The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-10-23
A NEW PATRIOTIC PERIODICAL.

A copy of the first issue of a rather
pretentious publication, 1.-The American
Sentinel" whose mission is to be gen
timely American magazine" and teach
the American people patriotism is ut
hand. The editors are Gen. Joshua
Chamberlain, Mrs. John A. Logan and
Henry Austin.
There may be a need for a more en-
lightened patriotism, though it would
SCENE that the American people are toll
erably well off in love Of country.
Whether making of patriotism a distinct
cult will help matters; whether preach
ing patriotism at people in more or less
loose and horid English will make them
patriotic, any more than saying do be
good will make them good, is dubious
proposition.
A periodical that would stand for all
that is best i'll the genuine American
sense would meet with instant and
hearty recognition, though we have some
pretty good American magazines already.
Whether Il magazine that finds room III
its introduction to talk about the
Southern States nurtured under falla-
cious State sovereignty" and therefore
Ignorant of what constituted treason
against the government has attained
that eminence whence it may teach pa
triotism, rs it is now understood, to the
class of men and women who read Sc
rious magazines, or that it will command
recognition and respect ut their hands.
we take the liberty to doubt. The
doubt is in no wise dissipated when the
Sentinel gravely assures us that, in
reference to the achievements of our
IL in hn ~,
Spain, Eve have but to put our army
and navy on a numerical footing com
mensurate to our Importance with other
countries to hold forever the place won
by them for the United States" Is
that indeed all that is necessary lin or
der to hold forever our place among
the nations? Then surely is our task
easier than many men somewhat expc-
rienced in State craft had supposed.
Why should we care about 'our place"
among nations whose people the "Senti-
nell declares are gilded barbarians?
General admiration for the 'Senti-
mel" as an exponent of patriotism will
be in no wise increased when it is found
to be greatly impressed with that brand
of the article which finds its highest ex-
preston in the poems of ELLA Wheeler
WilcoX-a variety the general prevalence
of which would result in even more pro-
nounced civic hysteria than that which
has recently FRUSTRATED certain munich
palties of our realm-patriotism in high
G.
Ripe Judgment and and discerning
taste are certainly two requisites in the
genuinely American" magazine, and
certainly it's rhetoric should be above
criticism The Sentinel" assures us
that lin America we can have no Du-
mas" because of the ''murky atmosphere
of bigotry and prejudice and of the
iron bars of prejudice" Leaving out
of account the truth of the assertion,
which the Sentinel" would encounter
some difficulty in establishing, we take
the liberty of suggesting that prejudice
should not constitute a ''murky atmos-
phere" and an Iron barr" all within the
narrow compass of dozen lines.
Americans generally admit that Mr.
Mckinley makes an average president
but are all excluded from the serried
ranks Of parrot who do not hold with
the editors of the Sentinel that "even
his most devoted admirer has no concep-
ton of his far-seeing craftsmanship and
dauntless moral courage in guiding the
therein she is in striking contrast with
his illustrious prototype, Napoleon"
Shall we all have to spread it on of that
thickness and consistency when we get
to be genuine patriots? May we not be
permitted to believe that Mrs. Mckinley
is woman in the very highest sense of
the term without being compelled to say
in the exact phraseology Of the 'Senti-
nell that "her devotion to her husband
amounts to idolatry and is perfectly
beautiful Can patriotism be incul-
Gated only by the rigid exclusion of sane
Judgment and good taste, and is school
girl English the only medium through
which it can be impaired?
The Sentinel makes a deserved fling
at periodicals that make a speciality OF
numerous pictures of more or less
pretty actresses" but it in turn falls
quite as far below what genuine
American" magazine should be as Mr..
Frank Munsey's publications do below
periodicals of the Century class.