Trench and camp., 1919-05-01
A GOOD CITIZEN

Teach with ali public movements Of
Tay s. kind in his home town." said the
GAorale Onicer at one of the camps.
The second General Order win
s seaA away somewhat from these
sSxSer Questions and consider I'm some
ne.au the personal, the human ele-
40 be a good citizen"
- we say that's simple enough. We
~ ny narm to our neighbors. we nav
- taxes when due. We obey the
s. We are therefore good and
s.s 1911 citizens. This is not abso-
1aeoly true. We show ourselves cit
s.sns oy doing these things but not
aoSessarily useful citizens. The words
soo0 and useful mean something
lore tnan mere passive obedience to
t@ws. Inc mere fact of birth in this
SCuhtry or the certificate of a court
VIII make a man o citizen >but not
necessariIy good and useful citizen
"A good citizen is one who serves
ms country, his state or his commu-
1lty: this service, Of course, can vary
wideiy in amount or in degree.
quote from speech of Henry Cabot
L0oge. He who labors In any wav
VINO mas any intellectual interest
wIV employs his leisure hours for any
paOnc end, has one valuable element
% good citizenship to his credit i'm
Lne mere fact OF his industry: fer
sncFe - nobody SO 0etrimemtal im a
country Hike ours as the raere ifaleP.
tme mere seeker for self.amusement
VINO passes his time I'm constant wm.
certainty as to how he shall aet rSd
Or the next day or the next kour ef
mat brief Life which however short
m some cases, is from eyerv uoim3 az
view too long for him.
"A good citizen, therefore. Ia ana
wAo is active and useful 10 hia conn-
try and to his fellow men. NOn this
usefulness. everything depends and
fortunately one can be useful i'm nanny
ways.
when our country is at war, our
duty as good citizens is clear-we
must light; IL for some reason or 9th
or we cannot fight we must support
fhesa whO do, and sustain I'm every
possible way our eountry's cause.
NOW that the war in practically over
ehe time or peace 10 no less insiskank
An iss demands for good citizenship.
q man may be good citiaan as was
Indicated above by fulfilling the fun-
Gamental conditions Of honest labor,
caring for his family, Observing Law
and expressing his opinion upon gov
eTnm0ntal measures at the time of
election. But in the larger sense OF
usefulness q man must do something
for the public service which is over
and above his work for himself and
his family.
"For example, Walt whitman, who
consecrated % much Of his work 30 O
poet to his country, was eminentfy q
useful citizen Of high patriotism for
he lab0red in the hospitals among the
soldiers to help his country and his
felaowmen without any thought Of
E0lf-intePost or even of his art. So
Ralph Waldo Emerson was a great
and useful citizen as well as Q great
writer and poet, giving freely Of his
time and thought and fame to mould
ing opiDions and to the service Of
his country. The present emergency
has produced many notable examples
OF sacrifice by our citizens too Au-
merous to mention; men and women
who helped to direct and create pub
lie opinion and in the hour of stress
sustained the national cause with Ill
the strength which their fame and
talents gave them.
However beneficial this work may
have been it Is indirect as compared
with these usually associated i'm ev-
eFyone's mind with public service.
When we use the word citizen or cit
i2enship our first thought il OF the
man in relation to the state as the
very word itself implies. 1t Is in this
connection that we frat think OF serv-
ice when We sneak Of O public-spirit-
ed or q useful citizen.
There are many valuable services
that q man may render in his COM
munity, services that are more imme-
diaGely beneficial to humanity than
these rendered directly to the state or
o. pwblic affairs, bwt there In NO other
20 Absolutely necessary in the way Of
duty 40 the performance OF the func-
ti0na belonging to each man as a
member @f the state. This is actually
the case in Our e0dhtry for here the
government depends upon the action
OF the people themselves.
We have the kind OF government,
municipal, state or national, which we
make ourselves. If it is good, it is
because we make it so. If it is bad,
it is simply because we will not take
the trouble to improve it. We like to
blame this condition of affairs on the
politicians but il the politicians are