The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1894-10-25

/ Plea to the Old Soldiers to Stand by The1
Colors Which They Hail With Heart.
Cheers.
Past National President Kate B. Sherwood
was invited to speak on The Flag Salute at til,
late Reunion of the 111th Ohio, of which regi
ment her husband, Gen. I. r. Sherwood, wal
the Colonel. Owing to illness she could not b.
present, but paper prepared by her was resd
by Judge R. Ii. Cochrane, of the National
Council of Administration, and has been
widely printed AS it is in the line of patri.
otto teaching inaugurated by the W.R.C, it if
given IN large part.
THE FLAG SALUTE.
"Art thou a manp A patriot2 Look
| around"
Aye, you are patriots; patriots of war and
of peace. When after long and terrible wars
you brought home the old flag unsullied, you
did not sit down at your ease to fight your bat
ties over with a multitude of words. You en-
listed in the new campaign of arduous labor
for the support of yourselves and your chill
dren, with the old flag still flying at the front,
But your children and your chidren's chill
dren; have you been thinking of them
Have they been taught to revere the flag; TO
estimate the cost of free self-government2
Have they been taught the principles of the
| Declaration of Independence, and has the text
! been craven on their hearts, that all are born
free and equal and endowed with the inalien-
able rights of life, liberty and pursuit of hap
pinessP
Go into the schools where your children are
taught and what do you find there? Books
books books Books of grammar and mathe-
MATES, and philosophy and rhetoric; frag-
| ment OF history and scrap of geography.
Our children pore over books under the glar-
| ing electric light, in the fierce sunlight of un-
curtained windows; in the dim halflight of
| Winter afternoons.
They grow wan faced and light headed and
| dim-eyed over books and don their spectacles
| with their short clothes. They are crammed
with books, buried in books They swallow
books whole and their brains are congested
with books, beyond any hope of trepanning.
When the graduation day comes they go
forth, stuffed and wabbing, like the geese the
| Hebrew women cram for their larders. And
| still it is books, books.
Is this the way American citizens are made?
The Saxon children, like the Spartans of old,
were taught from their cradles to shoot with
bows and arrows, and they were the best marks
men in the world. The daily lesson taught
was. Here is your country, and you must de-
| fend it,"
Heaven forbid that we should teach our sons
| that the best defense OF a country is through
weapons of war; but unless we begin to teach
| them something better it must all end in this.
Already the clainors arise for standing
| army, and this in a country where every man
is free. Republic propped up by standing
army is no Republic at all.
! Art thou a man? patriot2 Look
| around"
Thousands and tens of thousands of foreign
| ers from the monarchies of the Old World,
| where from time immemorial they and their
| children have been under the harrows of OPP
| preston, come pouring in through our open
sea gates. Are We going to meet them with
| drawn swords, and, society against society, sect
|
| horrors of the Middle Ages?
thousand and ten thousand times no
| "Put up thy sword" said the Divine Master;
| they that conquer by the sword shall perish
| by the sword"
UP WITH THE FLAG.
What, then, will you do men, who saved the
| Republic? The remedy is i'll your hands.
| Place the flag over every school building and
| in every school room in the land. Then teach
| your children and the children of all nations,
| focking to your standard those immortal prinI'
| cples OF free government of which the Stars
| and Stripes is but the sign and symbol.
| simple text book On American citizenship
| taught daily in our schools to our children,
would be worth as a National defense
| than our entire school curriculum combined;
| more than all the Calling guns aud improved
| rifles and steel-pl armor combined.
The present great movement to place flag
| in every school house and tell the why's and
elementary constitutional teaching, originated
| some years ago with the late Col. George Il.
| Balch, Auditor of the Schools of New York
| City. In the army he served in the ord
nance service. and was one of the best statisti-
clans in the United States While on a tour of
inspection of the schools of New York City, he
entered school where the flag was displayed
and the children carrying out a patriotic pro-
gram. Later, while visiting the free kinder
gartens OF New York, he conceived the idea of
| a flag salute and the use of patriotic primer
in each school, largely made up as they all
were, Of foreign elements, and representing the
seven or eight nationalities finding a lodging
place in the great Metropolis.
The task was soon accomplished and for
some years 1000 5000 foreign children in
the New York free kindergartens stand up
every morning before the flag, unfurled by
color bearer, and say:
I'VE give our heads and our hearts to God
and our country! One country, one language,
one fag!"
Then comes the questions and answers, such
as the following:
why do you salute the fag?"
because it is the emblem of the Republic"
" How does a Republic differ from Mon
archy?"
" In Republic the people rule; in Mon
archy an Emperor or a King"
The equality of rights the duties and prvi-
leges OF citizenship respect for the opinions of
otbeIS anu obeuIeHce 10 law, the uabure ana
uses of the ballot and, indeed, the whole cpl
tome Of American law and practice is made
plain to the children. Once a year a ballot
box is put up and the children vote whether
they will continue the flag salute another year
1t is significant that these votes are we'll nigh
unanimous.
The National Council of Women of the United
States representing 10 National societies afiili-
ated together, with membership of 700, 000
have declared for the flag salute and patriotic
teaching in the schools AT Pittsburg, before
the 2Sth National Encampment, GAR,
GEN. JACK" ADAMS
called attention to what the women of the
Council were doing, through the Instrument
atty of the Woman's Relief Corps, which
brought the subject before the Council, adding
words of warm commentator.
The resolution he quoted entire, which is as
follows:
Whereas there ,s manifest need Of instruction
In Constitutional Government in public schools
and of more direct method of cultivatinR a
broader spirit of nationality among the children of
the country. based upon the Declaration of Inde-
pendence and the principle of universal liberty
and equal rights to ALL inculcated therein; there
fore
ResOLred, That the National Council of Women
approve the great movement 10 teach patriotism
in the schools of the United States aud of placing
the flag over every schoolhouse and in every