A CITIZEN is one who has evolved from a condition where he was content to live alone, care for himself alone, into a state where he desires to live with others, and is interested in the welfare of others.

Women were the first human beings to qualify as citizens.

Their care for their children early extended their interest beyond their own welfare. From protecting and providing for her immediate family, the mother’s interests naturally extended first to all children and then to all human beings who were in need of care.

Women are potential mothers, and so are inherent citizens.Women are citizens by natural tendency.

Men are citizens by education.

The desire to co-operate is the natural desire of an evolving, sane people. Supremely selfish people, who care not at all for others, are either barbaric or insane.

A city was the result of the citizen instinct.

The mother’s brain was evolved through her desire to benefit her children. She then saw that what was good for her own was good for her neighbor’s family, and for all families. All manufactories, all industries, reforms and civic improvements have originated in woman’s brain, evolved because of the mother-instinct of love.

From the city, human interest extended into the state, from the state into the nation. From the limitation of belonging to a nation, we shall sometime become citizens of the world.

A stateswoman or statesman is one who is intelligently active in work that materially benefits the citizens of a state or nation.

The rights of citizenship naturally belong to all people who wish to and can contribute to the welfare of their fellow-man.

Formerly statesmen were businessmen of experience and ability who had prescience. They could see what was beneficial to their own interests, and from this their interest expanded, and they saw what was good for the well-being of many men. They were men, like Benjamin Franklin, who were able to project themselves into the lives of others. They were the first monists.

Statesmen had had experience—they had lived. They knew values, what served and what was not desirable. They also knew that no one reaches any goal alone. No man can progress much faster than the rest of his kind.

So the statesman was a representative man, but a pioneer in progress. His avocation was to work for his kind. His vocation was his own business, which he minded very carefully.

Appreciative people saw the benefit to others, and gave the statesman the recognition of honors. This was all he desired or needed. He was not a pauper, he was not submerged in financial difficulties. The oppressed can not see beyond their own needs—are incapable of generous thoughts or wise judgment.

Statesmen were and are strong, successful men. People want for a savior one who can first save himself.

There came a time when statesmen, like lawyers, received pay for services rendered.

And lo, politicians and grafters, plums and taxes!

Today, statesmen are few and are classed as politicians.

All political offices have a little twig of laurel tied to the door, but the pay-envelope inside is generally what lures men to enter and abide. “The laborer is worthy of his hire,” they affirm. And he is, provided he labors for the thing for which he was hired.

“The people” are willing to pay politicians for piecework, provided the quality is right.

When we say, “Children are the greatest asset of the nation,” everybody nods assent to the sentiment, and many applaud.

“What we do with the children decides what they will do with the nation,” we add, and there is never a dissenting look or voice.

We affirm that the greatest work the state can do is to develop citizens. Perpetuity of the state is synonymous with perpetuity of the race. This is supposed to be Nature’s dearest desire—to perpetuate the race.

So it should be the dearest desire of statesmen, politicians, to perpetuate the state, and the state is the aggregation of its citizens.We are in a dense fog with regard to the value of citizens.

We say that man is all. This is lip-service.

Politicians are interested in acquiring and holding power, in war appliances and armies. They give some assistance in the development and care of vegetables, fruits, trees, and the flora in general. They are also interested in the development of all domesticated animals, the preservation of the birds, forests and natural parks, the protection of the fish. They have game-laws which are wise and whose results are beneficial.

And the state hires and pays people to take care of all these interests. It also hires and pays people who see that the laws are respected which have been made for the protection and perpetuity of flora and fauna.

But as yet, lawmakers, politicians, reformers, and influential citizens have not made provision for the development of citizens, except as the institution of the school system assists in this work.