Part 10 (1/2)
Small and Vincent, An Introduction to the Study of Society (American Book Co.), Book II, Chapters i-iv.
CHAPTER VII
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 quant.i.ty with which man must deal is man--changing, inert, impulsive, limited, sympathetic, selfish, aspiring man. His inst.i.tutions, 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 h.o.m.ogeneous society, [Footnote: ”h.o.m.ogeneous 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 ma.s.s. 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 ma.s.s 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, s.h.i.+pyards, 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