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About The united American : a magazine of good citizenchip. (Portland, Or.) 1923-1927 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1922)
October, 1922 THE WESTERN AMERICAN ¿where the American language is taught, reading and ■writing. I America demands a higher standard in citizenship, It is entitled to it. No one but illiterate aliens, hold ing citizenship rights, granted them, at an earlier period of time when Americans were criminally indif ferent, are likely to register a protest against such a statute, except, possibly, those group leaders and politicians who have been in the habit of turning political “tricks,” through their power over the voters who do not read the American language and whose understanding of our language is limited to but a few words. A PROPHECY NOT YET FULFILLED W ISUALIZING a day when the world could boast * a more advanced civilization that would settle international disputes, not by the sword, but by peaceful arrangements, Victor Hugo made this prophecy at the peace congress of 1849: I A day will come when you, France—you, Russia—you, Italy—you, England—you, Germany—all of you, nations of the continent—shall, without losing your distinctive quali ties and your glorious individuality, blend in a higher unity and form a European fraternity, even as Normandy, Brit- tany, Burgundy, Lorraine, Alsace, all« the French provinces have blended into France. I A day will come when war shall seem as absurd and im possible between Paris and London, between St. Petersburg and Berlin, as between Rouen and Amiens, between Boston and Philadelphia. A day will come when bullets and bombs shall be replaced by ballots, by the universal suffrage of the people, by the sacred arbitrament of a great sovereign sen ate, which shall be to Europe what the parliament is to Eng land, what the diet is to Germany, what the legislative as sembly is to France. I A day will come when a cannon ball shall be exhibited in the museums as an instrument of torture is now, and men shall marvel that such things could be. A day will come when shall be seen these two immense groups, the United States of America and the United States of Europe. I The fulfillment of this dream, the coming of that glorious day, as Hugo so beautifully has fancied it, may be in the offing, but somehow Europe doesn’t .seem overly anxious to make Victor Hugo’s dream come true, which would be tantamount to patterning our scheme. 15 men, fashion and gallantry, it was an agreeable world to the upper crust but a cruel and crusty one for the hungry, helpless, down-trodden, broken-spir ited mass, seething and suffering below. Since then democracy has made wonderful strides forward, but reforms have been granted, not because they were acknowledged to be right but because they have been wrung from the unwilling hand of privi lege. We understand more about human rights to day than the world ever knew before, yet injustice is still with us in such strength in certain positions that even now few have the courage to raise their voices in protest. We consider with impatience the rate of progress, for it seems the world should rise and sweep away these relies of the dark ages, and yet when we stop to consider we see that democracy has moved with amazing swiftness during the per iod mentioned. At the same rate of progress what mind can conceive the reforms that the next century will usher in? NON PROGRESSIVENESS IN POLITICS 'T'RUTH remains constant but conditions are ever * changing. It is one of the peculiarities of states men and politicians that they are seldom able to grasp this fact and keep pace with the progress of events. It is to be deplored that among venerable legislators in point of service we find a pronounced proneness to hold to the issues of yesterday; to con sider problems of state in the light of the past decade and to talk of things which are as dead as the first Rameses as though they were living questions of the hour, all unmindful of the fact that they have failed to keep pace with the movements of Old Father Time, and that they present a figure at once pathetic and ridiculous. They continue to cling to precedent and drag forth the past as a guide to present action af fecting the future, forgetting that Progress is the law of life in politics as in other things. THE ENOBLING INFLUENCE OF MUSIC TWO YEARS ago, fifty thousand singing child- A ren formed a human wheel on the spacious lawns of the White House at Washington, where they had gathered to serenade the president of our country. The spokes represented open aisles, while the spaces between consisted of a solid mass of children. The PROGRESS OF DEMOCRACY president greeted the children from the hub of the I OOKING BACKWARD a century and a half, a wheel. As the voices welled forth from the throats of the fr* period so brief that it may be bridged by old people recalling the stories of other people they knew participants in this huge chorus of young America, when they were young, we are impressed by the tre the people of the city of Washington were aroused and the idea of a Singing America was born. mendous change that has taken place. Realizing the force and the influence of music, sug I The patrician was then at the height of his glory and good fortune in the old world as well as in the gestions were pouring forth to make music, educa new. Society recognized his superiority, and he, tional music, a definite part of our program of na himself, freely admitted it. He inherited estates, tional advancement. Ere the echos of that mighty chorus, that great and used his power and rank for ignoble purposes festal throng of a coming American generation, had without shame. I With the lower classes wretchedness reigned. So died away in the corridors of America’s executive deplorable was their condition that eminent writers mansion, President Harding sent out his appeal to insisted that a war which killed off, say, 50,000, of every city in America to set aside one week each the poor was a blessing in disguise to those who. sur year for “a musical bath,” during which time not vived. Such a thing as improving the condition of only the musicians of each city but the masses, the common people was regarded as the vagary of which generally represent a “listening group,” dreamers. The simple purpose of the poor in life should give their heart and soul to music. Many cities responded at once and for two years was to be born, work for their betters, and die off When and how it pleased his lordship. With all its have followed the President’s suggestion. Last year more than two hundred cities observed brilliance of romance, gold lace, brave men, fair wo