community

1. The Work of the Community .... 90

3. Charities 101

4. Education 105

5. Protection of Life and Property . . .111

6. Recreation 116

Part V. The Citizen And His Work

1. Opportunities for Work 126

2. How TO Find Work 127

3. How TO Advance in Work 130

4. A Letter Applying for Work . . . .132

5. Spending Money and Saving Money . . . 135

7. The Unions 146

Part VI. Citizenship In A Democracy

1. Citizenship — Its Rights and Duties. . . 150

2. How Laws are Made 154

3. Political Parties 157

4. Electing Public Officers 160

PRESIDENT WILSON'S GREETING TO NEW CITIZENS AT PHILADELPHIA IN 1915

It is a very interesting circumstance to me, in thinking of those of you who have just sworn allegiance to this great Government, that you were drawn across the ocean by some beckoning finger of hope, by some belief, by some vision of a new kind of justice, by some expectation of a better kind of life. No doubt you have been disappointed in some of us. Some of us are very disappointing. No doubt you have found that justice in the United States goes only with a pure heart and a right purpose as it. does everywhere else in the world. No doubt what you found here did not seem touched for you, after all, with the complete beauty of the ideal which you had conceived beforehand. But remember this : If we had grown at all poor in the ideal, you brought some of it with you. A man does not go out to seek the thing that is not in him. A man does not hope for the thing that he does not believe in, and if some of us have forgotten what America believed in, you, at any rate, imported in your own hearts a renewal of the belief. That is the reason that I, for one, make you welcome. If I have in any degree forgotten what America was intended for, I will thank God if you will remind me. I was born in America. You dreamed dreams of what America was to be, and I hope you brought the dreams with you. No man that does not see visions will ever realize any high hope or undertake any high enterprise. Just because you brought dreams with you, America is more likely to realize dreams such as you brought. You are enriching us if you came expecting us to be better than we are.

*******

You have come into this great Nation voluntarily seeking something that we have to give, and all that we have to give is this : We cannot exempt you from work ; no man is exempt from work anywhere in the world. We cannot exempt you from the strife and the heartbreaking burden of the struggle of the day ; that is common to mankind everywhere. We cannot exempt you from the loads that you must carry ; we can only make them light by the spirit in which they are carried. That is the spirit of hope, it is the spirit of liberty, it is the spirit of justice.

Part One The Meaning Of Democracy

LESSON 1 WORKING TOGETHER

We must all work to earn a living.

But we do not work alone. We work together with other people. We work in the factories, stores, shops, and mines.

Hundreds and hundreds of people work there.

Some of us do one kind of work ; others do some other kind of work.

In the shops and factories there are great machines.

They help us to make many things that we need.

The railroad trains and ships carry these things from one place to another.

Machines, railroads, and ships help us to get what we need.

Because of the machines, railroads, and ships, many hundreds of people can work together.

B 1

By working together we can supply our needs in a quicker and better way than by working alone.

But what do we really mean by working together ?

This is sometimes very hard to understand.

Let us see how people work together to make a steel rail

Street cars run on steel rails.

Trains run on steel rails.

Steel rails are of great importance to ever^^one.

A steel rail is made from iron ore.

If we go to the Lake Superioi* shores, we shall find great deposits of iron ore.

Many thousands of men are working here. They take the iron ore from the mines.

They go down into the mines on elevators which pass through shafts.

They bring up the ore on the elevators.

Other men load the ore upon the trains.

The trains carr}' the ore down to the lake and load it upon the steamships waiting at the docks.

Let us look for a moment at the fine big steamships.

They can cany many thousands of tons of ore down the lakes to the ports of Lake Erie.

Th^e are many men working on the steamships. There are captains, mates, engineers, firemen, deck hands, wheelsmen, and many others. They see that the steamships cany the precious iron ore safely to port.

Soon the ship reaches some port on Lake Erie. Here are hundreds of men at the docks.

They are waiting to help the big unloading machines unload the ore from the ships and load it upon the trains.

The trains will cany the ore to Pennsylvania where the big furnaces will smelt the ore into steel.

On the trains are engineers, firemen, brakemen, signalmen, and conductors. All help to keep the trains ninning.

Taking the ore from one place to another like this is called transportation of the ore.

The ore must be transported to the Pennsylvania blast furnaces. There we shall find the coal needed for smelting.

Now let us visit the coal mines of Pennsylvania.

Here we find other men who are doing their share toward making the steel rail.

Wliile the men up on the shores of Lake Superior have been working together to take the ore from the mines, these men in the coal mines have been busy, too.

