The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-06-24


hnd them, not alone in platforms and
declarations, but in the Oracles Of con-
science where every primal duty nnds
& voice Feeling this truth, and feeling
to, that the hour and the place invite
Its utterance. 4 make no apolosy LOT
asking YOU to consider the Ethical Bas-
is of American Patriotism
Doubtless. the great majority of our
people understand perfectly the dis
tiuctiOn between patriotism and poll
tics. 1T would be an insult to the young
scholars assembled here, to suppose they
do not understand it. Politics is the
science of government. the art of adj
minfstration. but patriotism is neither
a science nor an art. 1t is q sentiment
1t is a passion so universal and so
beautiful that 1t may almost be said
that TT is inherent in human nature
Tt is its own reason. The violet and the
rose. the sailing clouds, the majesty of
silent mountain peaks. the harmony of
music, love, Ialuh. and all the forms of
moral and physical beauty defy ana
lysls- Patriotism, like the sense Of
beauty, is innate, but yet. it is some
w e 90 ROT love our country Tor the
same reason that we love to look upon
landscape, nor in the same
way we admire q picture. q statue or
a vase 1T is true, not because it is
beautiful. but beautiful because it is
true w hat does it matter that acute
minds have discovered i'm it a large
element of selhsnnesS2 The golden
rule. I believe. has not escaped criti-
c-sm. Undoubtedly patriotism is sell
fish in the sense that it is a good in
Vestment. It pays dividends And yet
q man cannot be patriotic simply be-
cause it lis profitable. any more than
me can be truly honest because hon
esty is the best policy. When grim old
Dr. Johnson called TT the last refuge Of
2 scoundrel. he paid it the highest tri-
butte to be found i'm amy language. Pat
riOtisn is robust. vital and strong. Tt
is not satisfied by a faint preference. a
n +n fe1N
try; nor can it patiently endure that
thin and tasteless creed which pro-
fesses to hold all lands and all people
i'm equal estimation. Such men there
have been. men who create an arttfi-
Cial eclipse of patriotic feeling by
drawing over it the Veil of universal
fraternity and love Even SO gOOd an
American as James Russell Lowell
ia ono of his earlier poems puts in
to faultless rhythm the inquiry
Where is the true mans fatherland2
Is it where ne by chance was bOrn2
Doth rot the yearning spirit scOrn
In such scant borders to be spanned Q
o. yes- his fatherland must be
As the blue heavens wide and free. %
Gentlemen. / hope you viii believe
now and always, that the United
States of America is your true faith
erlaud- hope that what the poet
calls your '-yeGrning spirit viii md
joy. pride and consolation in loving
best OF all. this land which is your
home and heritage. If YOU would have
hold- the field is here To the scOrn-
ful question: rs it where he by
chance was born % the true answer is.
yes But a deeper question is. What
but the accident OF birth brings to any
human being his opportunities and
his duties2 Perhaps i'm the eye of that
universal wisdom which sees order and
harmony everywhere. there are no ac-
Cidents. In q human sense it may. i'm
deed be said that chance alone made
LeOnidas Greek and crowned him
with the privilege of dying at Their
mopylae that chance gave John
Hampden to England and Abraham
Lincoln to us. But I'D matters little
81 neither Providence that cannot err.
or random throw ri tine dice Of Fate
determined your place 0t birth. Here.
and not elsewhere. your highest du-
ties are waiting. At has not been arr
ranged that we may choose where we
shall be born, or determine for our
selves what environment shall hem us
philosophical statesmen. whose an
I'M Edmund Burke, the greatest of
rivalled eloquence so enriched the
English tongue. said: without any
stipulation ON our part. are we bound
by that relation called our country.
which CompreheuGs all the charities of
all We are under sort of divine
compulsiOn-a power from within and
without-w which viii not have it 9TH
erwise.
There is a volume of truth and of
common sense, which is the friend and
ally of truth in a remark of James
1Tartinea-1. -Tallz as we may of I7u-
man br0tberH0od . he saws "A ffec-
ton is NOT and cannot be- universal
but ALWAYS fixes upon the specific. >
And this idea. so plain and simple.
a-fves us a clear conceUtion of the eth
zeal or moral basis ON which patriot
ism securely rests. Unless the natural
ir7nl1lsas which SWAY our actions be
altogether WRONG. then patri0tisrn is
SURELY right 1t is right because that
general and. if I may use the term.
Iar
include all. really touches none. But
a higher reason is found in the great
law, whic. from the beginning
has rested upon the human
race. that duty is always the
neighbor Of opportunity The familiar
old maxim Charity begins at home. p