In his The Melting Pot, Zangwill compares America to a large crucible into which are cast the sons and daughters of all nations and tongues to be melted and to emerge as Americans--an entirely new type. Beneath the great American melting pot the fire is much stronger and the flames leap higher and more powerfully now than in times of peace. The flames of the World War make the human contents of the melting pot whirl swifter, see-thing with more than ordinary excitement. But the result of the process is exactly the antithesis of that which Zangwill has depicted in his Melting Pot. They are not fused into one piece; on the contrary, the various nationalities come forth detached, hardened, and at distinct 2variance with each other. Passing through the same process in the same melting pot, they all blend into a pattern of complementary colors; but beneath that coloring they differ as much one from the other as they did before.

Several days ago we had the opportunity to note how America has penetrated the souls of our immigrant Jews and has fused with characteristic Jewish religious sentiments. When an old-fashioned Jew prays for America and sheds a tear thereby, it proves that inwardly his devotion to America has touched the highest chord. The powerful flame under the melting pot brings out the finer characteristics in all the nationalities that live in America, and the interplay of the different character traits--each nationality manifesting in its own way its love for America--makes the whole very interesting. Only the war could have established the fact that living in the same country does not mold the various nationalities into one nation. They are a gathering of peoples in the family of one nation.

The old-time native American was always inclined to array the population of America into two classes: America and "foreigners". He didn't trouble himself much to make any distinction among the foreigners. In his opinion the foreigners were here only to perform the common-labor tasks of the country. But to the degree to which the liberation of the countries from which the foreigners came has been widely and more frequently discussed, to that extent Americans are beginning to differentiate more and more between Bohemians, Poles, Russians etc. who are beginning to show signs of race consciousness here--all loyal to America, but each groups showing its particular excitement when mention is made of its nationality.

America is now learning its most important lesson: that it is not at all necessary for the liberty, security, and prosperity of America to fuse all the nationalities here to a point where they will lose their identity entirely. On the contrary, it is much better that they should treasure dearly the inheritance which they brought with them from the old world--their language, 4their songs, and the beautiful traditions of their past.

Take the Poles for example. They are anxious to enlist but are told that they are not citizens; they then leave in haste to take out first papers in order to be eligible for the draft. Hundreds of them have acted in this manner. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of others who come from Austria and cannot be taken into the Army on account of being "alien enemies" organize their own battalions and are fighting for America's cause, carrying their own flag side by side with that of the America. No one can doubt their devotion to America and that it goes hand in hand with their love for their own country.

The Bohemians are greeting the Bohemian revolutionist professor Masaryk, whom Austria has sentenced to death, and who is fighting for the liberation 5of Bohemia and all other persecuted peoples. Even the Russians bring with them the inheritance of the ancient Russian village with its really democratic customs which the Czar and his henchmen have tried to suppress. They also understand the significance of America's liberty and what America means to Russia. Finally, who are the Jewish young men who enlisted to fight under the British flag in Palestine? They are the ones who still cling with their souls to Jewish hopes and Jewish traditions.

On Saturday, a federal grand jury brought in a recommendation to Judge Landis' court that the United States Congress suppress all foreign language newspapers in order to compel aliens to speak English only, thereby becoming 6Americanized sooner. This is the wrong attitude of the unthinking American who imagines that he can impose Americanism upon the foreigner.

Certainly, it is necessary to help the foreigner to learn English and to become a citizen. But the tactics employed to attain this end bring the opposite result. As long as one is compelled to learn a new language and to discard his own, it will arouse his suspicion.

This matter is best understood by the settlements, the clubs, and the State Council foe Defense, who took upon themselves the task of making citizens out of foreigners. They came to the conclusion that if a foreigner is taught English with the purpose of suppressing his own language, it would only lead to bitterness and misunderstanding.

The National Federation of Settlements therefore expressed the opinion that the morale of the foreign civil population, together with that of the four hundred thousand foreigners who are serving in the Army and Navy, can best be maintained on the desired high level through a sympathetic attitude based upon the recognition that they (the foreigners) are very important to America in the present complicated international crisis.