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 Reprinted from the EDUCATIONAL REVIEW, New York, Jt%e, TrtT " 
 
 Copyright, 1912, by EDUCATIONAL REVIEW PUBLISHING Co.^^:' 
 
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 ii H7 
 
 PATRIOTISM, INSTINCTIVE AND INTELLIGENT 
 
 On the Fourth of July, 1911, the number of accidents re- 
 ported by the Associated Press was 905. This was said to be 
 less than one-half the number occasioned by the patriotic jubila- 
 tion of the preceding Fourth, and about one-third of the 
 casualties of July Fourth, 1909. The diminishing number of 
 killed and wounded has been widely commented upon as indi- 
 cating a rapid approach toward a " safe and sane " Independ- 
 ence Day. 
 
 But shall we really have a " sane " Fourth when the number 
 of killed and wounded on that day is reduced to zero? That 
 depends upon whether with diminishing casualties we have a 
 growing apprehension of what the Fourth of July really means. 
 The Chicago Tribune properly observes that " advocates of 
 a sane celebration are not merely interested in the prevention 
 of dangerous and brutal practises. Restrictive ordinances do 
 that and the effort of the persons interested in a genuine cele- 
 bration has been to provide a means of demonstrating and 
 teaching real patriotism." We shall never have a sane Fourth 
 until we have a sane patriotism. But what is a sane 
 patriotism ? 
 
 Patriotism can not be really understood without knowing 
 something of the manner of its development. Primarily it is 
 an identification of the individual with the group to which he 
 belongs family, tribe, state, or nation. The patriot proudly 
 speaks of "my family," "my tribe," "my state," "my 
 people." This identification is based upon a certain feeling 
 which is the product of group association, and this feeling 
 is instinctive. 
 
 Sociology ascribes the origin of patriotism to the family 
 lif e^ the family being the first social group? That thislsTcor- 
 
 13 
 
 263409 
 
 : 
 
14 Educational Review 
 
 rect is indicated by the origin of the word patriotism. It is 
 derived from the Greek word Ttarpio?, which means of or 
 belonging to one's father. The Indo-Germanic root of the 
 word is pa, from which we have the Latin pater and the Eng- 
 lish words father, paternal, patriarch, patriotism, and many 
 others. Perhaps the root- word itself is but the natural in- 
 fantile utterance reduplicated in the word papa. At all events 
 the word patriotism has plainly a family origin. The papa, 
 the father, being the providing, protecting, and governing 
 element in the family group, his authority supreme, dignity, 
 protection, and support being personified in him, he was natu- 
 rally the. object of reverence and devotion. Loyalty to the 
 pater, the father, the patriarch, was therefore the earliest 
 form of patriotism. 
 
 In the course of social evolution the family enlarged into 
 the clan, the gens, or the tribe. The interests of single 
 families were then more or less submerged in the interests 
 of a group of families of which each was a component ele- 
 ment. The chief representative of these larger interests was 
 the head man, the chieftain, including later the council. 
 Loyalty to the father and family exclusively was inconsistent 
 with clan or tribal life. Hence patriotism extended itself to 
 the interests of the larger group and their tribal representa- 
 tives. There was, so to speak, an expansion of patriotism. 
 This new form was represented in the clannishness of the 
 early Scot, " owning no tie but to his clan/' the tribal instincts 
 of the American Indian and other primitive peoples, and the 
 partizanship of the early Greeks and Romans. With the 
 formation of the tribe, patriotism past from fatherism to 
 tribalism. 
 
 In the amalgamation of tribes into states and nations the 
 ^expansion of the feeling now known as patriotism continued. 
 Loyalty to the tribe past over into loyalty to the state or 
 nation, and the feeling of patriotism became what we ordi- 
 narily express as love of country, the feeling which incites the 
 individual to identify his interests more or less with those 
 of his country, and to speak and act in a manner which he 
 supposes will illustrate this identification. 
 
