A Stake in the Land :: AUTHOR'S NOTE

AUTHOR'S NOTE

This report summarizes the results of a preliminary survey of rural developments in the United States from the viewpoint of the Americanization of immigrant settlers conducted by the writer for the Study of Methods of Americanization.

The field study covered a period of about four months, from June to September, 1918, inclusive, during which time the writer with his wife, Frances Valiant Speek, as his assistant, visited fifty-four cities and rural immigrant colonies in New England, the North Middle Western, the Western, and the Southwestern states. The cities and colonies visited and the nationalities involved are given in the order followed in the field study:

1.	New York, N. Y.
2.	Vineland, N. J.	Italians
3.	"	Jews
4.	"	Russian co-operative farm
5.	Alliance, N. J.	Jews
6.	Norma, N. J.	Jews
7.	Woodbine, N. J.	Jews
8.	Willington, Conn.	Bohemians
9.	"	Slovaks
10.	Portsmouth, R. I.	Portuguese [Pg xxviii]
11.	Fall River, Mass.	Portuguese
12.	South Deerfield, Mass.	Poles
13.	"	Lithuanians
14.	Oneida, N. Y.	Italians
15.	Canastota, N. Y.	Italians
16.	Detroit, Mich.
17.	Lansing, Mich.
18.	Holland, Mich.	Dutch
19.	Au Gres, Mich.	Germans from Russia
20.	"	Germans from Germany
21.	Posen, Mich.	Poles
22.	Rudyard, Mich.	Finns
23.	"	Canadian French
24.	Madison, Wis.
25.	Radisson, Wis.	Poles
26.	Exeland, Wis.	Mixed
27.	Conrath, Wis.	Poles
28.	Weyerhauser, Wis.	Poles
29.	Holcombe, Wis.	Mixed
30.	Wausau, Wis.	Mixed, Germans and native-born predominating
31.	Three Lakes, Wis.	Poles
32.	Jennings, Wis.	Poles
33.	New Rhinelander, Wis.	Italians
34.	Roxbury, Wis.	Germans
35.	Walworth County, Wis.	Germans
36.	St. Paul, Minn.
37.	St. Cloud, Minn.	Slovenians
38.	"	Germans
39.	Fargo, N. D.	Scandinavians, Swedes, Norwegians
40.	Bismarck, N. D.
41.	Dickinson, N. D.	Russians
42.	"	Germans
43.	San Francisco, Cal.	Russian Sectarians
44.	"	Japanese
45.	Sacramento, Cal.
46.	Fresno, Cal.
47.	Los Angeles, Cal.	Russian Sectarians
48.	Glendale, Ariz.	Russian Sectarians
49.	Phoenix, Ariz.
50.	Globe, Ariz.
51.	Austin, Tex.
52.	Lincoln, Neb.	Germans
53.	Milford, Neb.	Germans (Mennonites)
54.	Chicago, Ill.

In addition to observation of the conditions in the colonies, numbers of the immigrant settlers, their leaders, native neighbors, and local public officials were interviewed on the subject of the survey. This was later supplemented by research, conducted mainly by the writer's assistant in the Library of Congress. No attempt was made to collect facts and material in a quantitative sense, attention being concentrated on what seemed to be outstanding facts, conditions, and cases.

In the writing of this summary the writer, as an immigrant himself, has also used his own experiences and earlier observations beginning in 1909, and his observations during his field investigation of the conditions of floating laborers in this country for the United States Commission on Industrial Relations during 1913–15.

The fundamental conclusion at which the writer has arrived in this summary is as follows:

The establishment of a home may involve direct material assistance, but requires protection, direction, and instruction given to the home-seeking and home-building immigrants. These aspects of the problem are discussed in Part I.

In the question of education the instruction of adult immigrants as well as immigrant children is important. Among all educational agencies the public school is the foremost. The parochial school and Catholic and Lutheran churches are, in many of the districts studied. Part II discusses the relative efficacy of public and private educational agencies in tying the immigrant into American life and loyalties.

P. A. S.

A STAKE IN THE LAND

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