title: The American patriot ...
text: • v .0 V** :}dg&- \f .'»- V** #• \S /% l1|R- : ** v % f?P /% : *SK-* V% **% '-111?* ^\ lOTF" ^V ***** \*&m§r' * ^ "v V<? -'^Mfe \/ •£&: V* ^ * ^ Tit., * ^*Ts' A, • • * .V * «p** i«°* °o^ *••«»•* f° TTT* a • /"\ \S5K- >♦*% c: THE AMERICAN PATRIOT BY / CHARLES F. DOLE AUTHOR OF THE LITTLE CITIZEN, THE CITIZEN'S CATECHISM, TALKS ON CITIZENSHIP, ETC., ETC. ISSUED BY THE PATRIOTIC LEAGUE ORGANIZED TO PROCLAIM THE NECES- SITY FOR SYSTEMATIC INSTRUCTION IN CITIZEN- SHIP IN THE SCHOOLS AND OUT OF THEM; TO CULTIVATE THE KNOWLEDGE OF AMERICAN PRINCIPLES, LAWS, HISTORY AND PROGRESS, AND TO INSTIL AMERICAN IDEAS INTO THE MINDS AND HEARTS OF AMERICANS, NATIVE AND ADOPTED, OF BOTH SEXES AND ALL AGES, SECTS AND PARTIES NEW YORK THE PATRIOTIC LEAGUE 'rary ( 44238 "OUR COUNTRY" SERIES TWO COPIES RECEIVED. PUBLISHD BY THE PATRIOTIC LEAGUE THE LITTLE CITIZEN, also called ; ' THE YOUNG CITIZE Dole, is in the form of questions and answers, for the same purpose as the "Citizen's Catechism " but written especially for young children. Its simplici- ty renders it no less attractive to children of the larger growth. Cloth, 35 cents. THE CITIZEN'S CATECHISM by Charles F. Dole, revised by many eminent social^ and political scientists, is designed to present in compact simple form the principle ~ ideas of citizenship. State and City School Superintendents in every part of the country have written commendations of this book, and the opinion has been ex- pressed by several of them that ability to answer its questions intelligently should be a requisite to naturalization of foreigners. It has been adopted for use in the public schools of New York, Philadelphia, New Haven and other places. Paper, 10 cts., cloth, 35 cts. TALKS ON CITIZENSHIP, by Charles F. Dole follows the arrangement of topics in the " Citizen's Catechism.'' The two books can be used to advantage together or separately. Cloth, 50 cts. THE AMERICAN PATRIOT, by Charles F. Dole ; discusses in the most simple and charming way the principles and right practices of citizenship. Cloth, 50 cts. OUTLINE OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT, for teachers and pupils of high schools and lower grades, prepared especially for schools that adopt the Gill School City government, by Delos F. Wilcox, Ph.D. and Wilson L. Gill, LL.B. Cloth, 50 cts. MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS, by John R. Commons, is most instructive and entertaining about those features of the city concerning which it is the interest and duty of every man, woman and child to be familiar. Cloth, 50 cts. CITY PROBLEMS, by Delos F. Wiicox Ph. D., for grammar and high schools. Five chapters on Fresh Air, Light and Room for Play, The City's Waste, Life, Property and Good Order; The City's Finances; The Citizen — His Rights and Duties. Cloth, 35 cts. AMERICAN IDEAS, by Thomas R, Slicer, a series of talks to young people on the principles of American citizenship. In press. WASHINGTON, abridged from lrving's Life of Washington. Cloth. 35 cts. FRANKLIN, by Henry M. Leipziger, Ph. D.. from autobiography. " 35 cts. JAY, by Wm. Jay Schieffelin, abridged from Life of Jay by Wm. Jay. '" 35 cts. COLONEL WARING, sketches by Albert Shaw and others. " 35 cts. STORIES FOR LITTLE CITIZENS, by Bolton Hall, John R. Commons and Miss Jennie B. Merrill, Supervisor of New York public kindergartens, and others to convey lessons in citizenship to the " wee ones,' are full of delights. This is in course of preparation. OUR COUNTRY, monthly magazine of the Patriotic League, published at 7 East 16th St., New York, ten months each year, is $2 yearly, sample copy 10 cts. sent free to active members of the Patriotic League. The above described books are published serially, and others will follow on law, biography, histo- ry and other matters pertaining to intelligent citizenship. THE PATRIOTIC LEAGUE is chartered to promote the cause of systematic instruc- tion in citizenship. Membership is open to all. It furnishes to active mem- bers through OUR COUNTRY free of charge, a three years' course of instruc- tion in citizenship. Active members pay annual dues $ 1.50, in chapters of 10 or more members, $ 1 each. Members of the Alpha Chapter pay $ 5 or more a year. COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY THF PATRIOTIC LEAGUE •econo oopv. OUR COUNTRY SERIES OF BOOKS TTHIS is one of a series of small books designed by the Patriotic League to convey some ideas of practical patriotism and to cultivate the spirit of helpful kindness. Such books alone, if perfectly adapted to their purpose and put into the hands of young people, will, now and then, prove to be good seed fallen on good ground. It is well, however, for those who wish to be a blessing to the young people to recognize the fact that, as a rule, putting good books into the hands of boys and girls will not accomplish for them the thing that each one needs. On the other hand, they are glad to be led by older persons whom they respect, and they must have wise and constant leading and