"I believe in myself—in my mission as defender of the liberties of the people and guardian of the light of civic idealism.
I believe in my people—in the sincerity of their hearts and the sanity of their minds—in their ability to rule themselves and to meet civic emergencies—in their ultimate triumph over the forces of injustice, oppression, exploitation and iniquity.
I believe that good food, pure water, clean milk, abundant light and fresh air, cheap transportation, equitable rents, decent living conditions and protection from fire, from thieves and cut-throats and from unscrupulous exploiters of human life and happiness, are the birth-right of every citizen within my gates; and that insofar as I fail to provide these things, even to the least of my people, in just this degree is my fair name tarnished and my mission unfulfilled.
I believe in planning for the future, for the centuries which are to come and for the many thousands of men, women and children who will reside within my gates and who will suffer in body, in mind and in worldly goods unless proper provision is made for their coming.
I believe in good government and in the ability of every city to get good government; and I believe that among the greatest hindrances to good government are obsolete laws—which create injustice; out-grown customs—which are unsocial; and antiquated methods—which increase the cost of government and destroy its efficiency.
I believe that graft, favoritism, waste or inefficiency in the conduct of my affairs is a crime against my fair name; and I demand of my people that they wage unceasing war against these municipal diseases, wherever they are found and whomsoever they happen to touch.
I believe that those of my people who, by virtue of their strength, cleverness or thrift, or by virtue of other circumstances, are enabled to lead cleaner lives, perform more agreeable work or think more beautiful thoughts than those less fortunate, should make recompense to me, in public service, for the advantages which I make it possible for them to enjoy.
I believe that my people should educate their children in the belief that the service of their city is an honorable calling and a civic duty, and that it offers just as many opportunities for the display of skill, the exercise of judgment or the development of initiative as do the counting houses and markets of the commercial world.
Finally, I believe in the Modern City as a place to live in, to work in, and to dream dreams in—as a giant workshop where is being fabricated the stuff of which the nation is made—as a glorious enterprise upon whose achievements rests, in large measure, the future of the race."[22]
We may think that these utterances stress too much the city life and fail to visualize the wide stretches of rural communities and the small towns where a few people only make the atmosphere and administer the laws. The spirit, however, must be the same, whether one dwells with the crowd or on some lonely farm. The spirit of that genuine patriotism which is not satisfied to have one's country less noble and less unselfish than its own ideal of what a country should be.
The Children's Code of Morals.—It is in the spirit of such a patriotism that The Children's Code of Morals has been prepared by William J. Hutchins, and is sent broadcast by the "National Institute for Moral Instruction," In this code, boys and girls are enjoined and pledge themselves to be good Americans by obeying the following laws: "The Law of Health; The Law of Self-control; The Law of Self-reliance; The Law of Reliability; The Law of Clean Play; The Law of Duty; The Law of Good Workmanship; The Law of Friendly Coöperation in Good Team-work; The Law of Kindness; The Law of Loyalty."
Though children and youth may learn these laws by heart and understand and agree to the fine statements by which they are expounded and make through them a detailed promise to obey the laws of "right living" by which alone the citizenship of our country may serve its best interests—that in itself could not make all citizens what they should be. It is, however, a lesson of the past that youth needs some outward and visible sign of its "coming of age." Now, as in the past, youth needs some form of consecration to high ideals. It needs some ceremony that shall fix the lessons of patriotism, of social responsibility and of community service, and stir to noble purpose. The education that begins in the home is not finished by any college graduation or even by vocational training for a useful career. Its great "Commencement" is that which ushers the young man, and now also the young woman, into conscious and responsible relationship to the body politic. This Commencement should have its solemn and beautiful ritual and should be made the great event of all young life.
QUESTIONS ON THE FATHER AND THE MOTHER STATE
1. What changes in legislation and in law enforcement is the entrance of women into the electorate likely to effect?
2. Should the State be more and more charged with responsibility for care of the weak, the defective, the delinquent, dependent, and sick, the out-of-work, the aged, and those heavily burdened by parentage of young children, and if so, how can society escape a tendency to remove from individuals and from the family that sense of personal responsibility upon which the best things in our inherited social order have been built?
