THE MARCH OF DEMOCRACY

CHAPTER ONE

RESPONSIBILITIES OF CITIZENSHIP

Society.

Good citizenship is something more than loving Our Oblione's country and being proud of it. It is something gation to more than observing our patriotic holidays and merely cheering the flag when it passes on parade. Good citizenship is not what we say about our country but what we do for our country. The more we study our history and realize the sacrifices which made the nation what it is to-day, the more we should feel obligated to strive in every way to fit ourselves to make return for the privileges we enjoy.

The Constitution grants certain rights which give each citizen a heritage unequaled by that of any other nation. "Every right and benefit we receive from the community or nation must be offset by a corresponding duty and paid for by the performance of that duty." Government does not begin at Washington or with the politician or the governor or the mayor, but it begins at home with you and

me.

The story has often been told of the man who visited Washington, D.C., on a summer evening and saw the reflection of the setting sun on the towering marble of our country's Capitol. He thought of the tremendous significance of the armies and the treasury, and the judges and the President, and the Congress and the courts and all that was gathered there. Moved by the sight of the home of our Republic, he said, "Here is my Government in all its majesty." Then in a vision he beheld a vista of open country, fields of ripening grain, forests, mountains, homes, villages, and cities. It was evening in all of these places; the people were returning to their homes after the day's work. The great dome of the Capitol stood out above all in magnificent splendor. But this time the sunbeams were golden threads leading from the dome of the Capitol to each man, woman, and child in each home. His vision was a full realization of citizenship in a democracy, and he said: "Surely here in the homes of the people lodge at last the strength, and the responsibility of this government, the hope and the promise of the Republic. Here is its majesty and strength. Here is the beginning of its power and the end of its responsibility."

If in adult life our golden thread is broken by abuse of privilege, by inactivity, by scheming politicians, by lack of law enforcement, we alone are to blame for not exercising or striving to reclaim our rights of citizenship. Such rights and duties begin in childhood and reach their full realization

Conservation of Health.

in worthy citizenship as we grow in knowledge and responsibility.

We live in a nation that grants equal rights and offers equal opportunities to its citizens. The obligation of insuring progress and prosperity, the perpetuation of the principles set forth in our constitution, the substitution of the gospel of right for that of indifference and cowardice requires the serious attention of every American citizen.

The safety of our country is not merely in laws or legislation, but in the men and women who are willing to put service before self-interest.

"Sad will be the day," wrote Phillips Brooks, "“for any youth when he becomes absolutely contented with the life he is living; with the thoughts he is thinking, and the deeds he is doing; when there is not forever beating at the door of his soul some great desire to do something larger which he knows he was meant and made to do."

On our health depends our usefulness and our ability to count for something to the nation. As we are preparing our minds for the test of citizenship we should also be building up a physical reserve to stand the test of strenuous competition. Disregard for the laws of health leads to disappointment and the blasting of high hopes for public usefulness. Our good health means saving trouble to our family, our friends, and our employer. If we are careless in this respect they are cheated, and in cheating them we cheat the nation.

Health is real wealth; consequently a nation endeavors to conserve the health of its citizens as the most vital of its resources. The greatest asset of a nation is its strong men and women-those effective during a long working life. It is estimated that preventable illness in a single year costs the nation $1,800,000,000, and that 42 per cent of the deaths could be reasonably postponed. The World War brought to our attention the alarming fact that we are deficient in education and common health, not only in the big cities but also to a greater degree in the country districts.

Citizenship requires more than merely keeping well; it requires a type of physical efficiency that enables one to be calm, poised, direct, and accurate. In aristocracies of the past a few have said, "We are best; therefore we shall rule." The best usually meant those superior in physical strength, because the ruling class depended largely on physical force to maintain itself. Democracies arose and selected their leaders on the basis of mental and physical efficiency to carry out the will of the people.

In a democracy a premium is likely to be placed on the mental development of all of its people, while the physical development, being regarded as secondary, may be neglected and consequently decline. To-day many young men and women must face the problem that superior educational development without the physical reserve to sustain it is an economic loss to the nation.