Legislation as a Means of Aiding Social Progress. Through investigation, education, and legislation we insure human progress. Unknown situations are investigated; the known facts are made a part of public knowledge. Public discussion prepares men and women for united action; and this discussion finds expression, among other ways, in the form of wise legislation. The Family Budget. The first business of the citizen is to make an honest living. But the income one gets by his earnings must be spent wisely. That is, each expenditure must be thought of in relation to all the other expenditures. To do this wisely for a family requires a family budget. In the family budget one sets down in one column the money income. In another column is set down the purposes for which that money is spent. The expenditures will include those for rent or for home ownership, those for food, for clothing, for charity, for church, for education, for recreation, for future needs. By keeping such a record you can plan all of your expenditures so as to get the most pleasure and profit from your income. By a well-kept budget you can make sure whether you are spending wisely on education, on investments on your home, on all the many wants that must be met to keep one's life useful and happy. Keeping Fit. And then do not forget to keep fit. Your enjoyment of pleasures and the ease and competence with which you do your work depend in large part on good health. Good health is not an end in itself. We keep fit that we may keep useful to ourselves and to others. To keep fit we must keep both work and pleasures within reasonable limits. "Temperance in all things" is the rule of life by which we shall keep healthy and happy, and can therefore be of greatest service to ourselves and to the many who must rely upon our work as individuals and as citizens. The Duty to Vote. One of the privileges of citizenship, we found, was the right of voting for the men who were to represent us in making and enforcing our laws. It is not sufficient for citizens to have the right of voting. It is necessary also to use this privilege. Good government is possible only where there are interested, wide-awake citizens. Do you know any man in your neighborhood who never votes because (he claims) it makes no difference, and who says, "The same politicians will always be elected anyhow"? He represents exactly the point of view which enables gangsters to run a government for their own personal profit. It is poor sportsmanship for one who will not vote or give his time and energy to better political conditions to complain of political evils. The citizen has a duty thrust upon him to put the best man in office. The good citizen will vote! W. H. Durborough, Chicago THEODORE ROOSEVELT Jury Duty. The next way a citizen helps his government is usually considered a disagreeable one. This is the duty of frail and frequently ill in early life, he A leading exponent of keeping fit. Though serving on a jury, to developed himself into a strong and judge the guilt of law vigorous man by exercise and careful living. breakers or to decide between the parties in a civil suit. Very few people enjoy this task. Ordinarily it is a difficult matter to select a jury from those Americans who represent the best of our nation. And yet this duty is bestowed by law on those who have the privilege of voting and paying taxes; in other words, on all adult citizens. the entire community judged offenders. In earlier times This gave place during the Dark Ages (800-1300) to a trial by fire or water to test the truthfulness of the offenders. Today a jury, a small selected group of twelve men or women, or both, decide on the guilt of the. offender in criminal matters or as to the amount of damages or other awards in a civil suit. Jury duty is one which a good citizen must assume. Care of Public Property. It is the privilege of the citizen to participate in his government, to keep up his earning power, to protect the property, health, living standards, and liberties of others. Such privileges bring duties. The spirit in which you perform these duties will be judged, among other ways, by the way you protect public property. Public property is familiar to all of us, in the schoolroom, in the school building, in the public park, in the streets and highways. But do you ever stop to think that, after all, public property is your property? Every day of your life you use or receive benefits from public property. Do you use it with care for the rights of others? The best inspectors of public property are the young inspectors of public property in the schools. The only true protectors of public property are the citizens, young and old. "Why don't they keep the streets a little cleaner?" You ask with annoyance not undue. "Why don't they keep the parks a little greener?" Did you ever stop to think that "they" means "you"? Any man, no matter how humble his job or how poor he may be, or any woman, no matter how occupied she is at home, who so gives his or her life as to be true to American ideals is a public-spirited citizen. One man may use fair weights and measures in his store; another may lay well the stone foundations for a new school; another may sweep the streets of the city. Each in his way is public-spirited. The girl who helps a younger child across the street and the boy who picks up a piece of paper from the street show the quality of service that will earn them the name of public spirited citizens. For a public-spirited citizen is anyone who places the good of the public first. Community Life Is Built Upon Loyalty. Loyalty does not begin on battle-fields. It begins in the home town. Patriotism is not taught at the cannon's mouth. It is taught on the hearthstone. The first place to learn loyalty is in the home. The second place to learn it is on the playground. The third is in the school and in the neighborhood. Loyalty to the neighborhood, the church, and the school teaches a never-tobe-forgotten lesson in the patriotism that begins close at hand. One can best serve his country by first serving his local community. A country is made up of local communities, just as a community is made up of homes. The only successful way to build a nation is to begin with neighborhood communities. In forging a chain it is necessary to make it link by link. If all the links are strong, the chain will be strong. "In Union There Is Strength." This saying is one of the traditions of American government and life. Long ago, Æsop wrote his fable of the man who wished to teach his sons the strength that came from standing together. He called them all about him and handed each one a small twig. "Break the twig," he said to each. The sons broke the twigs without the least difficulty. Then the father took a number of twigs of the same size and strength and bound them together in a bundle. This bundle he handed to the first son and asked him to break it. The son tried, but in vain, for the twigs clung close together. No one of them could be broken without the others, and there were too many in the bundle to be broken all at once. Each son tried in turn to break the bundle and each failed. Even the strongest son, a big, stalwart fellow, could do nothing with it. |