class for the men in there. This is the alley where the District officials have had a great deal of trouble; also the health board and the policemen. There is always difficulty in this particular place, and Dr. Fowler, of the health board, said to one of the Red Cross ladies that he was talking with about it that the public schools in the alley had made a great change in the health conditions there. We go after the various departments of the District of Columbia and get them to help us out in such situations.

ESTIMATED NUMBER OF FOREIGNERS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

I have tried to get for you the estimated number of foreigners in the District of Columbia, to show the need of this particular increase. The census for this year is not available as yet, and so, with the help of the Naturalization Bureau, and going to many foreign organizations, we have estimated the foreign population. The Naturalization Bureau has estimated it very much lower than many of the foreign societies. Estimating on the rate of increase in population, according to the 1910 census, and allowing for the decrease from 1914 to 1917, and the tremendous increase since then, they have given the number of Irish in the city as 7,000, Russian Jews, 7,000; British, including Canadians, 7,000; Germans, 6,000; Italians, 4,000; Scandinavians, 1,000; Greeks, 1,000. The Italian societies give themselves 7,000 instead of 4,000. That is about the difference that you will find. The number of Greeks varies, according to different societies, from 1,500 to 4,000. We have only estimated 1,000. Of the French there are 6,000, the Austrians and Hungarians 600, and the other nationalities 800, making 35,000 foreigners in the city at the present time. According to the 1910 census, 8.2 per cent were illiterate. Mr. DAVIS. Are those all foreigners who have not been naturalized? Miss AITON. The large majority of those are.

Mr. DAVIS. Do you call them foreigners after they have become naturalized?

Miss AITON. No. The large majority of those are probably not naturalized.

Mr. SISSON. A great many of them may be educated, too.

Miss AITON. Yes; a great many of them are. We only figure 8.2 per cent as illiterate. The grades of literacy above that, though, are very difficult to judge, and many who are very thoroughly educated, highly educated, will know nothing about our Government institutions. I find many men who are well educated, who know nothing about the Government here. They know about the foreign situations; they can tell you much about foreign situations, but can tell you very little about the American situation, which, if they are going to become citizens, is very essential for them to know.

Mr. DAVIS. Of course, you are teaching them and convincing them that it is a very simple form of government?

Miss AITON. We are trying to convince them that it is the finest form of government.

Mr. BUCHANAN. Do you try to instill into them that if they do become citizens it is their duty to serve this Government, whether the Government is right or wrong, or to serve the country, whether right or wrong?

Miss AITON. We surely are trying to instill into them that if they accept all the privileges and the protection of citizenship here they are certainly to support this country under all conditions.

Mr. BUCHANAN. Whether right or wrong?

Miss AITON. Whether they think it is right or wrong. They may think wrong and it be perfectly right.

Mr. BUCHANAN. Do you not think it is our duty to support our country, whether right or wrong?

Miss AITON. Certainly; but there is always a question as to whether it is right or whether it is wrong.

Mr. BUCHANAN. Do you think an individual has the right to determine that question for himself, as a citizen?

Miss AITON. That is a pretty hard question."

Mr. BUCHANAN. It is not hard for me.

Miss ArTON. I think the individual should always do what the majority decides, if that answers the question: I do not know.

Mr. BUCHANAN. There might be a little difference of opinion. I think it is the duty of the citizen to support his country, whether right or wrong.

Miss AITON. I certainly think it his duty to support his country, and I think he is not always to judge as to whether it is right or

wrong.

Mr. BUCHANAN. I do not think he ever is the judge when his country takes a stand.

CONTINGENT EXPENSES.

Mr. DAVIS. You have a little item here of $2,500 that you want for contingent and other necessary expenses. You use that, do you? Miss AITON. Yes.

Mr. DAVIS. Without going into much detail, what are the contingent expenses connected with this work?

