The Longfellow School was situated in one of the most congested foreign
settlements of one of our largest and most cosmopolitan cities. Very few
of the parents of the pupils could speak any but the most broken
English. Many made no attempt to converse in the difficult language of
the strange new world to which they had come.
[Sidenote: Saluting Flag]
The board of education was particularly anxious that the children of
these foreign parents should be trained in appreciation of American
institutions and in reverence for the American Flag, with all it stands
for. They requested that all the national holidays should be made the
occasion of special programs to which parents should be invited and that
each afternoon when the schools were dismissed each pupil should salute
the flag both verbally and with the hand.
Most of the children entered into the custom without demur, but one boy
of fifteen, Hans Neuhaus, refused to give the salute.
“Hans, everyone is expected to give the salute,” said his teacher,
William Hoover. “Once more, now.” Still Hans remained silent.
“Hans, I wish you to give the salute with the others.”
“I don’t believe in saluting the flag,” said Hans. “It isn’t my flag,
anyhow. I’m not going to salute that flag.”
“Hans, you must salute it,” said the now exasperated teacher. “The board
requires it, and if you do not obey we can not have you in this school.”
“All right, then. I’ll go,” and Hans cooly took his books from his desk
and walked out.
Three days later, as Hans did not reappear at the school, he was
arrested for truancy and taken before the juvenile court. Under the
coercion of the court he was made to return to the school and to give
the daily salutes.