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A CALL TO 
 PATRIOTIC 
 SERVICE 
 
 nnofifews, Mrs, Einme Km [Th\V>ip- 
 
A CALL TO PATRIOTIC SERVICE 
 
 To the Teachers of the United States : 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 OF CONGRESS 
 
 I WASHINGTON 
 
 - 
 
 
 .** 
 
 We find ourselves today in war, a war encircling the greater part 
 of civilized mankind. Whatever may be our view of the processes which 
 have brought the world to this point, we have now to face the fact 
 that the action of the nations is focussed on this gigantic conflict and 
 that our own country is now involved in it. 
 
 We recognize that our Government has been loath to join the strug- 
 gle and has entered into it only after long and searching deliberation. 
 The will of the majority of Congress has declared war and it is the 
 duty of all Americans to accept this mandate. The voice of law 
 commands loyal and earnest service, and American patriotism will 
 respond to the call. Service is the privilege of each and every citizen, 
 and the measure of service is always the nation's need. 
 
 We enter upon this war, as stated by President Wilson, with "a 
 profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the 
 step .... and of the grave responsibilities which it involves." We 
 hope with him that we have made "clear to all the world what our 
 motives and objects are," and we trust that during the war we shall 
 remain faithful to the high traditions of America. To keep our minds 
 and our hearts clear, let us refer often, as often as may be necessary, 
 to the words of the President, who has struck the key-note of a new 
 spirit, even in the tragedy of war. "Just because we fight without 
 rancor and without selfish object, seeking nothing for ourselves but 
 what we shall wish to share with all free peoples, we shall, I feel con- 
 fident, conduct our operations as belligerents without passion and our- 
 selves observe with proud punctilio the principles of right and of fair 
 play we profess to be fighting for." 
 
 President Wilson challenges American patriotism in his plea "to 
 conduct ourselves as belligerents in a high spirit of right and fairness 
 because we act without animus." We shall have occasion, again and 
 again, during the "fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us" to prove that 
 our hearts are right and our traditions true. There will be none of 
 the old passions of war. Our friendships need not be disturbed, and 
 as the President says, we shall have an opportunity to prove this "in 
 our daily attitude and actions toward the millions of men and women 
 of German birth and native sympathy who live among us and share 
 our life, . . . . who are in fact loyal to their neighbors and to the 
 
Government in the hour of test." Consistent with all this, there will 
 be an interchange of good-will, regardless of race or nationality. A 
 cult of hatred has no place in free America, for tolerance is the first 
 %> principle of democracy. 
 
 Let us scorn to hate. In the midst of the conflict, which is waged 
 for international freedom, let us reassert our belief in law, the abso- 
 lute prerequisite for a democratic world. While we fight, let us pre- 
 pare for peace. President Wilson, in his great speech to the Senate 
 on January 22, gave this note to the world. "The statesmen of the 
 world," he said, "must plan for peace, and nations must adjust and 
 accommodate their policy to it, as they have planned for war and made 
 ready for pitiless contest and rivalry." During the last two and a half 
 years, leaders of thought, wherever to be found, have pointed the way, 
 and there exists today substantial agreement on many of the essentials 
 necessary for the avoidance of war in the future. A judicial union of 
 the nations and a permanent international conference have become 
 familiar axioms in the plans for a durable peace. 
 
 Our entry into the war gives a new significance to this epoch- 
 making speech of the President, when he stunned the world with his 
 frank statement of the way and upon what terms the war should be 
 ended. The principles enunciated he calls American principles, Amer- 
 ican policies, and yet he says, "They are the principles and policies of 
 forward-looking men and women everywhere of every modern nation, 
 of every enlightened community. They are the principles of man- 
 kind and must prevail." 
 
 With these high words before us, it becomes the patriotic duty of 
 American citizens to study and to encourage the study of those plans 
 put forward to achieve a definite concert of the Powers and a just war 
 settlement. Let us keep this before our minds, for even though we 
 achieve military success, we shall not be victorious unless our prepara- 
 tions for peace, backed by the voice of the people, come into full 
 fruition at the close of the war. 
 
 What is the special service which teachers may render in this war? 
 Anger, hate of other nations, should be kept from the school-room. 
 The schools should maintain a civic and moral stability among the 
 youth of the land. This is the opportunity to inspire anew a love 
 for American institutions and American ideals. Civic service, appro- 
 priate to youth, imbued with devotion to the nation's need, would 
 constitute a material support to the country in this time of national 
 crisis. The school children of the United States could, for example, 
 through home and school gardens, make a substantial offering to the 
 problem of food production during the war. This and other forms 
 of youthful service, consciously entered upon for the nation's good, 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 would develop a sane and logical patriotism among i ||j! 
 a mighty bulwark for the welfare of any nation. 018 465 797 
 
 We shall not be true to our young citizens, however, if we withhold 
 from them the hope of a new world order. If we are sincere in our plans 
 for peace, we shall impart to those who will determine the life of the 
 future the knowledge of those processes which we, according to our 
 judgment, deem wise and practical. Nay, more, we shall inspire the 
 youth of today with a vision of a different world. Truly, the next great 
 forward step of humanity must begin in the schools. 
 
 Our efforts in this direction should not be interrupted. The ob- 
 servance of the Eighteenth of May, Peace Day, or International Day, 
 which has been the program of the schools of this country and of other 
 countries for over a decade, is of peculiar importance this year when 
 we, through the voice of our President, are professedly waging war 
 for international freedom and justice. We should teach the young 
 people the way to freedom and justice. It is most fitting that the 
 anniversary of the opening of the First Hague Conference, the starting 
 point and the center of international law and order, should be 
 celebrated in the schools this year. The observance of Peace Day 
 offers an opportunity to point out the value of arbitration, conciliation 
 and judicial settlement. The exercises might well recite the successes 
 of the Arbitration Court at The Hague, established by the First Hague 
 Conference. It is timely to call attention to the fifteen cases of dis- 
 putes settled effectively by this arbitration tribunal, which was indeed 
 fully competent to have settled the initial dispute in the present world 
 conflict. Our young people should know of the proposed World 
 Court, accepted in principle at the Second Hague Conference, and 
 which is, among all the factors entering into a permanent peace plan, 
 the one universally accepted. A Peace Day exercise this year offers 
 a great opportunity to take note of these solid foundations of law and 
 order. 
 
 On those who administer education in this critical time rests the 
 responsibility of preserving and advancing those ideals for which all 
 nations should strive and of establishing an unbroken unity of youthful 
 civic service and devotion to the nation's welfare. May we in our 
 hour of test still be able to maintain the American ideal of democracy 
 and may the teachers of America continue to be the consecrated 
 servants of the democratic ideal. God grant that on the pages of the 
 world's history, the United States will stand out as a nation which 
 remained true to its purpose in the service of humanity. 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 Fannie Fern Andrews. 
 Boston, Mass., April io, 1917. 
 
Hollinger Corp. 
 P H8.5 
 
MRRAR'TOF CONGRESS 
 
 iiSSBHlSB 
 
 018 465 797 1 
 
 Hollinger Corp. 
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