1912] Patriotism, instinctive and intelligent 15 
 
 Of course, the feeling of patriotism is not confined alone to 
 the personal group of which the individual is a member. _J 
 attaches itself also to the natural surroundings of the group. 
 " I love thy rocks and rills, thy woods and templed hills " is 
 the expression of a truly patriotic sentiment. But we may 
 include in our conception of a social group the natural con- 
 ditions which surround it, and no misunderstanding need 
 arise from defining patriotism as primarily an instinctive 
 group feeling^. 
 
 Patriotism, then, like all other things in the universe, like 
 the mind and all its manifestations, has had its origin and its 
 development. It originated in association, and association 
 has been the main factor in its growth. Now the fact of the 
 evolution of patriotism, and the manner in which it has taken 
 place are the basis of a safe prophecy with respect to what 
 patriotism is to become, if political and social organization 
 and amalgamation continue. The affiliation and federation 
 of countries will enlarge the feeling of patriotism. The 
 " Parliament of man and federation of the world " would 
 as certainly conduce to cosmopolitanism or political human- 
 ism as tribal associations conduced to tribalism, and the con- 
 solidation of tribes into states and states into nations conduced 
 to the modern patriotic feeling. Lgve_nf_couritry ;_must gradu- 
 ally give. .place to love of kind. 
 
 Altho patriotism expands with the enlarging composition of 
 the group, it does not necessarily sever itself from any point 
 of attachment. The family feeling may still be strong in the 
 tribe, as with the Montagues and Capulets in Rome, for in- 
 stance; and devotion to the state may be powerful in the citi- 
 zens of the nation, as was conspicuously shown in the seces- 
 sion of the Southern States of America. So also the cosmo- 
 politan may retain his love of country. He is not necessarily 
 " a traitor," as some seem to suppose. Neither does this 
 larger patriotism imply a lack of family affection with a 
 Mrs. Jellyby's sentimental interest in the inhabitants of Bor- 
 rioboola-Gha. In pure cosmopolitanism, however, the_j)irit 
 or racial antagonism must necessarily vanish, 
 
 and loyalty to one country or race as against another country 
 
1 6 Educational Review [J une 
 
 or race must be controlled and tempered by devotion to 
 humanity. The narrower and selfish interests of the particular 
 country to which the citizen belongs must be held inferior to 
 the interests of mankind. Of course all these interests may 
 coincide, but the world-patriot can not stand with his country 
 " against the world/' unless his country is right and " the 
 world " is wrong. True loyalty and humanity can mean only 
 devotion to the principles upon which the well-being of hu- 
 manity rests. The world patriot must be loyal to right every- 
 where against wrong anywhere. He must stand for justice 
 to all against injustice to any. When the action or demands 
 of his country conflict with the rights of humanity he must 
 stand for humanity. Hence he may be called by his com- 
 patriots unpatriotic, but he is so only as viewed from the 
 interests of the smaller group. The " politicals " of Russia, 
 for instance, are unpatriotic in the eyes of the Russian 
 Bureaucracy, and its supporters. Tho they be faithful to 
 universal principles of liberty and equality, they are unfaithful 
 to the principles of Russian despotism; hence, from a certain 
 Russian standpoint, they are unpatriotic. 
 
 George Kennan in the Outlook for March 30, 1907, gives 
 an interesting and pathetic account of the attempt of some 
 of these politicals to manifest their devotion to the larger prin- 
 ciples of freedom embodied in our own Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence. He says : " On the morning of the Fourth of July, 
 1876, hours before the first daylight cannon announced the 
 beginning of the great celebration in Philadelphia, hundreds 
 of small, rude American flags or strips of red, white, and 
 blue cloth fluttered from the grated windows of the politicals 
 around the whole quadrangle of the great St. Petersburg 
 prison, while the prisoners were faintly hurrahing, singing 
 patriotic songs, or exchanging greetings with one another 
 thru the iron pipes which united their cells. The celebration, 
 of course, was soon over. The prison guard, altho they had 
 never heard of the Declaration of Independence and did not 
 understand the significance of this extraordinary demonstra- 
 tion, promptly seized and removed the flags and tri-colored 
 streamers. Some of the prisoners, however, had more ma- 
 
Patriotism, instinctive and intelligent 17 
 
 terial of the same kind in reserve, and at intervals thruout the 
 whole day scraps and tatters of red, white, and blue were 
 furtively hung out here and there from cell windows or tied 
 around the bars of the gratings. Late in the evening at a 
 preconcerted hour, the politicals lighted their bits of tallow 
 candles and placed them in their windows, and the celebra- 
 tion ended with a faint but perceptible illumination of the 
 great prison." 
 