encouragement, if best results are to be gained. The Patriotic League does not hope to see American citizenship rise to the plane of perfection simply by means of teaching the words or the thoughts contained in the precepts of morality, but by daily and constant training of the children in the application of right principles to their actions at play and work, in the school and wherever they may be. Necessary to such training is a successful presentation of right principles, which is the aim of the Patriotic League authors. To aid in this training and prac- tice the President of the Patriotic League devised the ' ' Gill School City," which has proved to be useful for its purpose. By this means the pupils become actual citizens of a republic, instead of subjects of the ordinary old style monarchical school government. In connection with this is the "School State" and "School Republic. " PREFACE The series of "Our Country" Boohs of which this book is one, is issued under the authority of the following named men and women who are officers of THE PATRIOTIC LEAGUE Address all mail to P. O. Station O, N.Y. GENERAL OFFICERS WILSON L. GILL, Pres't, JAMES T. WHITE, Secy, ALEXANDER M. HADDEN, Treas, COUNCIL: ABRAM S. HEWITT, Ex-Mayor of N. Y. O. O. HOWARD, Maj. Gen. U. S. A. EDWARD EVERETT HALE JAMES A. BEAVER. Ex-Gov. of Pa. DORMAN B.EATON, Ex U. S. Civil Service Commissioner HONORARY and ADVISORY BOARD: WM. McKINLEY, President of the U. S. JOSIAH STRONG, Pres. Social Service Lgue. GROVER CLEVELAND, Ex-President WM. H. P. FAUNCE, Pres. Brown University BENJAMIN HARRISON, Ex-President ISIDOR STRAUS, Pres. Educational Alliance GEORGE DEWEY, Admiral, U. S. Navy FRANCIS E. CLARK, Father of Chr. Endeav. LEONARD WOOD. Brig. Gen. U. S. A. W. S. RAINSFORD, D. D. THEODORE ROOSEVELT, Governor, N.Y. THOMAS McMILLAN, Paulist Father, SIMON GRATZ, Ex-Pres. Phila.Bd Pub Ed. Gen. T. J. MORGAN, Ex-lnd. Com. C. R. WOODRUFF, Sec, Natl. Munic. Lgue WM. A. GILES, Civic Federation, Chicago P. V. N. MYERS, Dean Univ. of Cin'ti MERRILL E. GATES, Ex-Pres Amherst Col T. M. BALLIET Supt. Schools, Springfield WALTER L. HERVY, City Exmnr N.Y. Schls HERBERT WELSH, Pres. Natl. Indian Rights Assn. Mrs. MARY LOWE DICKINSON ALICE M. BIRNEY, Pres. Nat' I Congress of Mothers JOHN LEWIS CLARK LA SALLE A. MAYNARD, JOHN W. HEGEMAN, RUFORD FRANKLIN, JACOB A. RIIS R. FULTON CUTTING, Pres. Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor WILLIAM L. STRONG, Ex-Mayor of N.Y., President of the Alpha Chapter, JOHN H. C. NEVIUS, Vice Pres. Alpha Chapter, Col. HENRY HERSCHELL ADAMS, ARTHUR GOADBY, Sec. and Treas. " " ROBERT S. MacARTHUR, D. D. WM. JAY SCHIEFFELIN, Ex-City Civil Serv.Com. Mrs. ESTHER HERRMAN, Gen. JOHN EATON, Ex-U.S.Com. of Eden, late Director of Public Instruction, Porto Rico LIFE MEMBERS: WILLIAM E. DODGE, GEORGE D. MACKAY, WILLIAM IVES WASHBURN, BERNARD CRONSON, Mrs. JOHN L. GILL, DANIEL B. WESSON, JOHN A. CASS, HENRY B. METCALF, JOHN J. McCOOK, Mrs. SAMUEL R.PERCY, Mrs. LOUIS L. TODD. LEAGUE INSTRUCTORS: CHARLES F. DOLE, THOMAS R. SLICER, JAMES ALBERT WOODBURN, Indiana University JOHN R. COMMONS and JAMES H.HAMILTON, Syracuse University HENRY M. LEIPZIGER, Supervisor, Free Public Lectures, N. Y. Public Schools M. L. DE LUCE, University of Cincinnati, KATE B. SHERWOOD, ALBERT SHAW, Editor " Review of Reviews" WM. C. ROBINSON, Yale College and Catholic University of America GEORGE W. KIRCHWEY, FRANCIS M. BURDICK and FRANK J. GOODNOW, Columbia Univ. DELOS F.WILCOX, MILO R.MALTBIE, Ed. " Municipal Affairs'* IN riEMORIAn : JOHN JAY, ELLIOT F. SHEPARD, GEO. E. WARING, JR., JOSEPH LAMB, SAMUEL FRANCIS SMITH. CONTENTS iJOPtl Chapter i. What Kind of a Mar i Makes a Patriot Chapter 2. 7 What Education is F : or. Chapter 3. U The Education that Makes Patriots 19 Chapter 4. The Hampton Idea • • • « Chapter 5. 26 Our Liberties Chapter 6„ 34 Laws Equal for All e • e Chapter 7. 41 Rights and Duties Chapter 8. 47 The Business of Rulers. 53 Chapter 9. Who the Privileged Class is in America Chapter 10. 59 The Majority Chapter ii. . 65 Minorities and Their Rights Chapter i2„ 71 Trusting the People Chapter 13. 77 Public Opinion • Chapter 14. 84 How to Treat Foreig ners. 90 THE PRINCIPLES OF AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP AS TAUGHT BY THE PATRIOTIC LEAGUE Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them. \A/E BELIEVE, In the principles of the Declaration of Independence — That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain in- alienable rights ; that among these are lifj, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We believe, That good character, helpful kindness, to all creatures and civic intel- ligence are the basis of true citizenship. We believe, That the public, in assuming the education of children, becomes responsible to them not only for physical, industrial, mental and moral cult- ure, but also for special training, to the end that they shall be most happy useful and patriotic while children, and be intelligent and faithful citizens. We believe, That it is our duty to consecrate