The Fifth Commandment

"Say it," hinted an astute florist once upon a time, "with flowers." Horticulture bloomed and boomed. Who will accuse the florists if, knowing well the market value of sentiment, they inspired devoted children to buy white carnations on what was named "Mothers' Day?"

Out of mud the lily grows. What if a commercial scheme was parent to a national Mothers' Day? Last week, at Washington, D. C., Mme. Schumann-Heink, famed contralto, sent the notes of The Star Spangled Banner and Taps tingling down the spines of many bereaved mothers and a host of delegates to the International Council of Women (see above), as they all stood bowed before wreath-strewn soldier graves in Arlington Cemetery.

In Liberty (fiction weekly), Entertainer Elsie Janis published a piece, Every Day Is Mother's Day to Me.

At Ocean Grove, N. J., the Ku Klux Klan, women members included, thronged an auditorium to the number of 8,000, listened to such statements as: "We must get back to the teachings of our mothers; and if we had lived up to those teachings, there would be no need for the Ku Klux Klan or any other organization in America today. If you are loyal to your mother, you are loyal to your country."

Thus the U. S. saw fit to promote the observance of the Fifth Commandment not by law. but by a well-organized "Day" * celebrating 100% filial piety.

* The Fifth Commandment of the Mosaic Code is not the only one which is not enforced by law in the U. S.: Enforcement by law of Nos. I and I would be unconstitutional. Legal treatment of Nos. Ill and IV is recommended by Blue Law societies. No. X has only moral support. Nos. VI to IX, inclusive, are enforced by law, with the partial exception of No. VII.