OUR NATIONAL COMMUNITY
IMPERFECTIONS OF OUR NATIONAL COMMUNITY
It is important to get in the habit of thinking of our nation as a
community, just as we think of our school or town or rural
neighborhood as one. This is not always easy to do because of its
huge size and complicated character. It would be wrong, too, to
get the idea that it is a perfect community--none of our
communities is perfect. Conflicts of interest are often more
apparent than community of interest. Teamwork among the different
parts and groups that make up our nation is often very poor.
Although our government is a wonderfully good one, it is still
only an imperfect means of cooperation. Our nation is far from
being a complete democracy, for there are many people in it who do
not have the full enjoyment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness; and large numbers of our "self-governing" people really
have little or no part in government.
LOYALTY TO IDEALS
It need not give us an unpatriotic feeling to acknowledge the
imperfections of our nation or of our government; for communities
GROW, not only in size, but also in ability to perform their
proper work, just as individuals do. We call a person conceited
who thinks that he is perfect, especially if he boasts of it. But
his conceit is itself an imperfection and a hindrance to growth.
So the patriotic citizen is not one who is unable to see defects
in his community, or who refuses to acknowledge them, but one who
has high CIVIC IDEALS and is loyal to them, who understands in
what respects these ideals have not been reached, and who, as a
member of the community, contributes everything he can to keep it
growing in THE RIGHT DIRECTION.
"The problem of government is, after all, the problem of human
growth. ... The one constant and inconstant quantity with which
man must deal is man--changing, inert, impulsive, limited,
sympathetic, selfish, aspiring man. His institutions, whether
social or political, must come out of his wants and out of his
capacities. Luther Burbank has not yet made grapes to grow on
thorns or figs on thistles. Neither has any system of government
made all men wise..."--FRANKLIN K. LANE.
Is it possible for a community to be 100 percent perfect? Why?
What people in your community take no part in government?
May people who cannot vote have any influence upon government?
Explain.
Has a good citizen a right to criticize his government? What is
the difference between helpful and harmful criticism?
What is an "ideal"? a "civic ideal"?
WELDING OF THE NATION BY WAR
It is easier now than usual to think of our nation as a community,
because the war with Germany served to arouse our "national
spirit," and showed very clearly the importance in our national
life of those elements which characterize all community life--
common purpose, interdependence, and organized, cooperation (see
Chapters I-III). The creation of a National Army did much to bring
this about.
When the benefits which come to the nation through the creation of
the National Army are catalogued, the fact that it has welded the
country into a homogeneous society, [Footnote: "Homogeneous
society"--a society or community all of whose parts and members
have like purposes and interests.] seeking the same national ends
and animated by the same national ideals, will overtop all other
advantages. The organization of the selected Army fuses the
thousand separate elements making up the United States into one
steel-hard mass. Men of the North, South, East, and West meet and
mingle, and on the anvil of war become citizens worthy of the
liberty won by the first American armies. [Footnote: Major
Granville R. Fortesque, in National Geographic Magazine, Dec.,
1917]. How this welding of the parts of the nation together was
brought about by the war is suggested by the words of an old
Confederate soldier who wrote to a friend in the North:
"During the war between the states I was a rebel, and continued
one in heart until this great war. But now I am a devoted follower
of Uncle Sam and endorse him in every respect."
DIVERSE ELEMENTS IN OUR NATION
The fact that our nation contained in its population large numbers
of people from practically every country of Europe caused no
little anxiety when we entered the European war. Our population
embraces a hundred different races and nationalities. Of these,
ten million are negroes and three hundred thirty-six thousand are
Indians. Thirty-three million are of foreign parentage, and of
these, thirteen million are foreign-born. Five million do not
speak English, and there are one thousand five hundred news papers
in the United States printed in foreign languages. Five and one-
half million above the age of ten years, including both foreign
and native, cannot read or write in any language. New York City
has a larger Hebrew population than any other city in the world,
contains more Italians than Rome, and its German population is the
fourth largest among the cities of the world. Pittsburgh has more
Serbs than the capital of Serbia. It is said that there were more
Greeks subject to draft in the American army than there were in
the entire army of Greece. Would all these people be loyal to our
nation, or would they divide it against itself?
