Immigrants, Minorities and the Great War
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became members of the American Legion, estabhshed in March 1919, the organizadon led the Americanizadon fight with stinging attacks on all immigrants."^^ A capricious attitude toward the immigrant servicemen characterized the American Legion. On one hand a visiting national commander reviled immigrants, oblivious to the ethnic veterans listening to him, and on the other hand American and immigrant veterans formed lifelong friendships. ^^ In Salt Lake City Greek veterans established their own American Legion Post Number 4 and wore their uniforms while carrying the flower-decorated tomb of Christ around the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church on Good Friday."*^ Often immigrants wore their uniforms on visits to their native countries, conferring instant presdge on themselves. Other immigrants bitterly denounced the war on their return from France, convinced that munidons manufacturers had worked clandesdnely to promote hosdlides for monetary gain. The Legion spearheaded the doomed, compulsory educadon program. The Japanese were the most faithful in paying the ten-dollar registration fee and attending classes. Ofthe thirty-five immigrants in Carbon County who registered for the program almost all were Japanese.*^ Catholic nuns taught a class mainly for Greeks and Italians in the Arthur Utah Copper Club.*^ The majority of immigrants refused to attend the classes, saying they were too tired in the evening. These men had rudimentary reading and writing skills in their own languages and feared they would be humiliated in trying to learn English. The American Legion stridently continued its campaign against the immigrants. When Carbon County coal miners joined the unsuccessful national coal strike in 1922, the Legion unleashed its most formidable propaganda weapon: striking was un-American. The immigrants were called bolsheviks and I-Wo n't-Work slackers, and cries grew that they be deported to their native countries. Considerable attention was also given to immigrant bootleggers; however, this could not be taken seriously because a greater number of American-born found it lucrative to make and sell illicit liquor.^^ ^'News Advocate, November 30, 1922. ''See story of Last Squad Club in Salt Lake Tribune, March 2, 1986. 'The minutes book, 1926-33, in the Greek language, is deposited in Special Collections, Marriott Library, University of Utah; Borovilos interview. News Advocate, November 30, 1922. Borovilos interview. ^ See Papanikolas, Toil and Rage, pp. 166-75; and "Bootlegging in Zion: Making and Selling the 'Good S t u f f " Utah Historical Quarterly 53 (1985): 268-91.
