108 One mark of good citizenship is the respect shown to emblems of authority. All good citizens rise to their feet and remain standing during the playing or singing of the National anthem. We ought to cultivate such habits until they become reflex: i. e. until we do them as a matter of course without being told by the teacher in school or by the leader of the choir or some other person.
Every school boy and girl ought to commit to memory the words of the Star Spangled Banner and of America. The teacher can make the singing of patriotic songs and the learning of patriotic poems and speeches a part of the opening exercises of the school. Poems and speeches learned in childhood will generally remain with us throughout life.
109 Radicalism of thought and action can generally be traced to the segregation of the people into small groups where the individual is alone in his thinking. Association and cooperation tend to break up individualism. Where men and women come together in thought and consideration, there is always developed a tendency toward moderation. Our present day complex society demands that every individual yield something for the good of the whole community. The yielding process is a moderating process. Anarchy stands for the division of society into individuals where each individual becomes selfish and dominating over others around him. Loyalty to the Nation and the State requires that the individual shall coöperate with his neighbor and that he shall work in harmony with other people in the community. If people would more often assemble and discuss the needs of the entire community and how each may help to make the entire community better, we would have less of class distinction and more of social harmony and of economic prosperity.
110 Republican government is government by the people through their chosen representatives. Republican government can only be good government and effective government, when every qualified voter will assume his full duty in helping carry on the government. This duty is exercised through the casting of an intelligent ballot on election day. In the presidential election of 1908 the percentage of qualified voters actually voting ranged from 15.8 per cent to 88.1 per cent, the average for all States being 60.5 per cent.