Evening star., 1923-07-22
Holds Fad for Organization
Is Being Very Much Overdone

the irrepressible conflicts of politics
there are CONTROVERSIES, of course, as
to VINO are good and bad citizens,
who are patriotic and who disloyal,
but SO long as the Constitution pro-
videS that treason must consist Of
an overt act of war against the gov
ernment, mere discussion of public
questions and expressions of opinions
do not stamp dissenters as traitors.
Neither the color of a mans hair,
nor the racial blood that flows in
HIS veins, nor his religious ScTuples
or lack OF religious scruples has
much to do with his citizenship.
X "
But in this era of organization I
am gravely informed that the man of
foreign birth, the man of black skin.
the man of Jewish faith or some other
man is not a good American citizen.
and that we must organize to see to
it that some dark night when the Ku
Klux are not on guard the Constitution
of the United States is not stolen from
our archives and burned upon Capitol
Hill. / am also Informed that there
from the ignorant foreigner in our
midst. This / will admit. but I am
not for organization to frown down
upon him and treat him as an alien
and q heather. / am rather for the
old battle cry of education. / would
instfll into his mind correct ideas as
to our system of government and
treat him in such way that he will
believe that our principles require not
mere lip service, but whole-hearted
service for every one. native or for
eign born, who stands beneath the
flag.
Every once In a while / get a jar
CiftZPnghin
believe any one who sprang from the
loins of the republic is whole-heart-
edly in favor of the preservation of
our institutions, that he would re-
sist to the uttermost any change in
them. save by lawful procedure. This
would argue that the old stock of
Americans are wholly 1aw-abiding
and law-enforcing. But what about
Adams county. Ohio, where a popula-
ton. pure-bred American, as we ex-
press 1t, became so corrupt that prac-
tically all of its citizens, even minis
ters of the gospel, sold their votes?
What about recent occurrences in
Williamson county, Illinois? 1t would
be difficult to find any place in America
where there are more citizens who
trace their ancestry back to the revo-
luton, yet men were murdered in cold
blood there and indictments and trials
resulted in acquittals. The murders
occurred in broad daylight, in the
presence Of thousands, but no one in
court seemed to know who the MUIR
derers were.
do not care to tilt a lance with
the many organizations for the max
ing of good Americans. but I hope for
revival of the ancient idea of edu-
cation. Let good citizenship be
preached in the first grade in school
and thereafter, day after day, week
after week. month after month. year
after year. In season and out of sea-
son. Let us place upon the conscience
of every growing child in America
the solemn obligation to support and
defend the Constitution and to obey
the law because it is the law; and let
us go farther and remember that
every citizen Is police officer in the
presence Of crime. There Is an idea
abroad now that a man may patron
ize a bootlegger and remain n good
tanned, legally or morally. There is
also an idea that a good citizen may
keep still IL a friend has committed
a crime. This is human. but not pa
triotfc. When We shall have educated
all our people into the belief that
IL only In words. not In deeds. and
should Join public officials in attempts
to punish men for violations of even
those laws which we believe to be un-
wise, unjust and foolish, we shall
have terminated many discu3sio DIS
now disturbing the people and pre-
served the moral fiber of our citi-
zenship through respect for law.
without which the best of govern
ments must go down. When we
reach a point where our people spend
more time in devising ways to vto-
late a law than to preserve or alter
| 1t, where government officials wink At
breaches Of It, and where authority is
impotent, we are on fair way to Il
time when all the organizations In
the world will not save US.
| Copyright. 1923. by 2lst Century Press.)