INFORMATION BULLETIN

The Romanian-American publica­tions played a very important function in the life of our community. One of the first books published to assist the Romanian immigrants said in 1910: … “read the Romanian papers where you can Find advice and useful things.”

The Romanian-American press from its beginnings was an important tool for developing literacy among the new­comers; to help them learn about events taking place in America, and was in­strumental in maintaining the unity among the Romanians scattered all over the country.

The Romanian-American press had the function of guiding its readers in their very difficult process to adapt to the conditions of the new country.That role of guiding its readers was espe­cially important in periods of transi­tion when decisions were to be made and new ways had to be adopted. For the Romanian-American press to ful­fill this role of guidance was challeng­ing, considering the situation of our community, especially after WW 1.

After WW I, the Romanian-Ameri­can community entered a very fast and dynamic process of transformation. The majority of Romanian immigrants de­cided to settle permanently in the United States and to become a part of it. Of course, what was said before was a generalization and a conclusion reached in retrospect. Things were rauch more complicated at that time, because it was a historical process in development and as such was a rapid and multifaceted accumulation of in­dividual situations, each having its dis­tinct details.

Exactly for that reason, the role of guiding and of giving advice was very difficult, and it was the mission of the editors of the Romanian-American press to understand in what direction the community was evolving, what was important and what was not impor­tant, and to explain those things to their readers.

Very successful in guiding the Ro­manian-Americans was the official newspaper of the Union of Romanian Fraternal societies, “Ameri-ca.” The newspaper increased its circulation from 8,500 in 1916 to over 20,000 in the twenties, and was the only daily Romanian-American publication. It was very fortunate for “America” that in the twenties it had two editors who understood the problems of the time, what was happening inside the com­munity and in what direction it was evolving. These two editors were George Stanculescu and Jacob Barbu, and they realized that two aspects were of majority importance for our com­munity at that time: to open itself and to become part of the larger society, or in one word to “americanize” and, to abandon the ways of the old country and the rather instinctive or empirical methods of work or of managing a business. Both of the above mentioned editors had very robust qualities of journalists. They were not so much interested in literary effects but rather in conveying a clear and convincing message, and they complemented each other very much.

George Stanculescu was more of a “practical” journalist, preoccupied with the concrete aspects of life, like what should be done to improve the educa­tion, the qualities of the social events, the professional skills, and so on. Jacob Barbu was a good administrator, very realistic and “down to earth,” gave full measure of his talent when addressing larger and somehow theoretical aspects, like the problems of “americanization”, the role of the Romanian-American group, and so on.

Two articles published in “America” of 1925 offer interesting aspects re­garding its efforts to guide its readers and also reveal the personalities of its editors,George Stanculescu and Jacob Barbu.

A very interesting article was pub­lished in “America” of March 14th, 1925, and it explained what it means to be an “American.” It emphasized the obligations of a good citizen. The article was written by Jacob Barbu and was entitled “Who is American?” Its aim was to convince the Romanian-Americans of the importance of has­tening the process of adaptation, and it also explained what would be the role of our group in the future.

The author started his short essay by rather ridiculing those who thought that to be a good American meant to be born or to have lived for some time in the United States. The author said that those who thought in such a man­ner simply missed the point because … “an American is that person who living here respects the Constitution and strives to become a better man, and tries to make the country better by contributing his best qualities to it. An American is the one who loves the institutions of the country (and that presumes to understand them) and is ready to defend them …”.

Jacob Barbu continued to develop this idea … “In my opinion, the cer­tificate of naturalization has no value if it is not sustained by a soul and an American behavior … It should be the confession of the decision to be a loyal son of this country and of this nation which is, beyond any thing else, a demo­cratic family …”. The author concluded the article by saying that after recog­nizing the American values, each eth­nic group or individual can cultivate and practice their specific traditions … “After that (after the americaniza-tion), each could be whatever he wants. The Italian, the Romanian, the French, each will have their own reasons for being proud and that will be their heri­tage in this country …”.

Jacob Barbu’s article addressed the larger problem of “americanization” and explained it from a theoretical point of view, but an article published in “America” of February 19, 1925 ad­dressed the process of adaptation in a more concrete manner.

The article was entitled, “The com­merce in our community,” and the author was George Stanculescu. The author said that to have a store was very useful. (The author understood by “commerce” all the occupations in the area of public service.) He men­tioned that quite a large number of Romanians opened that sort of store, but he said that very unfortunately, too many restricted their operations to their co-nationals. “That is bad because they miss an opportunity to increase their income,” said George Stanculescu.

The author continued warning about the danger of confining the Romanian stores to co-national customers. “The time will come when all will speak English … The immigration restric­tions just started and who knows what will result … As such only very few Romanians come from across the Ocean and those who are here learn English, americanize and more and more are part of America … What will the busi­nessman (who had only Romanian cus­tomers) do when 90% of the Roma­nians will adopt the English language and the American way of life? This businessman who neglected the future will be forced to quit his occupation

The author continued his article say­ing that in order to secure their future, the Romanian businessmen have to im­prove their skills and adopt the ways of the country … “America is and becomes more and more the country of special­ization and of experts … For this rea­son the Romanian-American business­men should start to enroll in the evening schools, to learn modern accounting and financing methods … In this country business is a science … In the future those who don’t master it will be un­able to conduct a business …”.

The author concludes his article emphasizing the importance of educa­tion and urging the Romanian-Ameri­cans to make use of the opportunities offered by the American system.

ALEXANDRU NEMOIANU