Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1925-10-07

danger struck. The event proved that
our theory had been sound. On solid
Of national unity there
had been erected a superstructure
which in its varied parts had offered
full opportunity to develop all the
range Of talents and genius that had
gone into its making. Well-nigh all
the races, religions, and nationalities
Of the world were represented in the
armed forces Of this Nation, as they
were in the body Of our population.
No mans patriotism was impugned or
service questioned because of his ra-
cial origin, his political opinion, or
his religious convictions. Immigrants
and sons Of immigrants from the CEN
trail European countries fought side
by side with those who descended
from the countries which were our
allies; with the sons of equatorial
Africa; and with the Red men Of our
own aboriginal population, all of them
equally proud Of the name Americans.
We must not, in times of peace,
permit ourselves to lose any part
from this structure of patriotic
unity. / make no plea for leniency
toward those who are criminal or
vicious. are open enemies of society
and are not prepared to accept the
true standards of our citizenship.
BY tolerance ! do not mean indiffer-
ence to evil. mean respect for diff
ferent kinds of good. Whether one
traces his Americanism back three
centuries to the Mayfiower, or three
years to the steerage, is not half 20
important as whether his American
ism of today is real and genuine. No
matter by what various crafts we
came here. we are all now In the
same boat. You men constituted the
crew of our ship OF State" during
her passage through the toughest
waters. You made up the watch and
held the danger posts when the
storm was fiercest. You brought he:'
safely and triumphantly into port.
Out of that experience you have
learned the lessons of discipline, toll
erance, respect for authority. and re-
gard for the basic manhood Of your
neighbor. You bore aloft standard
of patriotic conduct and civic in
tegrity, to which all could repair.
Such standard, with like common
appeal. must be upheld just as firm-
ly and unitedly now in time of peace.
Among citizens honestly devoted to
the maintenance of that standard,
there need be small concern. about
differences of individual opinion in
other regards. Granting first the es-
sentials of loyalty to our country and
to our fundamental institutions, we
may not only overlook, but We may
encourage differences of opinion as
to other things. For differences of
this kind will certainly be elements
Of strength rather than of weakness.
They will give variety to our tastes
and interests. They will broaden our
vision, strengthen our understand
ing. encourage the true humanities,
and enrich our whole mode and con-
ception of life. l recognize the full
and complete necessity of 100 per
cent Americanism, but 100 per cent
Americanism may be made up of
many various elements. 49,
How Make America First
II we are to have that harmony
and tranquility. that union of spirit
which Is the foundation of real nat
ional genius and national progress,
we must all realize that there are
true Americans who did not happen
to be born in our section of the coun-
religious worship, who are not of our
racial stock, or who are not proficient
in our language. II we are to create
on this continent free Republic and
an enlightened civilization that will
be capable OF rejecting the true
greatness and glory of mankind, Il
will be necessary to regard these diff
ferences as accidental and unessen-
tial. We shall have to lock beyond
the outward manifestations of race
and creed. Divine Providence has
not bestowed upon any race a mo-
noply OF patriotism and character.
The same principle that it is neces-
sary to apply to the attitude of mind
among our own people it is also nee
essary to apply to the attitude of
mind among the different nations.
During. the war We were required
not only to put a strong emphasis
on everything that appealed to our
own national pride but an equally
strong emphasis on that which tend
ed to- disparage other peoples. There
was an intensive cultivation of ami
mosities and hatreds and enmities,
together with a blind appeal to force,
that took possession of substantially
all the peoples of the earth. OF course,
these ministered to the war spirit.
They supplied the incentive for de-
struction, the motive for conquest.
But in time of peace these sentiments
are not helps but hindrances; they
are not constructive. The generally
expressed desire of America first"
can not be criticized. 1t is a per-
fectly correct aspiration for our peo-
pie to cherish. But the problem which
we have to solve is how to make
America first. 1t can not be done by
the cultivation of national bigotry,
arrogance, or selfishness. Hatreds,
jealousies, and suspicious will not be
productive of any benefits in this
direction. Here again we must ap-
ply the rule of liberation. Because
there are other peoples whose ways
are not our ways, and whose thoughts
are not our thoughts, we are not war;
ranted in drawing the conclusion that
they are adding nothing to the sum
of civilization. We can make little
contribution to the welfare of human
fty on the theory that we are a SUI
perior people and all others are an
inferior people. We do not need to
be OTTO loud in the assertion of our own
1t is true that we live
under most favorable circumstances.
But before we come to the final and
irrevocable decision that we are bet
ter than everybody else we need to
consider what we might do II we had
their provocations and their difficult
ties. We are not likely to improve our
own condition or help humanity very
much until We come to the SYM
pathetic understanding that human
nature Is about the same everywhere
that 1t is rather evenly distributed
over the surface of the earth, and
that we are all united in a common
brotherhood. We can only make
America first in the true sense which
that means by cultivating a spirit of
and good will, by the exer-
else of the NirtlIes Of 1antiaxana