3. Should women voters particularly address themselves to increasing public welfare provisions or should they try to solve difficult problems of adjustment between public and private effort for the common good? If both, how can they adjust effort to party politics on the one side, and to independent use of the power of the vote on the other side?
4. When volunteer organizations of charity, correction, and education transfer their work to official boards and legal provisions, that work, experience shows, sometimes is lowered in standards and loses in efficiency. How can voting women prevent this? How can a new class of voters, hitherto specially interested in getting things desired done by others, best help others to do things through their own political action?
5. The army intelligence tests showed that our white drafted army contained 12 per cent. superior men, 66 per cent. average men, and 22 per cent. inferior men. This statement, made by Cornelia J. Cannon in The Atlantic Monthly of February, 1922, leads the author of the article to the conclusion that "our political experiments, such as representation, recall, direct election of senators, etc., are endangered by the presence of so many irresponsible and unintelligent voters." Is there a remedy for this, other than waiting for the slow process of education? If so, what is it?
6. The Neighborhood: A Study of Social Life in the City of Columbus, Ohio, by R.D. McKenzie, of the University of Washington, gives a good example of what such a study of one's own locality should be. Is it not the duty of those having the leisure and the ability to inaugurate such a study in the locality in which their political relation is most immediate? If so, how can a Women's Club, or a League of Women Voters, start such a study?
FOOTNOTES:
[20] Woman's Share in Social Culture.
[21] See A Course in Citizenship, by Ella Lyman Cabot, and others.
[22] Printed in The Survey of October 31, 1914.
BIBLIOGRAPHYToC
BOOKS AND ARTICLES MENTIONED IN THE TEXT
ADDITIONAL REFERENCES UNDER CHAPTER HEADS
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CURRENT PUBLICATIONS, WITH SUGGESTIONS
In pursuance of the practical aim of this book, an up-to-date study of current social problems is urged and the use of reports and literature issued by National and State organizations is recommended.
In addition, therefore, to the list of books and articles cited or referred to in the text, the following special sources of information concerning current activities and the discussion of immediate social problems are given as aids to class study or to individual reading:
1. The Reports and Bulletins issued by the Federal Departments; especially the Children's Bureau, Bureau of Education, Vocational Education Board, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.
2. Reports from State Departments in the fields of Labor, Education, Charity, Correction, Employment Agencies, and Health.
3. Reports of the National Conference of Social Work (formerly called the National Conference of Charities and Correction), Office, 315 Plymouth Court, Chicago, Illinois. These Reports constitute the best record of social movements we possess. Since 1873 the attempt has been made each year to take account of social stock and show what is being done for all classes needing help toward better living. Alexander Johnson prepared a Topical Index which serves to guide the student through the earlier volumes, and there are now arrangements for securing separate papers on particular subjects.
4. The Russell Sage Foundation, office, 130 East Twenty-second Street, New York City, aims at the improvement of living conditions and issues valuable publications which are generously distributed. Enquiries are answered in a helpful manner.
5. The American Social Hygiene Association, Office, 370 Seventh Avenue, New York City, offers aid to all who seek to check vice, sustain family life, and lessen diseases related to prostitution. It publishes both a Quarterly and a Bulletin and shares in a special library open to students.
6. The National Committee for Mental Hygiene at the same Office Headquarters, publishes a valuable Quarterly and is a source of information respecting the treatment and prevention of mental diseases.
7. The American Association for Organizing Family Social Work, Mrs. John M. Glenn, Chairman, with Office at 130 East Twenty-second Street, is able to advise in relief work and organized efforts toward family rehabilitation.
8. The Child Welfare League of America, C.C. Carstens, Director, at the same Headquarters, 130 East Twenty-second Street, New York City, can be consulted as to standards of child-care and the status of child-helping in various parts of the country.
9. The National Child Labor Committee, Owen Lovejoy, Secretary, with Office at 105 East Twenty-second Street, New York City, furnishes information and practical aid in any part of the United States and publishes valuable pamphlets showing child-labor conditions.