 This mournful and touching endeavor to celebrate our Fourth 
 of July did not necessarily indicate a greater love of our 
 country than of Russia, but it did imply a devotion to political 
 principles of universal application. We may conceive that the 
 aspiration and ideal of these politicals was merely that these 
 principles should prevail in their own fatherland. They 
 loved not Russia less, but freedom more. They at least ap- 
 proximated a " higher patriotism." 
 
 Thus far we have spoken of patriotism as an instinctive 
 feeling or sentiment. Now, it is characteristic of an instinct 
 that it acts without reflection. Tho originally purposive in 
 action, and serving as an agent in individual or group preserva- 
 tion, an instinct talkes no consideration of objective circum- 
 
 stances. It is a ^ blind impulse. When the stimulus is pro- 
 vided it operates; and its operation has often led, in the 
 course of biological and social evolution, to the extinction of 
 individuals and of groups. Patriotism, therefore, so far 
 as it is instinctive, is impulsive, blind, unreasoning, and irre- 
 flective. It thrills, it hurrahs, it boasts, it fights and dies with- l 
 out calmly considering what it is all about. It resents a 
 fancied insult without stopping to ascertain whether it is real. 
 It flies to the defense of the supposed interests of its group 
 without inquiring whether the interests are worthy or the 
 danger is actual. It is blind patriotism and springs from the ] 
 emotional side of the mind. It differs in no essential respect 
 from the impulse of the tiger to defend its young, or from 
 that of the wild cattle of the prairie to defend the herd. It is 
 easily aroused and easily " stampeded." 
 
 On the other hand, there is a patriotism which may be 
 distinguished from instinctive patriotism by the word intelli- 
 
1 8 Educational Review [June 
 
 gent. The emotions are subject to the control of the intellect. 
 It is the function and power of the intellect to inhibit, re- 
 strain, sometimes to eliminate, an instinct. Even the in- 
 stinct of self-preservation, strong as it is, has sometimes been 
 wholly inhibited by a duly informed and reflective mind. 
 The proper intelligence may therefore modify, even reverse, 
 the actions springing from instinctive feeling. Patriotic senti- 
 ment may be held subject to a thoro knowledge of political 
 and social conditions and a sense of justice. When so held it 
 becomes intelligent patriotism. Intelligent patriotism, then, is 
 patriotic feeling, instinctive patriotism, under the control and 
 guidance of knowledge and reflection. It is love of country 
 and the disposition to serve it, coupled with a knowledge of 
 how to serve it well. It does not yield to impulse. It looks 
 before and after. It restrains a nation from fighting when 
 there are no real interests at stake. 
 
 Now there can be no doubt that the great need of all nations 
 is intelligent patriotism. The modern patriot is too much dis- 
 posed to act upon impulse. He is "touchy"; he goes off 
 "half-cocked"; he is full of racial prejudice, indulges in 
 national bombast and braggadocio, Chauvinism, Jingoism, and 
 manifests a disposition to whip somebody. His patriotism .is 
 chiefly an instinctive patriotism. Such patriotism is a feeling 
 I for one's country without the control of intelligence; it is 
 * patriotic zeal without patriotic knowledge. Under its prompt- 
 ings the patriotic is sometimes the idiotic. The utterances and 
 actions evoked by it are sometimes illustrative of the fact that 
 a man may be a patriot and still be a fool. 
 