LOYALTY OF DIVERSE ELEMENTS
The war, in fact, showed us that there were some among us who had
never really become "members" of our nation and who were dangerous
to our peace and safety. It also showed us the danger that comes
from the presence of so many illiterates, or of those who cannot
use the English language; for such people, even though loyal in
spirit to the United States, cannot understand instructions either
in the army or in industry, and otherwise prevent effective
cooperation. And yet the most striking thing that the war showed
us in regard to this mixed population is that the great mass of
it, regardless of color or place of birth, is really American in
spirit and loyal to our flag and the ideas which it represents.
NATIONAL SAFETY DEPENDS ON HARMONY
Another weakness within our nation that the war emphasized is the
lack of harmony between wage earners and their employers. There
were many sharp conflicts between them. Strikes occurred, or were
threatened, in factories, shipyards, mines, and railroads, that
blocked the wheels of industry at a time when the nation needed to
strain every nerve to provide the materials of war. This lack of
harmony between workmen and employers, which in war threatened our
national safety, has existed for many years and has always been an
obstacle to national progress. But the common purpose of winning
the war caused employers and wage earners, in most cases, to
adjust their differences. In nearly every case, one side or the
other, or both sides, yielded certain points and agreed not to
dispute over others, at least for the period of the war. The
national government did much to bring this about by the creation
of labor adjustment boards to hear complaints from either side and
to settle disputes. If our national community life is to develop
in a wholesome way, complete cooperation between workmen and
employers must be secured and made permanent on the basis of
interests that are common to both.
THE EFFECT OF A COMMON PURPOSE
Such facts as these show how easy it is, in a huge, complex
community like our nation, for conflicts to arise among different
sections and groups of the population; and how difficult it is
always to see the common interests that exist. But they also show
how such conflicts tend to disappear when a situation arises which
forces us to think of the common interests instead of the
differences. All else was forgotten in the common purpose to "win
the war." No sacrifice was too great on the part of any individual
in order that this national purpose might be served. Everywhere
throughout the country, in cities and in remote rural districts,
service flags in the windows testified that the homes of the land
were offering members that the nation and its ideals might live.
Men, women, and even children contributed their work and their
savings and denied themselves customary comforts to help win the
war. THE ENTIRE NATION WAS WORKING TOGETHER FOR A COMMON PURPOSE.
OUR NATIONAL PURPOSE
We have said that this common purpose was to "win the war." But
there were purposes that lie much deeper than this, without which
it would not have been worth while to enter the war at all. As we
saw in Chapter I, our nation is founded on a belief in the right
of every one to life and physical well-being; to be secure in
one's rightful possessions; to freedom of thought--education, free
speech, a free press; to freedom of religion; to happiness in
pleasant surroundings and a wholesome social life; and, above all,
to a voice in the government which exists to protect these rights.
It was to secure a larger freedom to enjoy these rights, "for
ourselves first and for all others in their time," that our nation
was solidly united against the enemy that threatened it from
without. But it was with this same purpose that the War of
Independence was fought, that our Constitution was adopted, that
slavery was abolished, that millions of people from foreign lands
have come to our shores. It is this common purpose that makes the
great mass of foreigners in our country Americans, ready to fight
for America, if necessary even against the land of their birth. It
is this for which the American flag stands at all times, whether
in peace or in war.
What proof can you give of a "national spirit" in your locality
during the war?
What evidence can you give to show that this national spirit is or
is not as strong since the war closed?
What was the "National Army"? the "National Guard"? Which of these
organizations was most likely to develop a "national spirit"? Why?
