Greetings,
As we went through the boxes
from Roberta’s father’s apartment, we found a book which belonged to Roberta’s
mother. It was a history textbook which
she had used at the Girl’s Latin School entitled History
of the American People by David Saville Muzzey, Professor of History at Columbia University, published in 1929. I was
intrigued by the closing paragraphs of the book in which Dr. Muzzey, one of the
most respected historians in the nation, commented on the state of the nation
and the work and challenge before the high school students of that era. His concerns are more than valid, indeed, he
qualifies as a prophet. The warnings are
even more pertinent for this generation of students. (It is also amazing to find a quote from
“Silent Cal,” and to find that it is even appropriate.) I urge you to take the time to read and
carefully consider all of the implications of this message for us today.
“The Foes of our own Household.” This rich
and powerful Republic has no fear of foes from without. But there are dangers that threaten
within. We are a wasteful people in the
midst of our abundance, consuming the resources which we should be conserving
for a future generation. It is estimated
that the hasty plundering of our mines, oil fields, and forests entails an
annual waste of 750,000,000 tons of coal, 1,000,000,000 barrels of oil, 600,000,000,000
cubic feet of
natural gas, and 5,000,000,000
cubic feet of
lumber. Strikes and lockouts,
preventable illness and accidents, the maladjustment of labor supply to labor
demand, result in the unemployment of about 15 per cent of the man power of the
nation, and fully another 15 per cent of the workers are engaged in the
manufacture of useless luxuries to flatter our vanity, or positively harmful
“goods.” More than three million people
a year are made sick by food alterations; another million are drug addicts; and
no one knows how numerous are the dupes of the patent medicines, cure-alls, and
beautifiers which have made us the victims of “the gaudiest collection of
quacks in the world’s history.” Our
preoccupation with material success threatens to blind us to the value of the
patient, honest cultivation of mind and character. The conquest of the forces of nature has far
outrun the organization of intelligence.
If we have the enviable record of leading the world in economic
prosperity, we have also the unenviable record of leading the world in
recklessness, instability, and crime.
Every year our losses by preventable fires exceed the cost of the Panama Canal. Fatal
accidents claim one victim every five minutes.
The number of suicides mounts steadily (12,061 in 1925). The
losses paid by burglary insurance companies have increased 600 per cent in the
last decade. The number of divorces
granted in the United States was 56,000 in 1900 and 175,000 in 1925 – or one divorce for every 6.7 marriages in the
latter year, a ratio one and a half times as high as that of France and Japan, and more than fifteen times as high as that of England. Murders
increased in this country from 7878 in 1924 to 11,287 in 1925, when there were twenty- times as many as in England and Wales.
American Ideals. These are appalling
facts. They are sicknesses in the body
of the nation and, like illness in the human body, they must be realized to be
remedied. If our Republic ever fails to
fulfill the high hopes of the men who founded it and who sustained it in the
days of weakness and trial, the fault will be with a generation that has lost
the inspiration of their ideals. We
shall continue to go through the forms of democratic government in vain if we
lose the sense of responsibility, individual and collective, which is the
cement which prevents freedom from crumbling into license. The fathers set up an ideal of liberty within
the wholesome restraint of law, and “free government,” in the words of
President Coolidge, “has no greater menace than disrespect for authority and
continual violation of the law.” They
conceived of a Republic in which the opportunity to make the most of one’s
talent and industry should be open to all, irrespective of birth, creed, or
condition. They forbade Congress to
prohibit the free exercise of religion or to abridge the freedom of speech or
of the press. They declared that no
person should be deprived of the rights of life, liberty, and property without
due process of the law. They expressly
reserved to the people of the states the exercise of powers not specifically
delegated to the central government, never meaning to interfere with local self-government
or personal freedom. These are the
principles of American democracy, and they must be respected if America is to continue to be a land of liberty.
Passing the Torch. Paraphrasing the words of
Abraham Lincoln, the teacher of American history today says to the boys and
girls in the classrooms of our broad land, “In your hands, my young fellow students
and citizens, lies the future of our country.”
If the coming generation is a little more faithful to the ideals of
economy, industry, and honesty, of order, freedom, and disinterested service
than the present generation has been, then we shall be going forward toward the
fulfillment of the destinies of the Republic.
If the coming generation is a little less faithful to these ideals, then
we shall be headed down the road to degeneracy, defeat, decay. Could there be a more inspiring call than the
stake of America’s very life and honor for the youth of our schools
to pledge themselves to study her past history with diligence in order that
they may judge her present policies with understanding and meet her future
problems with courage! A feature of the ancient
Greek games was the relay race, in which the runner at the end of his lap
handed on the lighted torch to his successor.
It is a parable of all education and a symbol of ever renewing life. The torch of our history was kindled at the
sacred altar of liberty. Let it be your
pledge and mine to bear it
High like a beacon,
Till our strong years be sped
And sinews weaken;
Till others in our stead
Take from our loosening hand
The torch full-streaming which we
pass at Death’s command.
+ +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
This is also a challenge to both political
parties and all of our elected officials and candidates for elected
office. However, the real challenge is
to those of us who have a witness to make, who have truth and justice to
uphold, who have peace to make and who have a Savior to proclaim and an
eternal, resurrected life to share.
Yours
& His,
DED
No comments:
Post a Comment