Chapter VI: Part 6

If I were arguing for military preparedness, I would not be so insistent upon the building of new fortresses, or the accumulation of ammunition. I would insist upon training our children in obedience and reverence. I would give them schoolmasters who know what they teach and who would demand strict application to the curriculum. I would oppose the growing pedagogic idea that the schoolroom is a playground, and that knowledge may be acquired without hard work. I would restore the rod and banish the coddler. I would call in our high school boys from the side lines, from their vicarious athletics and their slavish imitation of college customs, and teach them how to dig trenches and serve cannon, which seem to be the chief need in modern military operations.

It is folly to believe that the _fiasco_ of the Russian armies was due to the lack of ammunition or of sufficient fortresses; it was due to the lack of good schools and to the lack of discipline among its educated classes.

With the decay of our pioneer spirit, which is inevitable, with the growth of a leisure class, with groups of men and women who know no other way to justify their existence than to play bridge or go to Tango teas; with a large class of people less unfortunately situated, who have to work for their living, but from whom the state asks nothing in the way of service except the payment of taxes which are easily evaded, it is a great question how to keep our virility and how to foster a patriotism which may be counted upon in the time of national danger. I am fairly sure that some other way than the militaristic way ought to be found. I am not sure that we shall find it; because only those who seek shall find.

There are some things we may profitably learn from Germany, and one is the maintenance of a state which by its very nature will compel devotion. A state deeply concerned with the well-being of every individual; a state which sees to it that impartial judgment shall be meted out, and that the scales do not tip to those who weight them with gold.

A state which eliminates graft and is able to train an efficient army of public servants is more likely to gain and keep the loyalty of its citizens than one which, although technically free, is shackled by corruption and graft, and which, while giving each man the power to become a king, places the major emphasis upon property rather than upon person. Yes, we have a great deal to do to be properly prepared, besides authorizing congress to spend millions for "reeking tube and iron shard."

What I most fear for the American Spirit is the loss of that which makes it really American and truly Spirit, the loss of its democracy. I am confident that the form of our government is not endangered, and whatever military success may come to monarchic governments we shall not envy them their kings nor put ourselves in bondage to them. If this republic is still an experiment then we shall see the experiment through to the end as a republic.

I am also sure that we shall work out the problem which confronts us in the relationship between capital and labor, and that we shall create here an industrial democracy. The dissatisfaction with the present system is growing daily, even among the so-called privileged classes, and many a man, well favored by circumstances, is crying out with Walt Whitman, "By God! I will not have anything which others cannot have on the same terms."

What I most dread is, that we shall be increasingly unable to be democratic in our spirit, in our relation to those who are in any marked way differentiated from us racially. Our caste system is daily growing in strength, the social taboos are increasing in number, the spirit is barred from moving freely among all classes and races, and thus is bound to perish.

The social boycott practiced against the Jews, and which is even more thorough here than it is in Russia, may be followed by an economic boycott, and what has but recently happened in Georgia makes such occurrences on a larger scale not impossible. The attitude of the American people both South and North towards the Negro is not growing better, and it will take more than all the brave optimism of Booker T. Washington to convince me that this is not true.

It is anything but the American Spirit which greets the Japanese and Chinese at the Pacific Coast, and the decadence of that spirit is daily creating for itself new victims for its prejudices and hates.

It seems to be a growing conviction that in order to foster our racial integrity and self-respect we need to have contempt for other people and make of them a sort of mental cuspidore.

I know the difficulty involved in this problem. I believe it is the most serious challenge which the American Spirit has to meet, and here and here alone I confess my doubt as to its ability to meet it.

This is no time, though, to turn doubt into despair, nor is it the time for the calling of conventions and the organization of societies. It is a time, however, for the strengthening of our faith in one another, for renewed allegiance to humanity no matter how it is encased, for a patriotism based upon something bigger than identity of race. It is a time for mutual forbearance, for the divine gift to see ourselves as others see us; for a supreme loyalty to our country, and a determination stronger than death to make this country capable of winning the loyalty of all its citizens.

It is a time to glory in being an American and to become desperately sure we have something in which to glory. Now as never before should there be serious self-examination to see whether we have not sinned against the Spirit.

This is the time to accept the Challenge of the American Spirit and prove that we are loyal enough to follow its guidance.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:

he does now know=> he does not know {pg 119}

the progam marked out for her by the Emperor=> the program marked out for her by the Emperor {pg 195}

had little opportuntiy=> had little opportunity {pg 241}

It is sorbid=> It is sordid {pg 258}

Unausstelicher=> Unausstehlicher {pg 88}

Unaustehlicher=> Unausstehlicher {pg 122}