Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1916-01-26
WEDNESDAY. JANUARY 20, 1916.
DOING ONES BIT.

CFrom the Christian Science Monitor)
In company with a yeritable galaxy
OF quaint expressions and semi-mili-
tary terms, the phrase which heads
this article seems 10 have arrived in
England with the war and to enjoy
fair prospect of remaining for long
after the war has passed into history.
10 say Il am doing my Bit. is TO ex
press in capsule form. a whole y6l-
Ume of meaning. as thus: 81 would
have you know that am not one whit
less philosophical than anyone else,
and the work that ! am engaged upon
is my feeble and perhaps inadequate
way of contributing my quota TO the
need of the moment poor effort. no
doubt, but still nay own"
The expression seems TO dll a need,
because the two things that come
home more forcibly than anything else.
az a time when community is placed
under stress of circumstances, are the
need for an awakened public spirit,
and the seeming inadequacy of any sin
sic individual effort in the face of the
demand for organization on a colossal
scale conducted by a race of supermen.
Hence to be able to say Il am doing my
bit" not only ayerts the charge of lack
ofp ublie spirit, but 1t also brings the
whole subject of individual effort into
truer perspective Nothing is more
calculated TO bring about ultimate dis
couragement ON a big scale than the
thought that our affairs need 10 be
conducted by the so-called supermen.
That the superman is a myth is best
evidenced by the fact that we are even
now spectators of the passing of those
days in which men can any longer be
duped into docility by display of gild-
ed pomp and pride of power, and. pain
fully enough, we are learning that no
single individual who values freedom.
peace and justice can escape his share
IN the burden of the common veal
lt Is no longer a foregone conclusion
that one kind of individual effort is
necessarily more important or valuable
than another.
So the philosophical citizen today,
be his service of the highest or the
meanest, brushes on one side either
cXtravagant eulogy or deprecatory crit
icism with the simple statement that
he is doing his bit This expression
may cover the widest imaginable
range of endeavor. from the man who
is loading high explosive shells, cal
culated TO effect the maximum amount
of destruction, TO the man who is en-
gagged in providing seed for planting
i'm the devastated areas and restoring
wholesome conditions in the wrecked
villages front he man who is subscrib-
ing huge sums to the national war loan
TO the NOHlAu WHO SAlNltS utF uhiIhiS
resources with some homeless refugee;
from the man who is giving vent TO
noisy eloQuence in the press and the
public square. to the man who. quietly
pursuing the trivial round and common
task which his sense of duty and citi-
zenship imposes upon him. is thinking
things out as best he can; all will tell
YOU that they are doing their bit, and
you will be right in not questioning
this statement. Time will prove just
exactly what was the value of that
bit" and there even seems to be a
vague recognition of the possibility
that present estimates may prove wide
of the mark. There are some. too
who believe that that which is now es-
teemed the last shall prove the first