10. The Community Service Agency, headed by Joseph Lee, with Office at 315 Fourth Avenue, New York City, will help local communities anywhere in organizing for better use of leisure time.
11. The Consumer's League, Mrs. Florence Kelley, General Secretary, with Office at 44 East Twenty-third Street, New York City, promotes legislation for enlightened standards for women and minors in industry and publishes important material for students and workers.
12. The American Home Economics Association, which publishes the Journal of Home Economics at 1211 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, Maryland, is an organization devoted to standardizing the housemother's task and helping toward efficient home-making.
13. The National Woman's Trade Union League, with Office at 311 South Ashland Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, publishes a journal and other material of special interest to women wage-earners.
14. The National Health Council, with Office at 370 Seventh Avenue, New York City, and at 411 Eighteenth Street, Washington, D.C., issues valuable publications.
15. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, with Office at 70 Fifth Avenue, New York City, and the National Urban League for Social Service among negroes aim at helping in problems of race adjustment.
16. The General Federation of Women's Clubs, with headquarters in Washington, D.C., at 1734 N. Street, N.W., has centres of influence throughout the country and furnishes the personnel of many leaders in local social enterprises.
17. The National Council of Women of the United States, member of the International Council of Women of the World, has headquarters at the home of its President, Mrs. Philip North Moore, Lafayette Avenue, St. Louis, Mo., and includes in its membership all the leading bodies of organized women in the country. At its Biennial gatherings reports of work are presented from all these Associations and afterward published.
18. The National League of Women Voters, the child of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, has its headquarters at 532 Seventeenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., with Mrs. Maud Wood Park as President, and energizes and directs a large force of women in numerous local Leagues in non-partisan work for better government.
19. The Woman's Party, with Headquarters also in the National Capital, aims to secure a Federal Amendment which will wipe out all sex-discriminations. It publishes much interesting material.
20. Among the most valuable publications for constant reading for those who would keep in touch with important social movements in all fields is The Survey, published at 112 East Nineteenth Street, New York City, Paul U. Kellogg, Editor.
21. The American Journal of Sociology, published by University of Chicago Press, and the Journal of Applied Sociology, published by the University of California, give more extended treatment of the principles underlying social service.
22. The Council of Jewish Women, the National Catholic Welfare Council, the Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations, and the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ, together with the Federation of Religious Liberals, The Laymen's League, and Women's Alliance of the Unitarian body, and other church organizations, have departments or committees engaged specifically in work for the stability of the family and the betterment of the home, as well as for the ennobling of the common life and for the organization of the world for permanent peace.
23. The Educational interests of the country are served by many agencies and organizations, chief among them the U.S. Bureau of Education, the Federal Board of Vocational Education at Washington, D.C., which publish invaluable material, and the National Education Association, with office at 1201 Sixteenth Street, Washington, D.C., membership in which keeps one in touch with progressive movements.
The vital thing for one who would prepare for practical service in any line of social work is to study people and conditions in one's own locality and then compare what is done or attempted in that locality with what is considered by those best fitted to judge to be the best and most efficient standards for service of the kind considered.
The vital thing for those who would help in the educational field is to know their local schools, their teachers, buildings, equipment, management, and financial support, and then to secure all possible national, state, and local aid in making those schools the best they can be.
24. If the newest movements in education are chosen for study, read The New Education, by L. Haden Guest, and other articles in The New Era, published by Hodder and Co., London, England. Also Nursery School Experiment, by Bureau of Educational Experiments, 144 West Thirteenth Street, New York City.
For comparison with these, read Talks to Teachers, by William James, and also pamphlets of Home Education Series, by Charlotte Mason, published by Parents' National Education Union, 26 Victoria Street, London, England.
25. For economic reform especially helpful to family life, study the publications of the Coöperative League of America, Doctor and Mrs. Warbasse, Directors, 70 Fifth Avenue, New York City.
26. For political reform, study the publications of Proportional Representation League, 1417 Locust Street, Philadelphia, Pa.