Phoenix tribune., 1918-08-24

A sense of responsibility is the be-
ginning of being respectable. We speak
of a man settling down." Invariably
this comes when he assumes some re-
sponsibility--a wife. a family. regular
work, a home, future. Let that sense
of responsibility awaken, and the man
shows signs of developing into what
is commonly known as an 'estimable
citizen" But back of these estimable
/ characteristics, whatY Ownership.
The very undertaking of ownership
presupposes a willingness to assume
responsibilities. Thus, man buys a
house. He is Immediately responsible
to himself and to his family to keep
it in good repair and furnished in goof
taste; he is responsible to his neigh
bors to keep the surroundings of that
house in good and pleasant condition; !;
he is responsible to the community to
maintain the road that runs before it
by paying taxes. In short, man be-
of responsibility extends from his own
personal creature comforts and pleas.
ures to others and to the locality in
which he lives. From this it is only
step to the development of a ma
tional conscience, which we call patri-
otism, and from a national to a cos.
4
which is sensitive to injustice in other
lands and is quick to demand it's ex-
termination.
During the past year the American
people have had their horizon tremen-
dously widened. They found them
selves responsible to a vague some
thing called the American ideal of de.
mocracy; they found themselves re-
sponsible to other people in other
lands, and they have been called to
shoulder that responsibility and have
done it willingly. despite the sacrifices
it entailed. But America could scarcely
have hoped to sustain such a burden
had not the mass of the American
people been schooled in the fundamen-
tai responsibilities of home "a garden
and a debt to the community.
There is on foot a movement to in
duce Americans to own their own
homes. In addition to the particular
advantage this gives the owner him.
self, the movement is a very vital
training in good citizenship. For the
backbone of a nation is it's everyday
people who own their everyday homes
and live their everyday lives and do
their everyday work. The marvellous
spirit of France which has been sus-
tained during these four years of trib-
ulation can be accounted for by the
fact that the French peasant owns the
soil he tills. The collapse of the Rus
sia nnational ideal directly trace
able to the fact that rs per cent of the
no population, the farmers, did
not own their own land and homes;
they had no national responsibility
because they had no personal owner
ship. The problem that England must
solve sooner or later is this very same
"own your home" question. 1t is
then, a far-sighted move to awaken
Americans to the necessity for owning
their own homes. 1t will make a more
respectable nation. 1t will give us a
solidarity and quickly aroused sense
of responsibility to the democratic
ideal and it's establishment in ether
| lands which, in word, is what this
great war is being fought for.
National responsibility has taken
very material forms this past year. II
has called our sons to the battle line;
it has asked us to lend our money tc
the nation and to contribute to the
nations great work of mercy, the Red
Cross; it has imposed upon us-for oul
good and the good of others-certain
necessary dietary restrictions; it has
made us dig up our garden and grow