What good reasons can you give for the action of the government in
consolidating the Regular Army, the National Army, and the
National Guard into a "United States Army"?
What arguments can you give in favor of requiring all instruction
in the public schools to be given in the English language?
What arguments can you give in favor of teaching lessons in
citizenship in foreign-language newspapers?
What foreign nationalities are represented in your locality?
Make a blackboard table showing the nationality of the parents and
grandparents of each member of your class.
Give illustrations to show that "winning the war" was the
controlling purpose in your community during the war.
In what way has the war made YOU think about the right-to-life and
the need for physical well-being? about security in property?
about freedom of thought? about the desirability of an education?
about the right of people to pleasant surroundings? about self-
government?
Show how the Spanish-American war was fought for the same purpose
as that mentioned in the paragraph above.
Write a brief theme on "What the Flag Means to Me."
NATIONAL INTERDEPENDENCE
The attempt to work together in the war made it very apparent how
dependent the nation is upon all its parts, and how dependent each
part is upon all the others. It was often said that "the farmers
would win the war." At other times it was said to be ships, or
fuel, or airplanes, or railroad transportation, or trained
scientists and technical workers. The truth is, of course, that
all these things and many more were absolutely necessary, and that
no one of them would have been of much value without all the
others.
It is true that the winning of the war depended upon the farmers,
because they are the producers of the food and of the raw
materials for textiles without which the nation and every group
and person in it would have been helpless. But the farmer could
not supply food to the nation without machinery for its
production, and without city markets and railroads and ships for
its distribution. Machinery could not be made, nor ships and
locomotives built, without steel. For the manufacture of steel
there must be iron and fuel and tungsten and other materials. And
for all these things there must be inventors and skilled
mechanics, and to produce these there must be schools. And so we
could go on indefinitely to show how the war made us feel our
interdependence. What we need to understand, however, is that THIS
INTERDEPENDENCE IS CHARACTERISTIC OF OUR NATIONAL LIFE AT ALL
TIMES; the war only made us feel it more keenly.
NATION-BUILDING IN WAR TIME
During the war, strange as it may seem, while we were devoting our
national energies to the work of destruction incident to war, we
as a nation made astonishing progress in many ways other than in
the art of war--in what we might call nation-building.
In some ways we made progress in a year or two that under ordinary
circumstances might have required a generation. A striking
illustration of this is in the development of a great fleet of
merchant ships at a rate that would have been impossible before
the war. Beginning with almost nothing when the war began, we had,
in less than two years, a merchant fleet larger than that of any
other nation, and that in spite of the constant destruction of
ships by the enemy. The chairman of the shipping board of the
United States government says that this is because the necessities
of the war made the whole nation see how much it depends upon
ships, and caused not only ship-builders, but also engineers and
manufacturers and businessmen and the Navy department of the
government, and many others, to concentrate upon this problem,
with the result that we discovered methods of shipbuilding, and of
loading and unloading and operating ships when they were built,
that will probably enable us to maintain permanently a merchant
marine, the lack of which we have deplored for many years.
In a similar way we discovered and brought into use valuable
natural resources of whose existence we had largely been ignorant
and for which we had been dependent upon other nations. We made
astonishing progress in scientific knowledge, and especially in
the application of this knowledge to invention and to industrial
enterprises. We developed a new interest in agriculture, and
learned the food values of many products that had formerly been
neglected. We were led to attack seriously the great problem of
suitable housing for workmen, and had an important lesson in the
relation between wholesome home-life and industrial efficiency
(see Chapter X, pp. 112-113). Foundations were laid for the
adjustment of the unfortunate differences that have long existed
between workmen and their employers. The war suggested changes in
our educational methods, some of which will doubtless become
effective, to the great improvement of our public schools,
colleges, and technical schools.
We shall study some of these things more fully in later chapters.