Miss ArToN. The equipping of rooms for adults. You see, our schoolrooms are equipped for children, and when you bring adults into the room you have to have a different type of equipment. You could not put a man or woman at a little desk that a child uses; the thing is impossible.

Mr. DAVIS. But when you get one schoolroom equipped for adults you do not have to keep equipping it every year, do you?

Miss AITON. No; we do not.

Mr. DAVIS. $2,500 is a good deal of money for just changing the equipment in schoolroom.

Miss AITON. I do not know. Furniture is a pretty expensive item at the present time. If we equip one room it is a rather expensive item. We furnish the supplies, the paper and such things as maps, and the necessary books.

Mr. DAVIS. You furnish the books and paper, and things of that kind?

Miss AITON. Yes; for teaching the subjects that we are teaching in the various rooms.

Mr. DAVIS. You do not pay anything for janitor service out of these contingent expenses?

Miss AITON. No.

Mr. DAVIS. Light or fuel, or anything of that kind?

Mr. CRAMTON. Are you familiar with the Kenyon Americanization bill?

Miss AITON. Yes. I am glad you spoke of that, because I think there is a general impression that the District, if the Kenyon bill is put into operation, will get something for Americanization.

Mr. CRAMTON. It is to cost several million dollars. I just wondered whether you felt that your work was covering the ground, or if it was necessary for the Government to embark on that new proposition.

Miss AITON. I think that several of the Federal bills that contain legislation for Americanization work only function as the particu lar schools in the locality appropriated for the carrying on of that work. For instance, the Naturalization Bureau bill appropriation covers a great deal for citizen education, but it only functions through the public schools of the particular locality. They do the office work, but their work functions through, the public schools in the different localities, so while they may get a large appropriation. Washington would not share in it unless the Washington schools were equipped to accept what they had to offer, and be able to use all the suggestions brought to them by the Naturalization Bureau. Mr. DAVIS. I believe that is all, Miss Aiton.

Miss AITON. May I just add something?

Mr. DAVIS. Certainly.

Miss AITON. I have spoken of the naturalization part of the work. The 20 part-time teachers that I ask for would be put into these night schools. That would be practically the same as an increase in the night-school appropriation. When I say a part-time teacher it means a teacher who is doing night-school work. The full time, of whom we have asked an appropriation for eight more in this larger estimate that we have submitted, is a teacher who would be on the work all day long, and she would really stimulate the night classes: that is, she would know the foreign situation and know about the people, and she would be able to cooperate with all the existing agencies.

Mr. DAVIS. Do you not find it rather difficult to get adults to come to day schools?

Miss AITON. No, sir; our classes are very full.

Mr. DAVIS. I should think they would all want to go to night school.

Miss AITON. A great many of these people work all night.

Mr. DAVIS. Do not nearly all of these foreigners work in the day time?

Miss AITON. No; a great many of them work at night. Every one of our day classes is filled.

There was one other point I wanted to bring out, that the few teachers that we have to-day are working a great many hours, and each one of them is averaging an enrollment of from 60 to 70 students. That does not mean that those 60 or 70 students are all present at one time, but during the course of the day she meets that many students, one teacher would be meeting that many students, on

an average.

Mr. CRAMTON. I suppose, Dr. Ballou, that one of your problems of supervision is to secure the greatest possible coordination between

these different branches, the community centers and Americanization?

Dr. BALLOU. Yes, sir. I might say that Mr. Patterson, who has charge of the night schools, also supervises this work, and we are conscious all the time of the desirability of opening a building for as many different activities as possible.

Mr. CRAMTON. He has charge of the night schools, and has some jurisdiction over the Americanization work?

Dr. BALLOU. He does.

Mr. CRAMTON. Does he give any attention to the community-center work?

Dr. BALLOU. No; he has no relation to the community-center work. Mr. CRAMTON. Would not that be desirable?

Dr. BALLOU. It might be, and we have undertaken to do just what you have indicated here wherever it is possible to do it. It is desirable to have an evening school, or a school in these sections of the city where there is no school under the Americanization or community center there.