ourselves to the service of our country to study the history and principles of our Government, to faithfully discharge all obligations of citizenship, to improve our laws and their administration, and to do all which may fulfil the ideal of the founders of our Republic — a government of the people, for the people and by the people, of equal rights for all and special privileges for none — and to the maintenance of such a government we mutually pledge to one another our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor. We believe, That we should endeavor to lead others to understand, accept and extend these principles, and to uphold and defend the institutions of our country. THE YOUNG CITIZEN'S PLEDGE I AM a CITIZEN of AMERICA and HEIR to all her Greatness and Renown. As the health and happiness of my body depend upon each muscle and nerv and drop of blood doing its work in its place, so the health and happiness of my country depend upon each citizen doing his work in his place. I will not fill any post, nor pursue any business where I shall live upon my fellow-citizens without doing them useful service in return ; for I plainly see that this must bring suffering and want to some of us. As it is cowardly for a soldier to run away from the battle, so it is cowardly for any citizen not to contribute his share to the well-being of his country. America is my own dear land ; she nourishes me, and I will love her and do my duty to her whose child, servant and civic soldier I am. I will do nothing to desecrate her soil or pollute her air, or to degrade her children, who are my brothers and sisters. I will try to make her cities beautiful and her citizens healthy and glad so that she may be a most desirable home for her children in days to come. I accept +he Principles of the Patriotic League for my own and I will do the best I can to live and act by them every day. THE AMERICAN PATRIOT. Chapter i. WHAT KIND OF A MAN MAKES A PATRIOT? Men may be divided roughly into two classes. There is a very large class whose chief aim in life is to get what they can out of it for themselves. They propose to have the advantage of others. They mean to ride on top of the coach. I will not say that they deliberately intend to steal a ride. Often they do not even see that when they ride, other men are dragging them. I will not say that they are not willing to put themselves to any trouble or to exert themselves. On the contrary, they frequently show uncommon enterprise in climbing to the top of the coach and in keeping their seats. I would even grant perhaps more than Mr. Edward Bellamy, when he used this old parable of the coach, and allow that the riders imagine that it is important to all the others that they should continue to ride. They may honestly believe that the coach would not run at all unless they were on the top of it. My point simply is that a large proportion of mankind thinks it the chief object of life to ride through this world as easily and comfortably as possible. They desire this for themselves; they generally propose this for their children. We will not for the present complain that there is any harm in this. We merely state the fact that a large number of mankind belong to the class of those who wish to get for themselves all that they can. I do not know any better name for them than the selfish people. 8 THE AMERICAN PA TRIOT There is also a class of men and women, who honestly think that they are here in this world on purpose to do their fair and full share for helping on the life of all of us. Yes, there are a good many people who do not prefer merely to ride through life, but if there is walking and dragging to be done, they choose to do at least their part of the hard work. In short, if you could imagine all the work of human society — all the lifting necessary for get- ting the world on towards the higher levels, to be divided into units of effort, and each person in the world to be assigned his proper portion of all this effort, while one set of people would like to get rid of their share and to con- trive to have it done for them by others, there are those who would desire, and insist upon undertaking a little more than their exact share of the effort. I said that our two classes were only roughly divided from each other. It is hard to draw the exact line where the sea and the ocean meet. So there are many who sometimes appear to be thoroughly selfish, but on occa- sion do quite generous and social things. I can illustrate what I mean in this way. There was a man who hired a certain farm which he proceeded to exploit. He got off it all that he could, and he did the least possible to enrich it or keep the weeds down. He let the buildings and fences get out of repair and he cut and sold the timber. Thus he ran the farm down so that it was nearly worth- less to the man who should come after him. But while he lived by exploiting the farm, he was not altogether a bad fellow. He always gave a meal to the tramps who came to his door, and he put his name down for sub- scriptions to his church and its charitable societies. Nevertheless, I think he belonged, on the whole, to the class of shirks and the selfish people. So did the rich man in the next town who made his money by a shoddy con- tract in the war, who, however, endowed a school with some of the money. We shall have to put him and his money on the selfish side of the line. THE AMERICAN PA TRIOT. 