They are mentioned now to illustrate how OUR NATIONAL PROGRESS WAS
STIMULATED WHEN THE WAR FORCED US TO SEE THE RELATION OF ALL THESE
THINGS TO ONE ANOTHER AND TO THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF OUR NATIONAL
PURPOSE. On the other hand, failure to recognize this national
interdependence means slow progress as a national community. When
the war began, our nation was said to be "unprepared." Insofar as
this was true--and it was true in many particulars--it was because
in the times of peace before the war we had not thought enough
about the dependence of our national strength and safety upon all
these factors in our national life WORKING TOGETHER. And so, in
the times of peace AFTER THE WAR, if the purposes for which our
nation fought are to be fulfilled, we must continue to profit by
this lesson which the war has taught us.
Recall your discussion of national interdependence in connection
with your study of Chapter II.
Report on some of the important scientific and commercial
developments resulting from the war; as, for example:
The development of the commercial use of the airplane.
The development of new food supplies.
The production of fertilizer from the nitrogen of the air.
The development of new industries in the United States.
Changes in methods of farming.
What are some changes in education that are likely to result from
the war?
Show how the strike of coal miners in 1919 affected the life of
the nation.
THE "SUPREME TEST" OF THE NATION
The "working together" of all these interdependent parts is the
important thing. "The supreme test of the nation has come," said
President Wilson. "We must all speak, act, and serve together."
[Footnote: Message to the American People, April 15, 1919].
1
It is not an army that we must shape and train for war ... it is a
Nation. To this end our people must draw close in one compact
front against a common foe. But this cannot be if each man pursues
a private purpose. The Nation needs all men, but it needs each
man, not in the field that will most pleasure him, but in the
endeavor that will best serve the common good. ... The whole
Nation must be a team, in which each man must play the part for
which he is best fitted. [Footnote: Conscription Proclamation, May
18, 1917.]
THE NATION AS A TEAM
We had some suggestion on page 72 of how such national team work
became a fact. "Do your bit!" was the watch-word. It was splendid
to see how personal interests gave way before the desire to serve
the nation. It is a thrilling story how the racial elements in our
population forgot their differences of race and language and
remembered only that they were American; how employers and
employees laid aside their differences; how farmers and
businessmen, manufacturers and mechanics, miners and woodsmen,
inventors and teachers, women in the home and children in the
schools, doctors and nurses, and every other class and group
subordinated their personal interests to the one national purpose
of winning the war in order that "the world might become a decent
place in which to live."
As soon as the United States entered the war, Washington, the
nation's capital, became filled with people from all parts of the
country who wanted to help in some way. Some were called there by
the government; others came to volunteer their services and to
offer ideas that they thought useful. Many came as representatives
of organizations--business and industrial organizations,
scientific associations, civic societies. New committees and
associations were formed, until the number of voluntary citizen
organizations eager to do "war work" became almost too numerous to
remember. They were all an indication of the desire of the people
to do their part in the national enterprise.
CONFUSION WITHOUT ORGANIZATION
But there followed a period of confusion. All these organizations
and the people whom they represented wanted to help, but they did
not always know just what to do nor how to do it. Each
organization had its own ideas which it often magnified above all
others. Different organizations wanted to accomplish the same
purpose, but wanted to do it in different ways. Often they
duplicated one another's efforts. A war could not be won under
such conditions. But out of all this confusion there finally
developed order, and this was because the various organizations of
people realized that if they were to accomplish anything they must
work in cooperation with the national government, whose business
it was, after all, to organize the nation for united action. In
fact, it was for this reason that they came to Washington. Many of
them sought to influence the government to adopt this or that
plan, and sometimes succeeded; but it was the government that
finally decided what plans were to be adopted, and all of the
effort of the numerous organizations and of individuals must be
brought into harmony with these.
