The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1897-01-16
The Flag-a Symbol or a Fetishq

From Topics of the Time in The Century Magazine
Much has been said within recent years
about the teaching of patriotism in the
public schools of the United States. To
the end that it might be encouraged, many
of the schools have been provided with
flags, and in considerable 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 enthusi-
siasm thus aroused expend itself upon the
sign rather than upon the thing signifed;
that is to say, whether our patriotic en-
deavors may not, unless wisely directed,
produce sentimental attachment to an
emblem instead of creating type of civic
life whereby the emblem is genuinely glo-
rifed 1t is Of the highest Importance
that our children and youth should be
taught that the nation expects them to de-
vote property and life, if need be, to her
defense, and that they must regard the
integrity of the state as their peculiar care.
But the possible danger which turks in
teaching patriotism primarily by means Of
this beautiful symbol is that it encourages
the pupil to look for an international rather
than domestic field wherein to display
his devotion. When Spanish mob, in.
censed by what it considers bitter provo
cation, tears the Stars and Stripes in pieces,
or an Irish poet sings of bastard freedom
and 'fustian flag" he is duly reused
The flag seems to him to have been imme-
diately and grossly insulted, and he resents
the insult; but so long as it waves undis-
turbed by any hostile hand or mocking
word, he is tempted to feel that it is safe,
even though corruption, greed, and parti-
zanship bear sway under its very shadow
He is so convinced that where the sign is
deliberately dishonored the thing signifed
must be insulted as to take for granted
the wholly different 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 lamentable
results than in great republic. 1t was
long since wisely observed that ''the dan
ger to a small republic comes from without;
to a great republic it comes from within
Indeed, anyone who rereads the knights
of Aristophanes must be struck with the
cogent application of It's sarcasm to latter
day politics Mutatis nlutandis, Cleon
and the Sausage-seller are with us still,
striving as best they may to outbid each
other in the favor of Demos-making
small account to be sure, of what Demos
really needs, but fertile in devices for
pleasing his ear, tickling his palate, fos-
tering 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 unreseryedly into his keep
ing, he will give especial attention to its
social dignity and influence among the
neighbors One remembers the eulogy
upon Colonel Yell of Yellville, ''that
though it was true his books did not bal
ance, none could doubt that his heart beat
warmly for his native land. . It serves
to remind us that the deeper man s hands
go into the public pocket, the louder may
become his yociferations of devotion to the
flag, and the fercer his indignation against
any who may insult it. Nothing, indeed,
can suit his purposes better than to foster
a worship of the sign so blind and fatuous
as to brand as unpatriotic all inquiry into
the reality signifed.
1t is a matter of commonest experience
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 ethical content.
There is distinct tendency in some quar-
ters today 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 yet to
realize that patriotism is less an impulse
than duty, and that the man who makes
most searching inquisition into the failings
and possible iniquities that mar our pub
lie life, pleading for simple, unambiguous
public speech, and the sternest and most
uncompromising integrity in public act,
may prove to be truer patriot than he
whose love of country never goes beyond
the flag, which he bespatter with tawdry
adieetives, and degrades by meaninglessly
Haunting it in the face of sister nations.
The sapient remark of Guyau that ''de-
fense against the attacks of barbarians
from within is as essential to our democ-
racies as defense against the foe from with
out, has profound significance for Amer
can citizens What the rising generation
needs in the way of civic training is an
intelligent acquaintance with the economy
of our governmental system; the awakening
of an unselfsh and never -ceasing devotion
to the duties of citizenship; clear discern
ment between truth and cant in political
speech; and a conception of patriotism that
shall be ethical as well as emotional By
all means let the flag be kept in the schools
and honored there; but let renewed effort
be made to teach the pupils that its glory
is precisely commensurate with the true
nobility of that national life which it SYM
bOljzes