9 What I want now to make perfectly plain is that the selfish people have no place in a republic like ours. Other governments, indeed, have been arranged with special reference to them. A despotism, with its emperor or sul- tan and his parasites on one hand, and a horde of serfs on the other, was a special arrangement to allow a selfish class to exploit the others and live out of their toil and their taxes. An aristocracy of noble families was a con- venient government for the same purpose. One set of people thus had the land and the offices, and the rest sup- ported them. Nearly all Europe bore this kind of burden for centuries. Most European countries are still under it. The ancient republics too were an ingenious arrangement for selfish people to have more than their share. At old Athens, a few thousand free families lived on the labor of perhaps ten times as many slaves. When a slave became free, he wanted likewise to become a master and to lord it over others. We have changed all this in America. As soon as any- one thought out the noble motto, "Government of the people, by the people, for the people,'' it was the same as putting up a notice — " Selfish people not wanted here ! " Our government is founded on the great motto. It means that everyone here is to have his full share of rights, but it means also that everyone is to bear his full share of duties. Now for almost the first time in the his- tory of the world is true human society like a great family. If anyone gets more than his share, he gets it against the idea of a republic ; he gets it as an aristocrat or a "favorite. If anyone tries to get more than his share for himself, he tries to snatch what belongs to all. If anyone, on the other hand, does more than his exact share, he makes the republic richer. If all would try to do their utmost, all would be doing what is the avowed purpose of the people of a commonwealth. Let us put this very definitely. There is a man (we will call him Mr. Jones) who wants to be alderman in a i o THE AMERICAN PATRIOT. certain city. Why does he want the office ? He wants it to please his own ambition, because he can wear a title ; or he wants it in the hope of being mayor later ; or he wants it for the salary, or even for the chances that it will offer to make money. And how does this man propose to get the office ? He proposes to ask all his friends to vote for him ; he proposes to lay his wires to capture the nomination ; in other words, as far as he can, he proposes to elect himself. Now what has happened to our beauti- ful American motto, if this man is elected? It is govern- ment of the people still, but this is all that is left. It is government by Mr. Jones and for Mr. Jones. This is the same sort of government as they had in the time of Caesar; or, as they have now in Turkey. The very idea of Re- publican government is gone. The fact is, selfishness in getting office or in using it kills the American common- wealth. Let us take another illustration. Mr. Smith will not go into politics at all. He can do better for himself. He has exploited a great railroad property. He has invested money in the Whiskey Trust. If he were asked to show what good he had ever contributed to the commonwealth of America, or for what reason he draws an income of fifty thousand dollars a year from the labor of all the people, he could not answer a word. On the contrary, the commonwealth is poorer than it would be if he had never lived. Exactly what now, has this man done? Under a government that exists for the people, he has used the laws and the protection which they give against the common good of the people and for himself. The robber barons who built their castles on the Rhine to waylay those who could not protect them- selves were doing nothing different in principle from this rich Mr. Smith. He is a survival of the evil old times. But he is at war with the American Commonwealth; and equally so is the clerk in an office, or the school boy who sees this great greedy man pass, and envies him. or THE AMERICAN PATRIOT. r i would do the same things, if the chance came in his way. Call all such men and boys foreigners together — though their forefathers may have come over in the Mayflower — for they do not belong in America. But do not call Carl Schurz a foreigner, nor Boyle O'Reilly, nor the humblest Russian Jew just arrived in New York, so he has come here to add his little life to the common good and the Commonwealth. No man, indeed, is a foreigner here, who believes in the motto that makes our American Government. It is of the people, by the people, for the people. We have then at once the test of the patriot. The patriot in