NATIONAL TEAM WORK THROUGH GOVERNMENT
The period of the war afforded many striking examples of national
cooperation secured by the government. It may have seemed
sometimes that our government interfered with personal freedom to
an unreasonable extent, as when it limited the amount of coal we
could buy, fixed the prices of many articles, determined the wages
that should be paid for labor, took over the management of the
railroads and of the telegraph and telephone lines, and did many
other things that it never had done in times of peace. We expected
government to exercise powers in war time that it would not be
permitted to exercise in times of peace. But it can be shown that
even during the war, the government, with all its unusual powers,
did not "ride roughshod" over the people, but sought to "make them
partners in an enterprise which after all was their own." The
nation was fighting for its life and for the very principles upon
which it was founded, and it was necessary that cooperation should
be complete and effective. This was what the government sought,
and it exercised its powers by inviting and obtaining national
cooperation to a remarkable extent.
THE SELECTIVE DRAFT AS AN ILLUSTRATION OF TEAM WORK
Our national army was created by a "selective" draft, or
conscription. Conscription had formerly been looked upon with
disfavor as a form of forced military service. A volunteer army
was thought to be more in harmony with a democratic form of
government. But the draft is now seen to be far more democratic
than a volunteer army because it treats all able-bodied men alike,
instead of leaving the fighting to those who are most courageous
and most patriotic, while those who are inclined to shirk may
easily do so. Moreover, the SELECTIVE draft means the selection of
men to serve in the capacity for which they are best fitted. In
Great Britain, under a volunteer system, and in France, under a
system of compulsory military service for all men, thousands of
brave men went to the trenches in the early days of the war who,
because of their training, should have been kept at home to
perform the vast amount of skilled labor and scientific work which
this war demanded. War industry, without which there could be no
fighting, was thus greatly hampered.
By our selective draft, on the other hand, while every man was
expected to do his share, each was selected as far as possible to
do the thing which he could do best and therefore which would best
serve the country. It also sought to prevent those who had
families dependent upon them from going to war until they were
absolutely needed. Thus the selective draft is an example of
government organizing our national manpower for more effective
teamwork and with less hardship than if it had been left to
voluntary action.
TEAM WORK THROUGH THE FOOD ADMINISTRATION
The United States Food Administration was created by the President
to carry out the provisions of a law passed by Congress", to
provide further for the national security and defense by
encouraging the production, conserving the supply, and controlling
the distribution of food products and fuel." The President placed
at its head a man in whom the people of the country had great
confidence, because of his experience and success in organizing
and managing the Belgian relief work, Mr. Herbert Hoover. He
gathered around him men familiar with the problems relating to the
food supply of the nation, and then proceeded to enlighten the
country in regard to the nature of these problems and to seek for
the cooperation of the people in solving them.
As soon as he was appointed, the food administrator issued a
statement containing the following facts:
Whereas we exported before the war but 80,000,000 bushels of wheat
per annum, this year we must find for all our allies 225,000,000
bushels, and this in the face of a short crop. ... France and
Italy formerly produced their own sugar, while England and Ireland
imported largely from Germany. Owing to the inability of the
first-named to produce more than one third of their needs, and the
necessity for the others to import from other markets, they must
all come to the West Indies for their very large supplies, and
therefore deplete our resources.
If we can reduce our consumption of wheat flour by 1 pound, our
meat by 7 ounces, our sugar by 7 ounces, our fat by 7 ounces PER
PERSON PER WEEK, these quantities, multiplied by 100,000,000 (the
population of the United States) will immeasurably aid and
encourage our allies, help our own growing armies, and so
effectively serve the great and noble cause of humanity in which
our nation has embarked.
DEMOCRACY A PARTNERSHIP
This illustrates how the Food Administration sought cooperation.
It "made partners" of the people, explained to them the situation,
and asked them to help as individuals. It showed the nation what
it must do if it were to be successful in its undertaking. It is
true that the President had large powers to enforce observance of
the rules outlined by the Food Administration, but it was only in
the exceptional case of the individual consumer and producer who
refused to cooperate for the common good that it became necessary
to use the power. The method of democracy is to point out clearly
how the desired result may be obtained and to depend upon the
people to govern themselves accordingly.
