Evening star., 1916-08-20
Familiar With History.

Familiar With History.
'They were familiar with the history
of Athens. with the history Of the great
Roman republic and its gradual evolu-
ton into an empire, with the history of
the medieval italian republics, the IA
nous Dutch republic. and, most impor-
tant of all. with the history of the
growth Of the British constitution, with
its great milestones marking the prog
ress Of Anglo-Saxon liberty. In short,
in their collective knowledge and learn
nearly everything that the history of
the world afforded concerning the diff
ferent systems of government In its
democratic form. Furthermore, in ad-
dition to their knowledge OF the his
tory and the rise and fall of govern
ments, they never forgot that human
nature had not changed through che
centuries.
''The fact that our institutions have
survived without material impairment
the strain of the enormous Immigration
which has been received into our pop
ula ton during recent years, and which
Is bound to have a most profound erect
upon our national life is abundant
proof of their wisdom and foresight
II we are to preserve these Institutions
unimpafred it becomes incumbent upon
us, through our schools, to instill into
the minds and hearts of these fresh ar
rivals the meaning OF America. Ihey
come from countries where the govern
ment is everything and the individual
comparatively insignificant, and 1t is
inevitable that this centuries-old inf1u-
ence should have made deep impress
sion upon their hereditary trend of
thought, and it is equally inevitable
that they should. on arrival. feel the
same relation to our government 1t is
fair to say that they have no real con-
ception of the relation existing here
between the citizen and the state.
Cause of Deep Concern.
MANY thoughtful Americans are
deeply concerned with what we as
nation must do In order to fuse and
assimilate this mass-how exert our
selves in teaching them the meaning
of citizenship under the Constitution of
the United States We must remind
the native born and teach the foreign
born that hundred millions of US are
bent upon preserving the integrity,
dignity and rightful power of the
United States.
I'VE need the training and experience
that come from steady, sure progress in
the real things Of life. and had we pro-
ceeded with less speed and, therefore,
with more care, the average American
would know more about his fellowman
and our democracy would be more
efficient. Fortunately, We have become
conscious of the dangers arising from
haste and are exerting stupendous eff
forts in the cause of education that the
citizen of the future shall be better
trained for his duties than we are or
ever have been.
I'VE are doing very little to prevent
the people of the country being divided
into classes-classes separated from
each other by wide difference in the
material prosperity of their members.
We will get along together great deal
better in this vast democracy If we
manage to keep touch of the elbow
from man to man and If we teach the
young men in all stations of life that
instead of regarding the government as
an agency that owes them something,
they owe something to the country. We
ought to instill into the youth of the
land a clear realization of their re-
sponsibilities to serve and protect the
nation and its ideals. This question of
service to ones country has been
brought to our attention with great
war in Europe has fairly jolted US into
and the desire to destroy still live in the
hearts of men; and we now admit that
institutions worth saving can be saved
only by the devotion of people trained
to service.
Purpose Of the Schools.
I'VE send our children to school so
%..+ tbev NAV flt themselves To cop,bat