Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1896-12-31
PATRIOTISM AND THE FLAG.
Danger that the Flag May Become
Merely Fetish.

years about the teaching of patriotism
in the public schools of the United
States. To the end that it might be en-
couraged, many of the schools have
been provided with flags, and in con-
siderable number formal exercises take
place from time to time. when the flag
is paraded, saluted, and the pupils
pledge allegiance to it. The sight is
always impressive and gratifying.
Yet it may properly be asked whether
there be not some danger lest the enthu
siasm thus aroused eXpend itself upon
the sign rather than upon the thing
signifed; that is to say, whether our
patriotic endeayorS may not, unless
wisely directed, produce sentimental
attachment to an emblem instead Of
creating a type Of civic life whereby the
emblem is genuinely glorified. 1t is of
the highest Importance that our chill
dren and youth should be taught that
the nation expects them to devote prop
erty and life, if need be, to her defense,
and that they must regard the integrity
of the state as their peculiar care. But
teaching patriotism primarily by means
of this beautiful symbol is that it en-
courages the pupil to look for an inter-
national rather than a domestic field
wherein to display his devotion. When
a Spanish mob, incensed by what it
considers bitter proyocation, tears the
Stars and Stripes to pieces, or an Irish
poet sings Of bastard freedom and a
''fustian flag" he is duly reused. The
flag seems to him to have been immedi-
| ately and grossly insulted, and he re-
sents the insult; but so long as it waves
undisturbed by any hostile hand or
hooking word he is tempted to feel that
| it is safe, even though corruption, greed
md craftsmanship bear sway under it's
very shadow. He is so convinced that
where the sign is deliberately dishon-
ored the thing signified must be insult
| ed as to take for granted the wholly diff
ferent proposition that SO long as the
flag is outwardly respected the state
| must be secure
Under scarce any form of government
| can this fallacy produce more lamenta-
bic results than in a great republic. 1t
was long since wisely observed that
| ''the danger to a small republic comes
from without; to great republic it
comes from within" Indeed, any one
who rereads the 'IInights" of Artistic
| planes must be struck with the cogent
| application Of it's sarcasm to latter-day
| politics. Mutatis mutandis, Cleon and
| the SauSage-seller are with us still,
striving as best they may to outbid each
| other. in the favor of Demonstrating
small account, to be sure, of what De
mos really needs, but fertile in devices
for pleasing his ear, tickling his palate,
fostering his self-love, and befogging
his Judgment. Now, as then, too, each
| is prodigal of proteStations that he and
| he. alone is truly loyal to the good name
| of his master, and that if Demos will
but put the household quite unreserved
| ly into his keeping, he will give especial
| attention to it's social dignity and inf1u-
ence among the neighbors. One remem-
bers the eulogy upon Col. Yell of Yell
| vile, that though it was true his books
| did not balance, none could doubt that
| his heart beat warmly for the native
land" 1t serves to remind us that the
deeper a mans hands go into the public
pocket, the louder may become his vo-
alterations of devotion to the flag, and
the tiercer his Indignation against any
who may insult it, Nothing, indeed, caa
suit his purposes better than to foster
a worship of the sign SO blind and fatu-
GUS as to brand as unpatriotic all in
quiry into the reality signifed.
| It is a matter of commonest expert
ence that the higher the moral quality
Of any emotion, sentiment or theory of
| life, the more dangerous the husk of it
is likely to prove when emptied of ethi-
cal content. There is a distinct ten
dency in some quarters to-day to treat
everything as glorious which the flag
can be made to cover, and to denounce
as unpatriotic all critical inquiry into
the real ethical conditions of national
life. The mass of Americans have vet
| to realize that patriotism is less an i'm
! pulse than a duty, and that the man
who makes most searching inquisition
llllo Tic I1lIlllSS anu poSSlDle lHlQultleS
that mar our public life, pleading for
simple, unambiguous public speech,
and the sternest and most uncompro-
missing integrity in public act, may
prove to be truer patriot than he
whose love of country never goes be-
yoIld the flag, which he bespatters with
tawdry adjectives. and degrades by
| meaninglessly Haunting it in the face
| of sister nations.-"The Flag Sym
| Dol or Fetish" in the Century.
Some Good Tattooing.