Gestures of Patriotism
GESTURES OF PATRIOTISM /^HICAGO, disturbed emotionally by the decision ^-^ of its superintendent of schools to ban from classrooms the martial picture known as The Spirit of '76, may well...
...and that, before the debacle had reached its final horror, the soldier must rise and speak...
...By splitting the ranks of l'Action Francaise, M. Georges Valois has made an unpardonable blunder which is really an unpardonable wrong...
...Perhaps he was slightly too exuberant a crusader for his ideal...
...We have no desire to sit in judgment upon this point of view...
...Eloquent speakers asserted that the war had been fought in vain...
...But the widespread American sentiment to which we have alluded can be gauged rather accurately if it is contrasted with the ceremony which French veterans of pronounced leanings toward Fascism staged on the fringes of Verdun...
...It seems almost a contradiction in terms...
...We hope that French Catholics will continue to view it with the mingled suspicion and repugnance which is so much needed if the Church is to avoid being confused with reactionary forlorn hopes...
...that the hour called for'a new martial alignment to recapture the fruits of victory...
...The Superintendent felt, apparently, that it is far more necessary to create the impression that living and voting prosaically but well is a supreme duty...
...And perhaps they may find it consoling to ponder the interesting contrast between the manifesto which was staged at Verdun and the ruling of Chicago's superintendent of schools...
...The real patriotism of this gentleman is granted even by those who believe that his sudden pacific gesture was distorted...
...GESTURES OF PATRIOTISM /^HICAGO, disturbed emotionally by the decision ^-^ of its superintendent of schools to ban from classrooms the martial picture known as The Spirit of '76, may well believe that the prevailing ideas of patriotism are somewhat complex...
...Let us hope the great organization now forming under General Castlenau sponsors similar purposes...
...It could not well hope to win out completely, but it had evolved a constructive and critical program of extraordinary value to a country oppressed with problems and Leon Blums...
...L'Action Francaise, from which these Fascists for the most part broke away, was in the healthy position of a growing minority party...
...French Fascism is a gesture...
...Shall education refrain from suggesting to boys that dying for one's country—or at least carrying a musket for one's country—is a glorious thing...
...French Fascism...
...But he does agree with a widespread American sentiment that "war is hell," and that youth should march in the opposite direction...
...We regret sincerely that any group of good men in France should prove so blind to the fundamental necessity for firm conciliation...
...and his view that America ought to prepare for the service of peace and the gradual elimination of war is shared by the vast majority of his numerous neighbors...
...It indicates that some minds, which ought to be logical and Gallic in their irony, have succumbed to the attraction of the Italian pose...
...Beyond any doubt this is also a Catholic view...
Vol. 3 • March 1926 • No. 19