America is a different kind of man, and has a different object in life from the Athenian patriot, or the Florentine patriot, or almost any other kind of patriot who ever lived before our government was founded. These other patriots defended themselves and their own children; they fought to hold their own power and the privileges of their own class. The Amer- ican patriot lives for the great Common- wealth. He does not defend merely he does not vote for his own rights or his own interests. Show him what is best for all the people. He stands to defend and serve them. So Wash- ington and the founders of the Republic seem to com- mand. So Abraham Lincoln and the men who died in the Civil War, urge. What American youth will not heed their heroic call 1 his own rights ; 12 THE AMERICAN PATRIOT Questions Into what two classes may men be divided? To which class do you wish to belong? What harm does a shirk do? What was the injustice in most old-world governments, as in Athens, Rome, Venice, Austria ? What injustice, if any, is there to-day, when a rich man does nothing but only lives on his income? What is the true motto of our Republic? What right has a man to wish to get a public office for his own sake? Do you know of men who are in office for the sake'of the public good? What kind of men might we call foreigners ? Whom shall we call our true countrymen? Give your highest idea of what it is to be a patriot. Name some of our patriots and show what they did for our country. Name patriots who helped us in time of peace. " Every man is called to the service of others." "Not what we give, but what we share, For the gift without the giver is bare." Life is a mission. Every other definition of life is false and leads all who accept it astray. Religion, science, philosophy, though still at variance upon many points — all agree in this, that every existence is an aim — Ma^ini. Is it not when we come out of ourselves and do some- thing for some other one; when we forget to seek after our own pleasure and seek it for another; when we are lost to our own comfort and find it for those around us — is it not then, that we are making happiest the day ? *L^lbfe Qtizenship %&j&^ THE AMERICAN PATRIOT Chapter 2 WHAT EDUCATION IS FOR We have a new idea in America. We hold that every one must have an education. It makes no difference how poor a child's parents are. They may not be able to pay a cent for the cost of the schools. They may think that they need to keep their children at home to help them earn their bread. They may not even wish to send their children to school and the children may not care to go. Nevertheless, we say that the children of the poorest and most ignorant people in the slums of the great cities and on the plantations at the South, where the blacks live, must all have an education. We are all the time building more beautiful schoolhouses at the public expense. Some of the newer buildings are worthy to be compared with kings' palaces. We have an army of superintendents and teachers. We spend on our public education not far from one hundred and fifty millions of dollars a year. This is as though we set apart all the constant labor of 300,000 men to pay for the schools. We will not let the parents off who keep their children away from school. But in many States we have laws to require the children to go to school during a good part of each year. I have called this plan of giving every one an education, whether he wishes it or not, a new idea in the world. Of course, there have been enlightened men, like King Alfred of England long ago, who have always believed in education. But the common idea used to be that the people who did the hard work, the slaves and serfs, did not need to be educated. Indeed, education might make the toilers discontented. 14 THE AMERICAN PA TRIGT Why is it that in all civilized countries the old idea is passing away, and the new plan of educating every one is coming to be popular? Why is it that the rich people are perfectly willing to be taxed to pay for the schooling of other people's children? A great many persons think that education is "a very good thing," without knowing why. Much less, they do not know why all of us ought to be compelled to pay our share to maintain the schools, and why truant officers should hunt up reluctant boys. ALFRED AND HIS MOTHER. Alfred, the greatest King of early England, reigned through the last quarter of t> J ninth century. When he began to reign, there was scarcely a priest south of tl'<? Thames who knew the language of the people. Green, in his " History of the Englisn People," says that the world had never before " seen a king who lived solely for th«« good of his people." He established schools and translated books for their use. I wish, therefore, to make it very plain precisely why w in America believe in universal education. Let us first, however, see what there is in some of thv reasons that people often give for getting an education. They want an education, they say, so as to be able to earn a better living and to