Newspaper Page Text
18
THE ATLANTIAN
Ol)e Outing Season
3s 3Vgain IC$.
<][ Every man who can possibly compass it
will go somewhere. It makes no dif
ference where one goes, the difference
between comfort and discomfort lies large
ly in equipment—clothes—for however
near we may get to Nature we must have
clothes of all sorts.
CJ[ The wise man will avail himself of the
opportunity to get the best that can be
procured, thus adding to his comfort and
this he can do best by a visit to
Clumber 6 "Peachtree Street
ifc sd
THE THERMOMETER OF
PATRIOTISM.
By Dr. Frank Crane.
Patriotism is a long, wide word. Un
der it is a deep cellar. .
Just what sort of thing your patriot
ism is you may ascertain by using this
thermometer.
The lowest degree to which a citizen
may sink is not to become a bank rob
ber or cut-throat or white slaver dealer;
in business ho may only wrong the in
dividual number or others; but it is to
become a grafter, for the grafter attacks
the very life of society itself, he lets
the blood of the whole people. The
trust magnate who corrupts a legislature
or influences a judge, the political boss
who operates a machine for controlling
votes in the interest of his pocket, the
merchant who pays a political agent to
lobby for his advantage, the city admin
istration that permits vice to contribute
hush money to the police, all these are
as far down in the scale of citizenship
as it is possible to go. They are worse
than thugs, fallen women, dive keepers,
and bomb throwers, because they make
and feed such. The man higher up is in
reality the man lower down.
The briber is not so bad as the grafter,
for he is usually the grafter’s tool. He
at least has courage to commit crime,
while the man higher up is a sneak and
wants the emoluments of crime without
its risks.
The violent include all them that put
private or party vengeance above law.
They assassinate presidents, put nitro
glycerine on doorsteps, burn and destroy
in riots. They are not so bad as the
preceding two classes, because they are
ignorant animals, or perverts.
The criminal is the one who preys
upon society. He is the enemy of law.
He lives for the gratification of his own
desires, without respecting the rights of
others. Of such are thieves, murderers,
confidence men, and the like. Bad as
they are, they are many degrees better
than the preceding classes.
The office seeker is the man who re
gards government as something that is
to furnish him with a job. I do not use
the word “professional politician,” be
cause it is conceivable that a man might
follow politics as a profession with the
highest motives. But the typical place
hunter has no principles, no views. He
is a parasite. He is a follower of the
Vicar of Bray, whose song ran:
‘ ‘ But this is law, I will maintain
Until my dying day, sir,
That whatsover king may reign,
Why, I ’ll be Vicar of Bray, sir. ’ ’
Then come the entirely indifferent.
They have nothing to do with politics
except as their business is touched or
their peace disturbed.
The law-abiding are a little higher
up. They will serve on a jury or in the
militia. They do not graft nor favor
political corruption.-
A little better still is the party man,
who is interested in public affairs, and
takes his place in a political organiza
tion as the best means for securing re
sults. He votes with his party, right or
wrong.
The intelligently public spirited man
is as conscientious with his party as with
his church. He will follow it when he
thinks it is right, and rebel when it
seems wrong. He is sometimes called
an insurgent or mugwump. He is the
Protestant in politics; a good, healthy,
wholesome trouble-maker who does much
toward keeping .political parties reason
ably decent.. . ,
The highest grade of patriot is the
man we call the reformer. We heave
bricks at him living and build monu
ments to him dead. Of such were John
Brown, Wendell Phillips, Henry George,
Richard Cobden, and Oliver Cromwell.
The reformer is not afraid to be in ad
vance of public opinion, to champion an
unpopular cause, to be in the minority,
to be defeated, despised and neglected.
Reformers may be pig-headed, some of
them are egotistical, some are meddle
some, some enjoy tumult, and, like the
Irishman, “are never at peace unless
they are in a fight,” but they represent
the highest pitch to which patriotism can
rise, for they care not for place, emolu
ment, nor life itself, but only for the
conviction that has gripped them.
