Evening star., 1919-04-27
Equality One of Rights.

Moreover, the patriotic American as
a law abiding man must respect the
equal rights Of all his fellow citizens.
his interiors and his superiors in
character and in talents no less than
his equals. and not attempt to sub
merge them under the false doctrine
that all men are created equal in all
thingA The dogma of the Declara-
ton Of Independence has doubtless
used In awakening and strengthening
the emotions Of political democracy.
but also 1t has done much mischief
when misused. By demagogues ana
their mentally indolent followers 1t
has been perverted into the shibboleth
only in political rights. but also in
political capacities. which Is not true.
Thomas Patns's phrasing Is accurate.
and should have been used In the
Declaration: Men are born ana al
ways continue free and equal In re-
speet Of their rights" The pervsr. p,
sion Of the doctrine with which
We are familiar has worked out prac-
ticaIly IN political antaSonism to men
exceptionally qualified by character,
talsnts and education for public sew
ice and to the benefit of ignorant
and vicious ofice seekers who have
pfsyed upon tho alleged democracy OF
rotation In once and the distribution
Of spotls to partisan victors. This
sort Of thing is not Americanism. and
should be fought uncompromisingly
by ell Americans who believe In
character and political ability. In
stead Of q preverse dogma OF capae-
ity-equality we need to stress the
importance Of equality Of obligation
Of dutY and OF service.
Tolerancs Il Called For.
The American patriot, We need not
argue, must be tolerant. Americans
are Of 'many origins. Americans
have welcomed every nationality and
creed and they will continue to well
come, but this means among other
things that those who are welcomed
must be tolerant and show a decent
regard for the opinions and the tnsti-
tutfons Of those who welcome them.
And. finally. the American patriot
must speak the English language
That language we are going to have
taught In every public school OF the
United States. Other languages may
be permitted to substitute for It.
In cftf5enship. az In patriotism. we
have tried experiments. and we know
soea asts Citizen He must Msy be 20 inter-
sstsd IN the everyday life. in the good
name Of his local community. It is
"a thing to be thankful for that we
Welfare. but we need to GO further
in effect than we have yet gone even
ING !. xood shng Snt Du + i.ns e1i' sh
raising funds is a good thing. but
number Of other good things also are
ssifss. .s.sf as @e ~ sp'rs re.ponsi %ase
bility for maintaining decent and
wholesome conditions II we expect
itself in helptuIness. We can't let
returning soldiers or incoming aliens
wander about looking for Jobs, un
and sinking into dtsorderly habits. 1t
must manifest itself in serious edu-
cattonal effort. Our schools are bet
ter a, than is.,s they were; they must be
are. Community spirit must mani
fest itself also and, perhaps. above
all in much more serious attention
esthetic and intellectual matters.
To make Americans self-reliant, de
cent and neiHhborly, we have relied
hitherto on the home. the church and
the school. Today a large part Of
unstimulated and wholly undtsciplined
by home influences, and unreached BY
the church. Apparently one of the
imperative duties of tho school Is
either to rebuild the home. IL 1t can,
or to take over its moral as It long since
took over It's intellectual functions.
Have We now inventoried the quail
ncattons of tho American that we wish
to sec developed in America by our
America nism? Surely not,
Tho American and tho American
Ism that SO far We have described are
practical and moral. and so far good
but the actual American as we know
him does not stop here. The actual
| American as We know him. and as
| Kipling with penetrating insight saw
and portrayed him. 10 q creature of
, glories In his practicaltty and in an
other In what he Is pleased to regard
as his idealism.
! Now It 10 precisely thia idealism of
! tho American that should be scrutt-
! nized and anaiyzed when we under
| take to say what Americanism We
| want.
Idealism Not All Good.
! We have had in America rather too
much idealism of various kinds that
! should 20 into the discard with un-
| desirable oitisens. We have had a
great deal Of impractical idealism in
finance and IN Poiitics, We have
a voluble and voluminous rhetorica =
idealism. and In our religious. educa-
| tional and philanthropio life we have
had. say It with profound regret,
humiliating instances Of commercial
! lied tdealtsn or uplifting for hire. For
| the rest, our idealism has been almos I
wholly a moral idealisn1. too often
1 ~. t. f~l -