have more money. If a man has ? good education, he need not work with his hands, he can be a clerk in a store, and rise to be a merchant, or he can be a lawyer or a doctor. A girl need not cook and wash dishes, but she can be a teacher or enter a profession. An education thus enables one "to do better for one's self." It is in line with this same idea that we hear demands for trade schools, where boys and girls can learn carpen- tering and dressmaking, so that they may earn a better THE AMERICAN PA TRIOT 1 5 living. All this is very well, but what shall we do for the millions of people who must still work on the roads, and in the mines, and upon the land ? We want them educated, whether they earn more money or not. We want the girls educated who cook in a myriad homes and never become teachers or doctors. We fear, if people expect education to give every one better pay, that many will be disap- pointed in this. The fact is, we believe in education for a better reason than the money that there is in it. There is a generous reason why Americans believe in education. We see that many children are born into the world, with all the odds against them. They are poor ; their parents do not always speak the English language; their homes are forlorn. We want to "even things up" for the unfortunate children. We want to give them a fair chance with others. We desire to open \he avenues that lead up to happiness. This is a good reason for education, but it is not the great reason. In fact, the world has found that the getting knowledge and reading books are not sure to make people happier or more capable men and women. People who read the newspapers are often the least contented. People who read may despise their own work, without being the least able to do better work. Neither is it clear that merely sending children to schools, however excellent, really educates them. Men and women of the older generation, who had to work hard to earn their own education, were as well educated as any of us. Abraham Lincoln got a splendid education, albeit a hardly earned one. The truth is, there must be some ob- ject in education greater and higher than bettering one's own condition, whether by getting more pay,or by being able to use the public library. The chief end of education is not sefilsh, but the public good. I will put this first in a negative way. There is a foe to our great Republic. The name of this foe is Igno- rance. It began to be a foe as soon as our forefathers es- 1 6 THE AMERICAN PA TRIOT tablished a free government. There were always those in the land who could not read. It was managed for a time that the balance of power was kept in the hands of those who held property, who generally had education also. But it did not seem fair in a republic, like ours, to keep people out of power because they were poor. The poor and the rich, the illiterate and the educated, were giv- en equal power on the ground of their common manhood. Meanwhile, a multitude of all nationalities emigrated to our shores. Whether wisely or not, they were speedily made citizens. After the Civil War, the blacks in the South were given the ballot. It has come to pass that at every election men vote who know nothing of the questions which their votes help to decide, or of the character of the men for or against whom they vote. Ignorant voters are led to the polls by preju- dice or passion, or even by bribery. Ignorance may easily be made to turn an election, to the mischief of the very men who are bribed or befooled. Ignorance may be cheated out of its fair vote and made to count to the credit of oppression, or of some vile interest, such as the saloon power. The most selfish demagogue relies upon Igno- rance to carry him to power. In power, he relies on the same Ignorance not to know of his mischievous practices. Thus Ignorance is the foe of the Republic. We must fight this foe by intelligence. We cannot bear to have illiterate voters. We cannot afford to have voters merely read, without intelligence to ask questions about what they read. We want more from our schools than to fight Ignorance. We propose to train for the public good a special class of citizens. We showed in the last chapter what kind of man or woman makes a patriot. The public schools are intend- ed to produce patriots. This is the great positive use of the schools. Let us make this point quite clear. We can think of certain men who have graduated from our public schools, THE AMERICAN PA TRIOT 17 possibly from the high schools and state universities, and have become very successful in getting money and office. But the success of the men of whom I now speak has done vast public harm. Their money has been made at the general loss. The offices have been used, as under the Tweed ring in New York, to plunder the people. It is plain that when the schools educate men and women to help them be more mightily selfish, the schools do more harm than good. There are also men educated at the large cost of the public, who, though they do not plunder the people or seek office