 Among the effects of instinctive patriotism is the over- 
 weening national egotism manifested by so many " patriots." 
 There is a disease called by the learned megalomania. Its 
 primary symptom is " the delusion of grandeur." So many 
 patriots are megalomaniacs that the disease seems to char- 
 acterize every nation and every people. It led Israel to regard 
 itself as a " peculiar " people, the favorite of the Almighty. 
 It induced the Greeks to call all other peoples barbarians. The 
 Chinese, according to their own estimate, are " celestials," and 
 both the English and the Americans speak of themselves as 
 
1912] Patriotism, instinctive and intelligent 19 
 
 divinely commissioned to spread the blessings of civilization 
 among " inferior " peoples, even if they smother them in the 
 process. All this is national egotism, megalomania. It 
 arises from a more or less irreflective instinctive patriotism. 
 
 Obviously great national and social dangers are consequent 
 upon instinctive patriotism. By manifesting itself in antipathy 
 toward another nation, and in irreflective action, it provokes 
 suspicion, jealousy, hatred, and unnecessary war. Washing- 
 ton, in his Farewell address, pointed out some of these dan- 
 gers. " Antipathy in one nation against another," said he, 
 " disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay 
 hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and in- 
 tractable, when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute 
 occur. Hence, frequent collisions; obstinate, envenomed, and 
 bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill-will and resent- 
 ment, sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to 
 the best calculations of policy. The government sometimes 
 participates in the national propensity, and adopts thru pas- 
 sion what reason would reject; at other times it makes the 
 animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility 
 instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious 
 motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of 
 nations has been the victim/' Instinctive patriotism forced 
 President McKinley into a war with Spain which, with na- 
 tional intelligence and forbearance, might have been avoided. 
 It inspires irresponsible and mischievous remarks and com- 
 ments concerning other nations, which tend to provoke 
 hostility. The following is a sample : " I would be in favor 
 of annexing Canada right now, if I thought England would 
 fight. But just to take Canada and have no brush with Eng- 
 land would be too tame. There are hundreds of young men 
 in this country who would enjoy a war with England, and 
 some of the young veterans of the war would not be slow in 
 going to the front." This is the language of a former gen- 
 eral of the American Army as reported by the Associated 
 Press. The correspondent of the Pittsburg Gazette of Decem- 
 ber 15, 1903, when our relations with Colombia were some- 
 what strained, wrote : " There are a lot of young officers 
 
2O Educational Review [June 
 
 in Washington who are hoping that the complications between 
 this country and Colombia will result in war. They do not 
 expect it will be much of a war even if there is a conflict 
 between the two forces, but at any rate it will open the way 
 to promotion for some of them, and promotion is the sole 
 ambition of the soldiers." Remarks like these are prompted 
 solely by instinctive patriotism, patriotism unrestrained by 
 social intelligence. 
 
 Such patriotism not only leads to national bickering and 
 strife, but it also prevents that national receptiveness so essen- 
 tial to progress. " The national egotism which scorns to 
 learn of neighbors," says Brinton, " prepares the pathway to 
 national ruin. . . . That nation today which is most eager 
 to learn from others, which is furthest from the fatal delusion 
 that all wisdom flows from its own springs will surely be 
 in the van of progress." * But instinctive patriotism is not 
 eager to learn from other nations, for the very simple reason 
 that it thinks they have nothing superior to teach. To the 
 instinctive patriot nothing in foreign nations is worthy of 
 emulation or adoption. He speaks without the slightest 
 reverence of "Japs," and "Chinks," and "Dagoes"; of 
 " wild Irishmen," " rat-eating Frenchmen," and " flat-headed 
 Dutchmen." Such a " patriot " may be a gentleman so far 
 as his more intimate personal relationships are concerned, 
 but as a representative of nationality he is often a braggart, 
 a bully, or a fool. His patriotism is irrational and irrespon- 
 sible, and consequently a danger to his country. 
 