After a year of the war a member of the Food Administration is
quoted as saying, [Footnote: In an article on "Your Wheatless
Days," by W. A. Wolff, in Collier's Weekly, Aug. 17, 1918.]
"There's never been anything like it in history. ... We asked the
American people to do voluntarily more than any other people has
ever been asked to do under compulsion. And the American people
made good!"
What was true in the unusual time of war is true to even a greater
extent in the ordinary time of peace. We have little to fear from
our national government as long as we and those to whom we entrust
its management, always keep in mind its real purpose, which is to
show us how to work together effectively as a nation and to help
us do it.
EVERY MAN COUNTS
All through this study we are going to observe how in the ordinary
affairs of life our national government serves us in this respect.
One thing that we need especially to learn is that we have a great
national purpose ALL THE TIME, in peace as well as in war. In
fact, PEACE IS A PART OF THAT PURPOSE. We went to war because
without it there could be no assurance of a lasting peace. While
we fought to defend our national purpose and our national ideals
against a powerful foe from without, this purpose and these ideals
cannot be fully achieved by the war alone. They can be finally
achieved only by ourselves as we develop, day by day, our national
community life. To do this we must always keep in mind our great
national purpose, we must realize our dependence upon one another
in achieving this purpose, and we must make our national team work
as perfect as it can be made. Above all, we must realize that, in
peace as in war, EVERY MAN COUNTS in our national community life.
As President Wilson said:
"THE NATION NEEDS ALL MEN, BUT IT NEEDS EACH MAN. ..." "THE WHOLE
NATION MUST BE A TEAM, IN WHICH EACH MAN SHALL PLAY THE PART FOR
WHICH HE IS BEST FITTED."
Read and discuss President Wilson's "Message to the American
People," of April 15, 1917.
What organizations existed in your community to secure teamwork
for war purposes?
Show how boys' and girls' clubs, or the School Garden Army, made
cooperation possible on a national scale. Is this true in peace
times as well as in war time?
Is there greater or less need of national teamwork today than
during the war? Explain your answer.
What evidences are there that the teamwork of our nation has not
been as good since the war as during the war? Why is this?
Show how universal military training might increase the national
spirit What arguments can you give against it?
Should or should not the food administration of wartime be
continued in peace time? Why?
What does it mean to you to be an American?
READINGS
In Long's American Patriotic Prose:
Van Dyke, "The Blending of Races," p. 4.
De Crevecoeur, "The American," p. 38.
Webster, "Imaginary Speech of John Adams," p. 77.
Brooks, "The Fourth of July in Westminster Abbey," p. 89.
Van Dyke, "The Americanism of Washington," pp. 135-137.
Jay, "Unity as a Protection against Foreign Force and Influence,"
p. 139.
Webster, "Liberty and Union Inseparable," p. 158.
Lincoln, "Gettysburg Speech," p. 181.
Lincoln, "Second Inaugural Address," p. 183.
Whitman, "Two Brothers, One North, One South," p. 201.
Wilson, "Spirit of America," p. 266.
Roosevelt, "True Americanism," p. 270.
Wilson, "Conscription Proclamation," p. 283.
Hughes, "What the Flag Means," p. 288.
Eliot, "Five American Contributions to Civilization," p. 310.
Lane, "Makers of the Flag," p. 314.
McCall, "America the Melting Pot," p. 320.
Wilson, "To Newly-Made Citizens," p. 322.
Gibbons, "The Republic Will Endure," p. 340.
Eliot, "What Americans Believe In," p. 361.
Abbott, "Patriotism," p. 362.
In Foerster and Pierson's American Ideals:
Wilson, "Conscription Proclamation," p. 175.
Wilson, "Americanism and the Foreign-Born," p. 178.
Alderman, "Can Democracy be Organized?" p. 158.