for their own ends, nevertheless, are the poorest and most inefficient citizens. Sometimes they will not take the trouble to vote; or they vote as their selfish interests dictate, without asking what is good for the people. Sometimes they pay their money to help elect rogues to office, or to keep them in power. These care- less citizens are no better for having an education. If the public trained only such as these, it would really be wiser not to have any public schools. It follows that the only really good use of the schools is when they give us intelligent patriots. We need men like Peter Cooper of New York, like George William Curtis, like President Garfield. These men's education made them feel a grand sense of public duty. Their lives did not belong to themselves to do as they chose, but they belonged to the nation, exactly like that of a soldier who has enlisted and sworn to obey orders. We need a great army of such men in times of peace, as well as in times of war, who, after the words of the old Roman motto,are pledged to see to it "that the Republic receives no harm." We need such women as well as men ; for whether women vote or not, all the men who are good for anything are pretty sure to come from homes where noble and patri- otic women preside. Let us fix it, then, in our minds forever, that the great end and use of the schools is to educate men and women i a THE AMERICAN PA TRIOT to be patriots. Unless the schools do this work, they are a gigantic failure. It is because the schools are not yet doing this great work, and also because they need all possible help to do it better, that we believe in organizing the Patriotic League everywhere; for the people who love their country must join hands together in order to do any- thing efficiently. I might urge upon our youth their duty to the State as a matter of common honesty. I might show how much it costs to give every one of them an education. The cost comes out of the wealth of the country. The youth has done nothing yet but receive what is given him. Whether he is in a public or a private school he is rolling up a debt. His honor is pledged, as soon as he can, to repay this debt to the world. But I will not press this matter of duty. There is some- thing better than duty. The true-hearted youth has a splendid privilege. There is nothing that he will ever like better than to stand on the side of the great heroes and patriots, and to help carry on their work. The shin- ing examples of all the glorious past are on this side. Justice, truth, liberty, religion are on this side. Noble company is always on this side, as truly to-day as it was in the time of John Milton — the company of the brave, the faithful and the generous. Questions What is our American idea about education? What do the schools cost where you live? What is the first reason that people give for believing in education? What can you say about this reason? What generous reason is there for our public schools ? Do you think that education makes people happier? Which is the chief reason for our public schools ? How is ignorance an enemy to the commonwealth? What special kind of citizens do we aim to train? Show how men may be educated and yet be bad citizens. Give examples of the kind of good citizens that we need. What can patriotic women do? How can the Patriotic League help the schools? How is it ' 'common honesty'' to serve the State? How is it a privilege to live the life of a patriot? THE AMERICAN PATRIOT. Chapter 3. THE EDUCATION THAT MAKES PATRIOTS. It is not every kind of education that will make good citizens, or patriots. There is a certain school of whose results I stand in fear. The school-house is excellent and quite up to the mark of the latest sanitary science. The course of study is ample and attractive. But it is whis- pered about among the parents of its scholars, that the master of this school worships money. His reputation is coming to be that of a selfish and shallow man. I fear, in spite of the admirable equipment of his school, that this teacher will not serve to make good citizens. Boys, like wax, will take the pattern of this kind of man. They will think it fine to be " smart" and showy. When their teacher, in his public exercises on the twenty-second of February, tells them the story of Washington, I fear a fatal lack of the thrill of genuine admiration in his voice to make the boys know the heart of a patriot. Washing- ton held that he was in this world to serve his country. I fear that this selfish teacher will let the boys think that a man is here for what he can get for himself. So far as a teacher's influence runs this way, it is as though the arrows were not aimed at the mark. The more costly the equipment, the greater is the waste. The first thing then that we want for the education of true American citizens is teachers of the patriotic quality. 