 In spite of the dangers of instinctive patriotism, however, 
 it must be recognized that, like other instincts again, it may 
 serve at times a very useful purpose. Indeed, in the absence 
 of social intelligence, it has been absolutely essential to the 
 preservation of social groups. When the life of a nation, 
 for instance, is endangered, its citizens must rise instantly to - 
 its defense. There is no time for serious reflection. To 
 deliberate is to be lost. Hence the disposition to spring to 
 arms is an element of national survival; for it leads the citi- 
 zens to act in concert, and so more effectively. Without 
 
 1 Basis of social relationships, New York, 1902, p. 60. 
 
1912] Patriotism, instinctive and intelligent 21 
 
 instinctive patriotism, no group in a hostile environment 
 could have survived. On the whole, those groups in which 
 it was highest developed are the ones which have persisted. 
 Instinctive patriotism, then, has unquestionably been an ele- 
 ment in social survival, as well as an element in social danger 
 and destruction. But however serviceable this form of patriot- 
 ism may have been in the past, or however necessary in a 
 critical national exigency, it is not the kind of patriotism 
 which is needed today. It involves governments in needless 
 strife, and it renders the citizens easily susceptible to the 
 pernicious influences of kings, diplomats, and unscrupulous 
 politicians. Hence, it should be supplanted as rapidly as pos- 
 sible by intelligent patriotism. 
 
 Intelligent patriotism implies a particular kind of knowl- 
 edge, a knowledge of national and social relationships, and of 
 the principles of industrial and political well-being. In the 
 endeavor to develop it in the schools, for instance, we may 
 safely rely upon the existence of patriotic feeling and devote 
 attention exclusively to promoting the right kind of intelli- 
 gence. Saluting the flag, the singing of patriotic songs, Fourth 
 of July celebrations as heretofore conducted, to say nothing 
 of most of the patriotic appeals from pulpit and rostrum, are 
 directed merely to developing instinctive patriotism. The 
 really needed and difficult thing, however, is to inform the 
 instinct so that it will operate, even under trying circum- 
 stances, to the real advantage and safety of the nation. Edu- 
 cation should be directed not to the development of patriotic 
 feeling, but to imparting the kind of knowledge by which I 
 that feeling is restrained and directed. 
 
 The difference between instinctive patriotism and intelligent 
 patriotism, as I have tried to present it, is not, of course, 
 absolute. Feeling is necessary to action, and the two can not/^ 
 be separated. But the difference between impulsive action 
 and rational action is obvious, and so, I think, must be the 
 distinction I have drawn between instinctive patriotism and 
 intelligent patriotism. Instinctive patriotism is not to be 
 supplanted by intelligent patriotism ; it is, rather, to be trans- 
 formed into it by knowledge. 
 
22 Educational Review [June 
 
 With the distinction of the two kinds of patriotism now 
 before us it will be interesting to compare some of the patriotic 
 manifestations in modern political discussion. Instinctive 
 patriotism, with a superficial knowledge of science, justifies 
 war on the ground of the law of the survival of the fittest. 
 Intelligent patriotism analyzes the idea of the fittest, finds 
 that it has no ethical signification, and strives to promote all 
 activities calculated to fit our nation to survive. Instinctive 
 patriotism prates in language which to delicate ears sounds 
 almost blasphemous, of the unpremeditated occurrences in our 
 national life as disclosing the will of Providence. Intelligent 
 patriotism recognizes that safe and permanent progress is 
 the result of human forethought, that the blunders of a nation 
 are no less deplorable and blameworthy than those of an 
 individual, and that unconsidered or ill-considered action on 
 the part of man or nation is quite as likely to disclose the will 
 of the devil as the will of the Lord. Instinctive patriotism 
 melodramatically declares that the flag of our country when- 
 ever or wherever, and no matter under what circumstances, 
 it is erected, shall never be hauled down. Intelligent patriotism 
 insists that whenever and wherever the flag is raised in in- 
 justice, or as a symbol of oppression and tyranny, the sooner 
 it is hauled down the better; for the intelligent patriot is 
 likely to have a feeling that unless it is lowered by our own 
 hands, the God of Justice will somehow tear it down and 
 make it a mockery and a mournful memory in the minds of 
 men. Instinctive patriotism defiantly proclaims, " My country, 
 ' right or wrong." Intelligent patriotism says, " My country, 
 I when she is right, and when she is wrong, my life to set her 
 ^ right." Instinctive patriotism, nonplused by the arguments 
 of the peace advocates, tries to persuade itself that such advo- 
 cates are uneducated sentimentalists and mollycoddles. In- 
 telligent patriotism quietly continues to organize its peace 
 leagues, associations, and federations, schools, tribunals, and 
 unions, confident that proper intelligence will make war im- 
 possible. 
 
