The Idaho recorder. [volume] (Salmon City, Idaho) 1886-1927, 1917-03-09
WHAT WE CALL "PATRIoTIsM"
Nearly Allied to Primitive instinct OF
the Herd.
By E. A. BRYAN.

was riding on horseback through
a great pasture field one day, accom-
panied by an Irish setter dog A hun.
tired head OF cattle, scattered far
ana wide, were grazing quietly and
lcontehtedly. Suddenly | came across
a newborn calf which had been left
IN tuft OF grass by its mother while
she would Craze at a distance. Had
been alone. it would not have moved
a muscle while l passed by. But the
instructive fear which all domestic
animals of the ranges have for the
coyote and its kind was within il
At the first glimpse of the Irish set
ter, the calf sprang to its feet with a
wild bawl and fled.
Instantly, as though an electric
wire were connected with every ami
NAL in the field, a hundred pairs of
eyes were focused on the dog, a hun
dred pairs of horns were charging
wildly toward it, bulls, steers, cows.
heifers, all, with fierce believing.
straining muscles and wild eyes: all
joined in one great offensive to save
| the weakest and youngest and to
destroy the enemy.
The instinct of the herd, the in
stinct of the family and the tribe is
deep seated. 1t has been the divine
instrument for the preservation of
the races-animal as well as human.
1t is closely akin to love-both the
passions and the instincts which
draw the sexes and their offspring to-
gether. and the higher forces which
draw kind to kind, friend to friend,
lover to lover. 1t is of basic value
class, state, city. nation, race.
What we call patriotism" is more
nearly allied to this primitive instinct
of the herd, or to the force which
unites the family group, whether an
imal or human, in offensive and de
fensive alliance in which, at its high
est, the life of any is a. ready sacrifice
for all, than it is to the geographical
or political bonds which hold artifi-
cial states together. Blood is the
more fundamental tie. Language,
religion, citizenship, neighborhood,
common political or philosophical
theories, are ties; but loyalty to the
group-patriotism- ON these
are not so deep or strong as those
based on deeper instincts which we
share in common with the lower
creatures.
1t is for this reason that the mani
festations of patriotism are less in
the United States than in the coun-
tries at war. Not for this alone. The
herd was quiet and indifferent un-
til the wild cry of the weakest mem
ber aroused them. Nay. it may have
been that in some far corner of the
field steers were horning each other.
but the instant the s. @. S. flashed
over the field all differences were
as1 H.
combatants were charging to the res
cue. 1t betOkens a low state of the
common family instinct in our coun-
try when some, with indifference,
hear the cry of murdered citizens on
the border, or across the Mexican
line. They ran the risks, let them
take the consequencesg' betrays
woeful lack of those primitive in
stincts which, in the past, have been
and in the future always will be es-
sential to the preservation of the race.
We are a nation of mixed races.
To that extent we are the images OF
brass and iron and potter's clay. 1t is |
the force of adhesion that holds us
together, rather than that of cohes- |
ion. Even when we are not threaten |
ed, the race loyalty of the hyphen-
ates--the . English-Americans, the |
Austro-Americans, the Irish-Ameri- |
cans, the German-Americans, the It. |
alo-Americans-seems too often to |
mount to a height surprising any |
of loyalty toward their |
own country-America- has |
ever been shown. Perhaps they but |
await the wild cry of distress from |
one of our own people. How quick |
ly the philosophical loyalty of the so
French, English, It |
allan, Russian-toward world ideal /
and international solidarity of the /
workers melted away before the
deeper racial instinctsl
We must acknowledge that we
have hard problem. To achieve the
highest things, nationally, we must /
fuse our white and red and black
races q am not speaking of intermar
riage); our Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Teu-
tonic, Jewish, Scandinavian, Latin !
people into a homogeneous nation.
Diverse traditions, religions Ian
guages, political. social and econom.
mic experiences are hard to over
come. over against these we have
national laws. fairly uniform
ocal laws, common geographical sit
nation, widespread and fairly uni
form systems of secular education,
and traditional absence OF the caste
system.
1t is fair to assume that il will re-
Iuire conscious purpose on the
part of the people Of this nation. and
he most intense devotion to the /
sause, to unity, to render homeogen-
lus and patriotic our citizenship. A 1
yreat war (which God forbid with an
llien race might fuse US more rapid
y; but fixed purpose ought to ac-
the result slowly and sure
y.