Reformer 10
Intelligently Public Spirited. 9
Party Man 8
Law-abiding 7
Indifferent 6
Office Seeker v 5
Criminal .' 4
Violent 3
Briber . 2
Grafter 1
EDUCATION IN PORTO
RICO.
The Progress of a D»ecade—
English the Popular Language.
Under, the caption, “Americanizing
the Porto Ricans,” an editorial in the
Baltimore Sun tells of the progress that
education has made in the island iu the
last decade. The editorial follows:
According to .the Revue Suientifique,
of Paris, the Americam/etion of Povto
Rico is so far advanced that a few years
more should see it completed. When
Uncle Sam took charge of the smiling
little island, in 1898, there were prophets
who predicted that enormous difficulties
would soon confront him, that the very
difference in languages would foster au
alien feeling among the islanders au<i
make them chafe under American rule.
But nothing of the sort has happened.
The Porto Ricans, far from combating
their American overlords, have given the
latter loyalty and active aid, and the re
sult is that there is peace, and the pros
perity and content which go with it.
The dream of the islanders seems to be
not independence, but Statehood, and so
they try to learn American ways and the
English language, and to fit themselves
for citizenship.
The influence of the little red school-
house is apparent in all this. When the
Spaniards were driven out of the island
they left behind them a typically Span
ish school-system—mediaeval, inadequate
and inefficient. The country schools were
mere hovels, widely scattered and un
organized, and the teachers, in the main,
were ignoramuses. The census of 1890,
the first taken under American rule,
showed that but fifteen per cent, of the
population over the age of ten years
could read and write. To the relief of
this deplorable condition the early Amer
ican administrators addressed themselves,
and the result is now seen in a school
system superior to any other in Latin-
America, and fully equal to that of most
American States—a system including
kindergarten, primary, grammar, high
and night schools, and culminating in
the University of Porto Rico, with its
300 students.
Altogether there are now 2,450 schools
in the island, as compared with 528 when
the Spaniards left, and the attendance
has risen, in less than thirteen years,
from 18,243 pupils to nearly 85,000.
What is more important, practically all
these pupils are now being taught by
competent teachers, trained in pedagogy
by American instructors, and practically
all of them are studying English. The
insular school law requires that there be
at least one teacher of English in each
municipality, but the demand is for more,
and that demand is met whenever possi
ble. In the graded schools the majority
of teachers now use English, and in the
high schools the aim is so to perfect all
pupils in the language that they will be
ready, upon graduation, to enter any
American college without further prepa
ration. In brief, English is fast becom
ing the language of all educated folks
in Porto Rico, and even the children of
the poor, who must leave school very
early, have an opportunity to learn it.
Spanish, of course, will survive for many
years, particularly in the rural districts—
as it has survived in New Mexico and
Arizona—but in the long run it must give
way to the tongue of the conquerors.
WHAT HE THOUGHT HE
WAS GETTING.
The Sunday-school teacher had ex
plained very carefully how Eve was
created out of one of Adam’s ribs and
made the wife of Adam. Little Bobby
was deeply impressed with the story, and
when he went home he related it to his
parents. The next day, after running
around a good deal, a pain developed in
his side, and when his mother found him
he was lying on the bed, sobbing bit
terly.
“Why, what’s the matter with my lit
tle boy!” she asked.
“Oh, dear,” was the response, “I’m
getting a wife.”
HIS ANCESTORS.
The chauffeur never spoke except when
addressed, but his few utterances, given
in a broad brogue, were full of wit.
One of the men in the party remark
ed: “You’re a bright sort of a fellow
and it’s easy to see that your people
came from Ireland.”
“No, sor; ye are very badly mistak
en,” replied Pat.
“What!” said the man; “didn’t they
come from Ireland!”
“No, sor,” answered Pat, “they’re
there yit. ”
DISCRETION.
“Shall I break the bad news to Jus
tine!” •
“Not this moment. Wait till she has
put the plates down.”—Pel Mele.