1 believe that we have a great many such teachers. I 20 THE AMERICAN PA TRIOT. recollect one who took by storm the hearts of the boys and girls of a certain country village. The school-ltottse was little. The scholars were not graded. The number of classes was too large. There were no fine globes or gi eat colored maps, or any of the modern equipment in the school. The desks were old and hacked with jack- knives. But the education here went straight to the mark. Why ? Because the teacher knew what it was tor, and his aim was true. He was an unselfish man, work- ing with all his might to help the boys and girls to the best he knew. I would rather see a ragged Indian with his old-fashioned bow and arrow aiming at his mark and hitting it, than the most elegant marksman with a beauti- ful modern rifle, who, nevertheless, hits the wrong mark every time. And so I would rather have my child in the old wooden school-house under the genuine teacher, working to make true-hearted American citizens, than in the great palatial city school-house without the right sort of teacher. The figure arises at once of one — the type of many others — in one of these modern school-house palaces, who is not the worse surely for the magnificent equip- ment with which the rich city has provided her. No nobler heart beats than this modest teacher's ; nowhere will you find a more unselfish or devoted life ; no great THE AMERICAN PA TRIOT. 2 1 historic patriot ever saw more clearly the end towards which glorious deeds move ; no minister of religion in any great city pulpit is more faithfully teaching the way of faith, hope and love. Year by year, before each new group of pupils, this earnest teacher, grudging no extra time or pains, is quietly setting an object lesson of what all education is for, namely, high-minded, unselfish serv- ice. It must not be forgotten that, in the broadest sense, the education of the citizen is directed from the home. What is the ruling purpose of the home ? What are the parents thinking about, planning for, talking of? Is it the getting the better of their neighbors or competitors ? Is the cur- rent table-talk about bargains, about stocks, about corner- lots, about parties and fashions and dress ? All this is education of a kind. It will be a rare school and mar- velous teachers that will be able to turn the current of this kind of home training. Who will take boys and girls fresh from homes, where the people think that life con- sists in making money or in getting into society, and out of this raw material will give us the finished product in patriots, ready to die for the country ? Yet this miracle can be worked. Nay ! It is not a miracle. For the germ of the patriot is in every child's heart, to be found and called into action by the touch of the first noble life that will believe in and seek it. Let us suppose now, what often is true, that our scholars come from good homes, that they hear over the breakfast table some really high-minded conversation that their parents do generous things and steer their lives by the stars ; let us suppose that they come into the hands of good teachers who know for what high end the public have set them to teaching ; let us try to estimate the magnificent means which we find provided for mak- ing boys and girls into patriotic American citizens. First, let us see what the teacher can do through the discipline of a well graded and appointed school. A 2 2 THE AMERICAN PA TRIOT. child may come from a tenement-house in the slums, from surroundings of filth and disorder, from slovenly rooms, from traditions of foreign oppression and inequality. The great school-house becomes at once the embodiment of order, equality, justice, democracy. Promptitude and ex- actness; kindness and obedience are required of all. From the realm of the kindergarten upwards good-will rules. Good-will is seen to be, what it truly is in the universe, the sovereign authority. The sooner the child falls into line with the regnant good-will, the better it is for him and the happier he is. Here the child who stands out against the prevailing order is the exception. He is do- ing that which hurts himself as well as the others. He discovers disorder and misrule to be senselessness. All the forces of the school press upon him and bind him over to be one of the friends of order and good-will. To be disobedient is to be a nuisance in the little world of the school. To be selfish or unhelpful is to be isolated from the good fellowship of his mates. To be courteous, to be kind, to be generous is to enter into the true comrade- ship of the school-room. Here is the citizen in the pro- cess of making. Here are traits and qualities developing, which will make their possessor at home wherever he carries them. Learning to be on the side of order as far back as the kindergarten, he is not likely ever lightly to change sides and go over to the party of disorder and mis- chief, when a crisis in the nation divides its friends and its foes. He has learned to drill and keep step in the ranks of the forces of good will. See now what we can do with the scholar's mind in the practice of as simple a study as arithmetic. We assume again that the teacher knows what the arithmetic is for. 