Holbrook High School - Echo Yearbook (Holbrook, MA)

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THE ECHO 7 Americans In four or five years this class of nineteen twenty-four will be young men and women: full fledged, loyal, and patriotic citizens of the United States. That means on election day they will vote either for the Repub- lican or Democratic party, as the case may be, and otherwise tread the conventionalized path of conduct which goes outwardly to make a good citizen. But if they have a sincere desire to be of worth to their com- munity, to be truly loyal and patri- otic in the truer sense, much more is required of them. The first essential of citizenship is education. That is, not education in the pedagogical sense of the word, but political education. One needs must have a clear understanding of governmental laws and functions both in order to sanction and obey them. An unclouded comprehension of the administration’s domestic and foreign policies with what they in- volve is necessary. They constitute the life blood of the nation and are of vital importance to the private as well as the industrial life of every citizen in it. Thus, since it is im- possible and impotent to attempt to judge that which is foreign to the in- tellect, if one wishes to consider these same laws and policies impartially with a view of ascertaining their justness, one must know them thor- oughly. Ones decision should be un- prejudiced and carefully thought out if they are to be of value. It is dan- gerous to cast a vote which may help decide the destiny of a nation when it is founded on ignorance or snap judg- ment. Even of the sport page is more at- tractive one must keep up to date by intelligent reading, for the every-day citizen is the one most concerned and it is his duty to himself, society, and his government to give his attention for a small part of the day to nation- al affairs. When a people become indifferent to their government that government becomes futile. The first precept of a citizen, therefore, is to so educate and train his mind that he can independently formulate his own ideas and principles while at the same time restricting them to a practicable and compatible channel. When a citizen has then armed himself with the potent magic of knowledge he stands ready to take an active participation in govern- ment. There are three principal ways in which he may do so. The first way is by holding public office. Nature has doubly blessed some men with the rare quality of leadership. America has many such and she needs them all. The day of the pro- fessional politician is passing, but his place must be filled with tactful, hon- est, uncorrupt leaders and states- men. Personal distaste must be pushed aside if the public welfare hangs in the balance. Those who are greatly gifted must bear great re- sponsibility. The best are needed to govern. America honors those who lead. The second way is not less import- ant. It is the privilege and duty of each and every citizen to vote. Americans have dearly bought that power. It is one not to be sold for favors or partisan loyalty. It is the very foundation of our state. The use of it determines the fate of our leaders and their policies. It sways the economics of a world. It is all powerful. Accordingly he who mis- uses it profanes the sacred trust that thousands have protected with their blood that it might remain intact. If a citizen would rightly use this power he must, having unbiasedly weighed the evidence, cast his vote for the candidate or measure which he truly believes the better, irre- spective of personality or party. The third way is the most danger- ous of the three. It is citizen’s con- tribution to that vast, awful power named public opinion. Composed of the same thoughts in many minds, once it is crystallized everything is swept before it. It makes and breaks. It is not easily aroused, but poli- ticians tremble before it. It is to be no less carefully used. These are the three cardinal shares

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To the Seniors jD A ay Knowledge increase for you day by day. A s bravely, Seniors, in work or play our trials you conquer along the way. I nown by all within our school, N ever to break the Golden Rule! O h! how earnestly now you strive W hen thoughts of graduation arrive, I earning all that is to be had, lhach one forgetting about being sad. X)elightful days with us you’ve spent Cjrant we those days you’ll ne’er repent E enjoying the gifts the Gods have lent. If ever blue days should come to you N ever forget to your motto be true Garry your cross with a cheery smile Raising your head, each weary mile, E ach moment of each livelong day i long life’s toilsome, busy way. Sumner High bids success to you E ach boy and girl, so loyal and true.

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8 THE i: G H O of ordinary citizenship. Of course it goes without saying that jury duty and tax payment must be fulfilled. They are essential if we are to con- tinue to enjoy organized government. There are other duties, too, which, while they may come more rarely, call for equal or even greated sacri- fice. The most important is the call to arms. No one questions the cheer- ful willingness of America’s sons to fight for home and liberty when the time comes. The lesson they taught the world in past generations and in this generation still remains vivid. In personal ways, besides, much can be done as for example by inducing aliens to adopt our customs and se- cure citizenship. Many mighty deeds of labor and heroism never receive the laudations of historians. So much, then, for the positive duties of a citizen. Yet, to best serve the nation there are a few out- standing dangers to be avoided. Let us examine the most prominent. The most prevalent danger to a free representative government is the enervating influence of machine politics, which, with its insidious de- mands on party loyalty and for divi- sion of the spoils, is a very imminent and deteriorating drawback to the American system. It is entrenched behind six generations of precedent. In fact, it seems to have become a habit, yet is is a rather humiliating and astounding idea that the other- wise independent American voting public should be a slave to come whenever the political lamp is rubbed. We need, without doubt, political parties but we don’t need either the political boss or his pro- fessional. Merit, not pull, is the only just basis of power. To remedy this system, consequently, each loyal citi- zen, official or voter, should avoid pledging himself unconditionally to any one party. He should, meta- phorically speaking, count ten, sleep over it, and then think twice, before allowing any silver tongued orator to change his opinions. Some men can make one temporarily think black is white. Another thing to avoid is permit- ting personal preference to bias one’s attitude and in letting present needs blind one to the confusion and de- struction an unwise law may do al- though it fit the present need. Of this Burke justly states “Man acts from adequate motives relative to his interest ; and not on metaphysical speculations. Aristotle, the great master of reasoning, cautions us, and with great weight and propriety, against this species of delusive geo- metrical accuracy in moral argument as the most fallacious of all sophistry” Bribery and ignorance are too evi- dent evils to need discussion. Now we come to the personal equa- tion. It may seem strange or absurb that the morals of one man could affect a whole country. Yet they can. It is a well known fact to physiologists that any sort of emo- tion spreads quickly in a community and soon becomes universal. The morals, both of business and conduct, of the average man, there- fore, represent the morals of Amer- ica. So when we strive for success or fame, let us make it a clean suc- cess and an unblemished fame. Let us conduct ourselves, in public and private, in a manner befitting the gentlemen, the men of America. Let us eliminate thoughts of corruption and of mercenariness from our minds. With compis mentis, corn- pis corpere; a clean mind in a sound body. Let us regard ourselves, not in relation to our own petty aims but to God and country. ELLIS JOHNSON, ’24. The American Girl and Her Future There is a similarity between the American girl and the girls of all other civilized countries, in the fact that, only recently she has been freed from the bonds that bound her throughout all the ages. Until the last century, she has been considered intellectually inferior to her brother and treated accordingly. The status of the boy and girl in