Said President Butler: "Of your own free will you have renouced allegiance to the government under which you were born, and have become citizens of the United States. You have thereby gained not only a right but a privelege. From this day forth you know but one allegiance, one government, one flag.
The Columbia University president talked about the opportunities these new citizens had just been handed, and he also talked about their responsibilities.
First of all, Butler said, "it is your duty to master the English language.'
"Second, resolve to know and obey the law.'
"Third, seek to understand the principles and standards which govern good citizenship in the United States."
"Fourth, while preserving in whatever ways you wish relations with the land from which you have come and with those of like race with yourself in this land, do not permit yourself to become a member of any hard and fast group which resists those influences that would make you a member in full standing of the great company of American citizens. We have no place here for hyphenated Americans.
"Fifth, remember that, now you have become American citizens, you are to put Old World animosities and Old World hatreds behind you.
"Finally, there is no place in America for class hatred or religious persecution. We are all - whether well-to-do or poor; successful or unsuccessful; farmer, wageworker, merchant or teacher - alike citizens of the United States standing on an equality before the law. It is as un-American and as unbecoming for the poor to hate the rich as it is for the rich to oppress the poor; we prosper or decline together. The interests of all of us are so interwoven that no part of our citizenship can be injured without sooner or later affecting unfavorably the whole body of our citizenship. ...'"
That was Nicholas Murray Butler, the President of Columbia University, in 1924....
....and this is Gordon Sawyer from a window on historic Green Street.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/6/193933