Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-07-20
AMERICAN YOUTH
THE WORLDS HOPE
War Has Killed the Youth of
Europe-The Opportunities
of the Future Are Ours

| - uOrn 10 put INTO WOTuS inc lnOubHl
! that have been in the back of the min
| of many Americans since the extent o
the devastation OF the great war becam
manifest The youth OF Europe Is dyin
or Is being incapacitated for the hes
work because of wounds or nervou
troubles occasioned by the terror Of bat
tie. The work of the world must bt
done in the years to come. Who will dc
It and how will it be done?
Mr.. Hagedorn says the burden will res
on the shoulders Of the youth Of America
And he Is right.
What is the American youth--the boys
and girls from ten to elghtcen--doing tc
prepare Itself for its task? In his little
book, you Arc the Hope OF the World
published by the Macmillan Company, MIR
IIaEedorn says:
You are dancing today and spinning
tops and going TO the movies and loaing
at street corners (Which is pleasant when
the spring is in the air) and reading the
sporting columns and dolling up your
figure and your face. and over there
across the ocean, every twenty seconds on
I'm 6NcIHge, UoNU EDeS II DTdNt bby anu
out goes another candle, and on one Of
you over here suddenly falls a new re-
sponsibility You don't feel IT, but thcse
II is. That French hoy or that English or
German or Russian boy may leave his
watchfob to his brother and his watch TO
his best friend, but ne leaves his chance
TO you. lie might have been a great
scientist and drawn some wizardry yet
unknown out Of the air; he might have
"a "a lgi la aar
he might have been the immortal leader
men have been looi.iug for ages long to
lead the world to a better civilization.
He's gone, dead, ~ nineteen Young
America, you are his heir! Don't you
feel his mantle on your shoulders?
But Young America does not yet real
ize what is happening nor does it feel its
responsibilities or perceive its oppor-
tunities. Mr.. Iagcdorn sets himself the
task of awakening it,! lie calls the roll
of the illustrious dead. men who devoted
all their energies to laying the founda-
tions Of democracy and men who gave
their lives that those who came after
them might be free. And then he eX-
claims that American youth is the hope
Of the world.
Because the youth of Europe is dead
or dying and because YOU possess in
a greater degree than the youth Of any
other country unravaged by this terrible
war, alert minds, large hearts, adven-
turous and indomitable spirits Il tradi-
tion of freedom; a past pcopled with tho
ghosts Of intrepid, libcrty-loying men
and womeni and pure ideal Of de-
mocracy.
No ono is demanding heroic deeds or
sacrifices of the youth. The world
md Mr.. 1IaEedorn emphasizes the word
because the rest Of tho world understands
he situation better than we do in Amer
ca-the world asks the American youth
o stop dancing for a minute, to give
lp the movies for an afternoon, to run
he car into the garage and sit down
nd think about his country, to think
low America stands for democracy and
low it must make it's democracy real
{ we are to continue to enjoy those
hings for which the mighty dead gave
heir lives in the past and for which
len are giving their lives across the seas
oday.
framing Tor CltlZenShlp
The first requisite TO success in the en-
eavor which Mr.. Iagedorn urges upon
he young, after thought, is training in
he duties of citizenship. They must
nderstand the institutions Of the coun-
~ and they must be taught about them
l the schools and colleges 1t is not
nough to say that this is a great coun-
" and that man must do his duty. |
is necessary TO point out specific duties |
nd to show the definite way to do them. |
'e leave the government of our cities |
commercialists who get what they |
an out of it for their own pocket. |
he young men and young women of the |
resent have it in their power to change |
i this The trouble with the country |
recent years has come because too |
any of us have trusted to luck. Says |
r. Hagedorn:
Those Of us who trust neither in luck
lor bliudly in the Lord trust i'm something
'aguc and radiant which we call the
lestiny of America. Good We have a
light to trust in it. But before YOU lie
Town and leave the work TO that shining
I'iihi i'ui'N -NAllVliCtl. j recommend that
'ou go boldly toward Brother Destiny
md confront him and look him I'm the
'ye Would you be terrified, would Won
'e sullen, or would you be glad and su-
Iremely proud If you were to d,scOvcr
hat the face and features Of that figure
'ou call the Destiny Of America are
'our own?
Here is the heart and soul Of the whole
eachment: America is the people who
habit it; the future America will he
@ boys and girls of today; the oppor.
mites that are to be theirs are those
nich the dead abroad have bequeathed
them because they could not take
EN- with them, and the responsibilities
at are to be theirs are those which
cir elders have too often shirked, We
n have whatever kind of an America
at we will. 1t is important that we
II have to have a better America than
have had in the 0ast
There is inspiration for boys and girls
Mr.. Hagedorn's book. If every pubIic
nooi child ten years old and over were
mpelled to read it the prospects are
at 1t would bear fruit in better condi.
In hn 80.