 The difference between the two kinds of patriotism is 
 shown in nothing more clearly than the character of the two 
 
1912] Patriotism, instinctive and intelligent 23 
 
 national ideals now inculcated. Instinctive patriotism has 
 much to say about our becoming a " world power," the in- 
 evitableness of war, and of our rightful influence in the council 
 of nations. Intelligent patriotism knows we have long been 
 a world power, that war is neither inevitable nor necessary, 
 and is not so much interested in our rightful influence as that 
 our influence be exercised in the rightful way. The instinctive 
 patriotic ideal is militant; the intelligent, scientific and in-' 
 dustrial. 
 
 Is it necessary to inquire which is the higher form of 
 patriotism? Which is the nobler national aspiration, which 
 evinces the loftier patriotism, supremacy in war and the 
 arts of destruction, with hundreds of millions of our wealth 
 locked up in ships, forts, and arsenals, and thousands of men 
 withdrawn from the peaceful pursuits to man these instru- 
 ments of death, and become a burden on the back of labor, or 
 supremacy in industry, in trade, in science, in art, in litera- 
 ture, and in education, with health, wealth, and happiness for 
 all our people; and, because we have charity for all and malice 
 toward none, enjoying the good-will and friendship of all the 
 world? For which should we strive as a nation, to evoke 
 the fear of the weaker nations by the strength of our arma- 
 ments (and their hatred also, for hate is the child of fear), 
 or to deserve and compel their respect and admiration by fair 
 dealing, justice, modesty, moderation, courtesy, and charity, 
 and by our sincerity in upholding the principles of liberty, 
 equality, and fraternity? 
 
 Instinctive patriotism is thrilled by glowing descriptions of 
 America as mighty in battle, or as Mistress of the Seas with 
 hundreds of battleships, those grim leviathans of the deep, 
 plowing the waves of every sea and proudly tossing from 
 their iron manes the ocean foam; or resting unwelcome, it 
 may be, because unbidden, guests in the ports of foreign 
 lands; each bearing witness that in this nation of ours, con- 
 ceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all 
 men are created equal, there is a disposition to forsake the 
 principles of the fathers in a lust for power, and to follow 
 in the wake of Babylon and Nineveh, Greece, Rome and 
 
2 4 n*HIS BOOK IS DUE ON JHE^LAST DAT 1 
 
 Spain; the nations whose bloody history reveals to him who 
 will but read that the nation that relies upon force must 
 finally become the victim of force. For it is written, " They 
 that take the sword shall perish by the sword." 
 
 Intelligent patriotism, on the other hand, is inspired by 
 the ideal of America as a republic supremely powerful by the 
 force of an enlightened public opinion, and supremely glori- 
 ous on account of her successful pursuit of the arts^gf peace, 
 and because of her acknowledged leadership in all that liber- 
 ates and lifts. The prophet of old declared that there shall 
 come a time when swords shall be beaten into plowshares and 
 spears into pruning-hooks, and men shall learn war no more; 
 and that the earth shall be full of knowledge as the waters 
 cover the sea. When these prophecies are to be fulfilled no 
 one can know 
 
 "Ah, when shall all men's good be each man's rule, 
 
 And universal peace lie like a shaft of light across mankind; 
 Or like a lane of beams athwart the sea 
 Thru all the circle of the golden year?" 
 
 But these prophecies imply a period of continuous peace and 
 general education involving the diffusion of patriotic knowl- 
 edge. Who can estimate what this will mean to the advance- 
 ment of the people? It is not given unto men to foretell what 
 this nation is to become; it doth not yet appear what we shall 
 be; but of this we may be sure, that with continuous peace, 
 universal education, and intelligent patriotism, eye hath not 
 seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the imagination 
 of man to conceive the glorious possibilities of the American 
 Republic. 
 
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