Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-12-29
HOMES. SCHOOLS, PATRIOTISM.

one OF The Jokes that grew out OF
the selective drafts application was the
story of how one Of the registrants re-
piled to the question: Were you born
in the United States or abroad?'' he
said. mo. l was born in Coffeyville,
Kansas"
He didn't know much about the
United States. but he knew that he
hailed from Coffeyyille, and he liked
his home town.
If you ask dozen persons what pa
triotism means. you probably will get
dozen different answers To one man
America is worth every possible sacri-
flee because of the opportunity to live
and to let live. Another appreciates
the chance to mount from poverty to
Independence, and he is duly grateful
to the country, and thinks no sacrifice
too great in her behalf. To another
patriotism stands for our traditions
aud ideals as expressed in our national
history This country has been the
land of the free and the home of the
brave and he believes in being loyal
10 the United States. To another the
United States has given opportunity
to progress from ignorance to skill and
knowledge and he thinks no price is
too great to pay for this privilege.
These motives of patriotism are all
good; they perhaps appeal with special
force to foreign-b born Americans who
felt the oppression of other lands, and
found here the land of freedom and
opportunity
But for the average citizen patriot
ism with the clutch in 1t is not that
which springs out of the power of our
land its Astounding wealth. or even
the high titles of liberty and democ-
racy. We are proud of all of these, but
the thing that grips US common folks
most is much simpler. 1t means
'"The little house beneath the elm'
where ! was born,
And played on brittle autumn after.
moons
At soldier with my dog"
Very simple and concrete. after all,
isn't it? Patriotism means for most of
us the family gathering under the roof
tree. IT means the town in which we
live or the community of which the
school house is the rural center. 1t
means Coffeyville, Kansas, or Albu-
duerque, New Mexico. It means the
ola swimming hole. 1t means the
house in which we lived, the street on
which we played the grocery store
from which we bought our food sup
plies. the store, or office or shop in
which we worked.
]. w. w. characteristics.
In an article in the current number
of the worlds Work" John spargo,
one of the most intelligent American
socialists, accounts for the growth of
the /. w w in the United States part !
ly as follows. Describing the average
I. W. w, he says;
They generally are free from fam.
liz ties being either unmarried, or, as
often happens. fe-deserters. They
are not highly educated few having
attended any school beyond the gram.
mar grade, Many Of them, however, |
have read a great deal more than the
average man, though their reading has
been curiousiy miscellaneous in selec.
ton and nearly always badly bal.
anced "
Here we have the real reason for
anarchy. The men and the women
composing the anarchist element have,
as a rule. had inadequate training in
youth; they have entered life without
having been impressed with it's re-
sponsibilities and obligations II they
marry it is to crafty a passing whim
and to desert wife and children when
ever the marital tie becomes irksome.
Generally their homes have been crude
and unattractive and they have been
permitted to grow up utterly selfish
and in the belief that the world owes
them a living, regardless Of whether
they may do anything to earn living.
OnIr Public Education.
There are certain things which can
not be permitted, chief among which
is lack of educational facilities for our
children. Also we must not permit
children, or their parents, to judge of
whether the children shall go tt
school or not. Education must not be
optional. 1t must be compulsory.
Some taxpayers in Albuquerque are
Directing to bond issue for the cree
ton of public school buildings. The
enc thing we cannot afford to do, II
for no other reason than our own pro-
lection, is to refuse anything essential
to the education of our children. IL
the children of considerable part of
our population are poorly educated or
not educated at all, the time will come
when they will take what property we
have from us and divide it among
themselves, as the Ignorant have done
in Russia. And the division will prove
their curse as well as ours.
The one thing we do not dare is to
allow the youth of the land to grow
up in ignorance so that in after life
they will become the easy victims Ct
and anarchists The child
rem must not only be taught patriot
ism, but they must have reason Tor
in their own home life.
n-cTIrEr NOT REVENGE.