Mr. CRAMTON. But when you join the supervision of these activities under one person somewhere it is more than likely to cut out duplication.

Dr. BALLOU. Yes; still, it is all under the superintendent, at any rate; and it is my purpose to see that there is little duplication of work, and also that there is as economic a use of the buildings and the time of these men as possible.

KINDERGARTEN SUPPLIES.

Mr. DAVIS. Do you not ask for any increase for kindergarten supplies?

Dr. BALLOU. No, sir.

Mr. DAVIS. That is $6,000?

Dr. BALLOU. Yes, sir; the same as last year.

Mr. DAVIS. Has your kindergarten work increased any?

Dr. BALLOU. Not very materially, because we have no additional rooms in which we can open them. We can not open any more kindergartens until we have additional buildings.

Mr. DAVIS. I suppose Congress is to blame for that?

Dr. BALLOU. Not wholly, and I think perhaps not primarily.

JANITORS AND CARE OF BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS.

INCREASE IN SALARY OF SUPERINTENDENT.

Mr. DAVIS. The next item is "Janitors and care of buildings and grounds." You want to raise the salary of the superintendent of janitors from $1,500 to $2,000.

Dr. BALLOU. I would like to say, Mr. Chairman, that the superintendent of janitors could probably receive twice as much money as he is getting at any moment he wanted to leave us, without any doubt at all, and he is indispensable. He has not received an increase in salary for a long time, and the janitors have not received an increase in salary for a long time.

Mr. CRAMTON. How long has he been with you?

Mr. KRAMER. Over 30 years.

Mr. CRAMTON. How long in this position?

Mr. KRAMER. Since the position was created, which would probably be about 1900.

Dr. BALLOU. He has a large responsibility, and he is a capable man. Mr. DAVIS. Is he the superintendent of all the janitors in all the schools?

Dr. BALLOU. He is, sir. That is one position in which we do not have a duplication of the position. I want to say that the board of education submitted a somewhat larger schedule than has been allowed by the commissioners, but the commissioners have undertaken, as I understand it, to adjust these salaries in accordance with a general policy for such employees, and the board of education accepts those proposals; but I should like to point out that we should consider these proposals on the part of the board of commissioners as minimum salaries. We are constantly thrown into hot water, so to speak, whenever a janitor resigns. It is almost impossible to fill his place at the present salary scale, and we are never able to fill his place, as far as the character of service that we can get is concerned. Mr. DAVIS. How long has that been so?

Dr. BALLOU. It has been so since I have been here, and I do not know how much further back.

Mr. DAVIS. Since the war began; that is true, is it not?

Mr. KRAMER. Well, since the whole readjustment of the earning power of people.

Mr. CRAMTON. Do you not find things a little better now? Mr. KRAMER. Not a great deal. Most of the men whom we have to-day have really discovered their own values, and even with readjusted values we will not find

Mr. DAVIS. But if a man has got a value, or anything has got a value, you have got to find a purchaser, have you not?

Mr. KRAMER. That is true.

Mr. DAVIS. If they have discovered their value, and it is $1,500 a year, and by and by they can not sell it for over $1,000, what are they going to do?

Mr. KRAMER. That would probably not obtain in most of these cases. The problem with a school janitor is that there are other factors than the mere janitorial factors that always enter into the question.

Mr. DAVIS. That is so with every branch of industry. You can say that as to every branch of industry and every governmental activity. Each one has its peculiar factors, and he has got to adjust himself to those conditions; that is true?

Mr. KRAMER. Yes.

Mr. DAVIS. But it is also true that all branches of industry in the United States are not only gradually but rapidly dismissing their employees. It was stated here, and I assume upon authority, that in the month of October 500,000 men in the leading industries of the United States had been discharged, and that probably in the months of November and December the number would be greater still. If that is the case, where are they going to find employment? Are you going to make janitors out of all of them? By and by they will be clamoring for these janitorial jobs.