Charles Zueblin of Boston: publicist, lecturer, author

              1917

Figure

Charles Zueblin of Boston Publicist, Lecturer, Author.


SIX LECTURES FOR 1917–18
Pan-Preparedness
The nations at war are being chastened.  Democracy is very near the surface of all of them.  We must be the ally of the modernists in all nations.  That means we must be the enemy of Prussia — not of the Kaiser, not of the Germans, but of Prussia.  If this world war is to be the last stand against absolutism, we must improve on the armies and navies of Europe and on the irresolute and inefficient government of the United States.  We must be worthy allies of regenerated France, Belgium and Britain.  We must be worthy competitors of socialized Germany.  We must be prophetic friends of the new Russia and the new China.  We shall tolerate no domination by munition makers, militarists, financiers or politicians.  We must be a reconstructed people mobilizing our resources so that they will serve world commerce after the war, as well as they serve our democratic allies during the war.


1.
Alien or American?
The farther our people get from Europe in geography or time, the more American they should be.  Are all the old families assimilated?  Immigrants came in a million a year before the European war.  One-third of our people are foreign or have one foreign parent.  Ten million natives have African blood.  The West is less alien than the East.  Is not America being determined there?
2.
Transportation for Speculation or Strategy?
A nation cannot be unified without a transportation system.  We have none.  We have more miles of railway than Europe, but one-third of it is needless duplication.  We have the most luxurious trains but at the expense of highways and waterways.  We must have either a single private system or a public system if we are to face the world.  A single private corporation is unthinkable.
3.
Marine, Submarine, and Merchant Marine.
We cannot dispense with a navy yet, but must we build one to defend our three coasts or our possessions in Asia?  Shall we have dreadnoughts or submarines?  Who will pay the bills for an adequate navy?  The present experience of the world tells us that the one thing imperative for war or peace is a merchant marine.  We might change the psychology of the world if every naval man could serve part time on a peace ship carrying goods to the ends of the earth.
4.
Standing Army or Working Army?
We must have no army or an adequate army.  Germany gives us a tragic warning against military preparedness, but if the army breeds war at least Germany's superb military machine does not give school boys military training.  If the world is not ready for peace it needs military engineers more than drillmasters.  If all boys and girls were trained for national service the fangs of militarism would be drawn but the nation would be fit.
5.
Feudal or Democratic Industry?
All preparedness is national suicide if the workers can have no voice in their affairs and no claim to the land.  Every other feudal state has fallen.  What will save ours?  We have hopeful experiments in industrial democracy.  The government is beginning to regulate labor as well as corporations.  A national working army might make every boy and girl an apprentice in industrial democracy.
6.
Federalism and World Organization.
The federal organization of the United States has been a model for other countries followed intimately by Switzerland, Canada, Germany, and Australiasia.  In view of the crudities of federal government in America, its success has been amazing.  The essence of federal government — home rule — has not yet been worked out; community, state, and nation still have their functions confused.  Nevertheless the principle of federalism is triumphant over partisanship, race antagonism, economic conflict, and provincialism.  Is a world wide Monroe Doctrine impossible?  Is the United States of the World chimerical?




COURSES OF LECTURES
American Municipal Progress
A record of the inspiring advance of American communities gathered for the revised edition of American Municipal Progress, first published in 1902.


1.
The Call of the City.
2.
The Service of the City.
3.
The Mind of the City.
4.
The Conscience of the City.
5.
The Joy of the City.
6.
The Legacy of the City.



Democracy in American Letters
The evolution of our democratic faith, as revealed by our chief men of letters.


1.
Boston, Cambridge and Concord.
2.
Whitman, Prophet and Democrat.
3.
Mark Twain, Humorist and Reformer.
4.
Howells, Critic and Socialist.
5.
Henry D. Lloyd, Essayist and Citizen.
6.
William Vaughn Moody, Poet and Dramatist.



A National Faith
The mainspring of national life is not patriotism, race pride, sectarianism, or partisanship, but the spirit of nationalism making for solidarity.


1.
Citizenship.
2.
The Family.
3.
Economic Justice.
4.
Education for Freedom.
5.
The Fit and the Unfit.
6.
Democratic Religion.



SINGLE LECTURES

Education for Freedom.
Evolution and Revolution.
The New Civic Spirit.
America—Pace Maker and Peace Maker.
The Woman Without Occupation.
Democratic Culture.
Fellowship.
Man and Woman.
Mark Twain the Reformer.
Federalism and World Organization.




CHARLES ZUEBLIN is a free lance of democracy.  Having been graduated from classical and theological courses at American universities; having studied social philosophy and social movements in European universities and cities; and having served his novitiate as a social settlement worker in Chicago, he became a university teacher.  During sixteen years at the University of Chicago as a member of the University Extension staff his labors were chiefly those of a social and civic evangelist beyond the university walls.

As his experience widened, his democratic faith matured and he responded to the call of the larger parish and became an independent lecturer on democracy.  To him democracy is not a form of government, but a faith and a life — the life of all by the coöperation of all for the welfare of all.

When he had attained his majority as an itinerant lecturer in 1913 he had traveled over half a million miles expounding the gospel of democracy.  Sometimes the message is given in educational courses to universities and teachers' institutes; sometimes in addresses to religious or labor organizations, chambers of commerce or civic leagues; sometimes in courses of lectures on city or national affairs and lectures on democracy in literature and life to potential citizens in women's clubs; sometimes in civic revivals reaching whole communities.

The last two decades have witnessed the greatest advance in popular government America has known and the greatest expansion of democratic faith the world has known.  To quicken this cosmic faith and to quicken those practical steps is the aim of Charles Zueblin.



BOOKS BY CHARLES ZUEBLIN

DEMOCRACY AND THE OVERMAN
THE RELIGION OF A DEMOCRAT
The price of either book is $ 1.00 net; postpaid $ 1.10
AMERICAN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS
New Edition, Entirely Rewritten and Greatly Enlarged, Complete bibliography, beautifully illustrated, $ 2,00 net.

Address all inquiries to MISS MABEL B. URY, Manager, 26 Pemberton Square, Boston, Mass. Telephone, Haymarket 4278