THE FORM OF PATRIOTISM.
By W. N. G.
On the 26th ult. a bill was introduced in the New York Senate which is designed to encourage patriotic exercises in the public schools. The Sun gives the following summary of its provisions:— “The bill makes it the duty of the authorities of every public school to purchase a flag and flagstaff and cause such flag to be displayed during school hours. Rules and regulations shall be established for the proper custody and display of the flag. When the weather will not permit it to be otherwise displayed, it shall be placed conspicuously in the principal room of the schoolhouse. The State superintendent of public instruction shall provide for the necessary expenses incurred in developing and encouraging patriotic exercises in the schools, and shall prepare a program for the use of the public schools of the State, providing for a salute to the flag at the opening of each school day. He shall also make special provision for the observance in the public schools of Lincoln’s birthday, Washington’s birthday, Memorial day and Flag day. This act shall not be construed to authorize military instruction during school hours.” All this sentimental formalism does not inculcate true patriotism; it simply inspires a desire in the young to become military heroes. It educates them in the idea that a great hurrah is valor, and to fight and kill is heroism. It is the old Roman idea over again, that the power and glory of the government is above every other consideration. The people of this so-called Christian nation of ours are carrying on a rather anomalous educational system. On the one hand, they are teaching the doctrine of the early advent of the millennium of peace, while on the other hand they are teaching the children the art of carnal warfare. While it is a well-known fact that vice and crime are increased many fold on holiday occasions, yet there is a continual call for more holidays—on the plea of patriotism, etc. While the poverty of the masses is ever on the increase, the religio-political patriots are urging a multiplication of the days when the poor wage-workers not only can not earn anything, but are impelled by their surroundings to squander what little they have. If it is desirable to teach true patriotism to the rising generation, teach them that “he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.” Prov. 16: 32. Making a daily business of flaunting the flag and calling it patriotism is a mere formality; it is too much like wearing a crucifix and imagining that we are bearing the cross of Christ. The greatest hero, the greatest benefactor, that this world ever saw, never used a carnal weapon even to protect life. Nor did He ever take a human life on any pretext. “The Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them,” were His emphatic words. Love of country does not mean war, for the worst calamity that can befall a people is war. The flag is all right for the purpose for which it was designed, that of a national emblem; but that purpose never was to engender a spirit of strife and hero-worship in the minds of children. Mere formality in patriotism is like the same quality in religion: it lacks the power of the genuine. W. N. G.