Page 52 - 1920 February - To Dragma

TO PRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI 135

ALUMNA FORUM

(The Alumnrc Committee wishes discussion and has entered the Forum
for that purpose.)

T N T H E November T o D R A G M A Americanization was suggested
A as our national philanthropic work. I t seems to me that the plan
is open to several objections. One is that I think that Americaniza-
tion is no longer adapted to private foundations. The federal gov-
ernment has taken this work up, and is now making huge appro-
priations f o r i t , and there seems to be a complete and vast program
arranged f o r as can be seen f r o m a perusal of Americanization, a
paper published by the Department of the Interior. I do not deny
the need for Americanization work, but I do not think, it is the work
f o r A O Pi. W e should lose our identity i n the vastness of the
project. Perhaps, though, I do not know enough about the subject
to make these criticisms.

I like the scholarship plan rather better, but of course that could
be done locally, and is being done more or less, by the alumna?
chapters. The chief objection to its being our national work is that
i t w o u l d be of benefit purely to ourselves rather than to the w o r l d
at large.

Lest I be accused o f destructive criticism only let me suggest
something. I wonder how many of you have read Dr. Chapin's
article i n the November American Magazine, entitled " F i n d i n g Ba-
bies f o r Folks to Adopt." Perhaps there is something that could
be worked up into a plan f o r us. W o r k w i t h little children is
surely a woman's office, and I am sure that n o t h i n g could be finer
than f o r us to devote our efforts to helping these little unfortunates
find their places i n society.

E L I Z A B E T H H I E S T A N D , Rho '12