The miners work with picks and shovels. They break loose the black, shining coal.

Often the use of dynamite helps them to shatter large masses which they cannot loosen with picks and shovels.

Sometimes the miners' work is quite dangerous. Gases cause explosions. The miners must be protected against such dangers.

In the mines are men and women who do nothing but look after the safety of the workers.

As the miners dig the coal, they load it upon little tram cars.

Some of the men operate these cars and send the coal to the surface.

Other men then send it to the great coal '^ breaker."

The breaker-boys are watching, ready to sort and clean the coal as soon as it comes in.

Now the coal is finally ready to send to the blast furnaces where the steel rail is to be made.

At the bottom of one of these great furnaces a coke fire is started. On top of the fire is dumped a mass of iron ore. Then a layer of lime is put on the iron ore, and on top of this are other layers of coke, ii-on ore, and Ume.

There is a blast pipe below, through which a strong draft is driven, and a stack above, through which the smoke and gases escape.

The fierce heat gradually melts the ore into iron, which is later changed into steel.

Blast furnaces where men smelt the iron ore into steel.

The steel then flows into a mold and forms a steel ingot.

The steel ingot is then sent to the foundry, where in a few hours it is made into a steel rail.

Many people helped to make the steel rail.

There were the men taking the iron ore from the mines.

There were the railroad men on the trains and the sailors on the ships. They transported the iron ore.

The shipbuilders and carbuilders built the ships and the cars for carr^dng the coal and iron ore.

The miners in the coal mines and all their helpers supplied the coal.

While these people were working directly to make the steel rail, others worked together to supply food, clothing, and shelter.

We must not forget the farmers who raised the food.

We must not forget the housewives who prepared the food.

We must not forget the factory workers who made the clothing, and the carpenters and builders who built the homes in which the workers live.

Thus we see how all these people worked together to make the steel rail.

Working together like this for a common purpose is called ^^cooperation."

A COOPERATION OWNED BY THE WORKERS 9

In ever}4hing you will see cooperation for one purpose or another.

A COOPERATION OWNED AND MANAGED BY THE WORKERS

We have just seen how people cooperate to make the steel rail.

Let us visit the Fruit Growers' Association in California.

Here the people not only work together to raise fruit, but also have ownership in the cooperation.

Each person has his share of work to do.

Some of the workers keep the fruit orchards clean. Some pick the fruit.

Others help to pack the fruit for shipment.

Some of the workers keep books and look after the business side.

Since the workers own the business, they all have a voice in managing it.

They have regular meetings. They elect officers to run the Association.

The officers represent the workers. They are the serv^ants of the workers.

They make laws and rules which govern all the

10 LESSOXS I\ DEMOCRACY

workers. They look after the buying and seUing and managing, because the workers have no time to do this.

A\'hen the laws do not suit the majority of the workers, they change them.

If the officers do not iTin the Association properly, the workers recall them and elect new officers.

In this cooperation people cooperate in two ways :

First, they cooperate to raise the fruit.

Secondly, they cooperate in managing or governing the Association.

Can you think of any cooperations wliich are run in this way ?

OUR FREE GOVERNiMENT IS A COOPERA- TION OWNED AND MANAGED BY THE CITIZENS

We have seen how the people cooperate to make steel rails.

We have seen how people not onh' cooperate to supply the fruit, but also cooperate in managing or governing the cooperation.

Now we shall study the biggest kind of cooperation of all.

We shall study the cooperation in government.

OUR FREE GOVERNMENT A COOPERATION 11

The people of the great cities and the nation need many things.

They cannot satisfy all these needs by working alone.

They need to be protected from disease, from lawless people, and from enemies.

Copyright by Underwood and Underwood.

Men and women at the polls voting to elect public officers.

There must be help for poor people, old people, and for all others who cannot care for themselves.

The people must have education so that they can live together and work together.

There must be good roads and bridges for people to travel on.

How are these things done for the people ?

They are done through a big cooperation called Government.

All the people who take part in this big cooperation are called Citizens.

Each citizen has his own kind of work to do.

In addition he also takes part in the government of the big cooperation. j

It is like a great society.

The members of the society are citizens.

They elect officers and make rules or laws for governing the society.

The officers represent the people. They are the servants of the people just as the officers of the Fruit Growers' Association are servants of the workers.

\Yhi\e the citizens are busy with their own work, they cannot directly satisfy all their needs. The public officers help them to do this.

If the officers do not satisfy the people, others may be chosen instead.

Such a big cooperation is called a Free Government or a Democracy, because all the citizens own it and take part in managing it.