THE GREAT EVENTS

BY

FAMOUS HISTORIANS

A COMPREHENSIVE AND READABLE ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD'S HISTORY,
EMPHASIZING THE MORE IMPORTANT EVENTS, AND PRESENTING THESE AS COMPLETE
NARRATIVES IN THE MASTER-WORDS OF THE MOST EMINENT HISTORIANS

NON-SECTARIAN NON-PARTISAN NON-SECTIONAL

ON THE PLAN EVOLVED FROM A CONSENSUS OF OPINIONS GATHERED FROM THE MOST
DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS OF AMERICA AND EUROPE, INCLUDING BRIEF
INTRODUCTIONS BY SPECIALISTS TO CONNECT AND EXPLAIN THE CELEBRATED
NARRATIVES. ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY. WITH THOROUGH INDICES.
BIBLIOGRAPHIES, CHRONOLOGIES, AND COURSES OF READING


EDITED BY

CHARLES F. HORNE, Ph.D.

_Aided by a staff of specialists_


CONTENTS


VOLUME XXI

_An Outline Narrative of the Great Events_
CHARLES F. HORNE

_The United States House of Governors_ (_A.D. 1910_)
WILLIAM S. JORDAN
THE GOVERNORS

_Union of South Africa_ (_A.D. 1910_)
PROF. STEPHEN LEACOCK

_Portugal Becomes a Republic_ (_A.D. 1910_)
WILLIAM ARCHER

_The Crushing of Finland_ (_A.D. 1910_)
JOHN JACKOL
BARON SERGIUS WITTE
BARON VON PLEHVE
J.H. REUTER

_Man's Fastest Mile_ (_A.D. 1911_)
C.F. CARTER
ISAAC MARCOSSON

_The Fall of Diaz_ (_A.D. 1911_)
MRS. E.A. TWEEDIE
DOLORES BUTTERFIELD

_Fall of the English House of Lords_ (_A.D. 1911)
ARTHUR PONSONBY
SYDNEY BROOKS
CAPTAIN GEORGE SWINTON

_The Turkish-Italian War_ (_A.D. 1911_)
WILLIAM T. ELLIS
THE WAR CORRESPONDENTS

_Woman Suffrage_ (_A.D. 1911_)
IDA HUSTED HARPER
ISRAEL ZANGWILL
JANE ADDAMS
DAVID LLOYD-GEORGE
ELBERT HUBBARD

_Militarism_ (_A.D. 1911_)
NORMAN ANGELL
SIR MAX WAECHTER

_Persia's Loss of Liberty_ (_A.D. 1911_)
W. MORGAN SHUSTER

_Discovery of the South Pole_ (_A.D. 1911_)
ROALD AMUNDSEN

_The Chinese Revolution_ (_A.D. 1912_)
ROBERT MACHRAY
R.F. JOHNSTON
TAI-CHI QUO

_A Step Toward World Peace_ (_A.D. 1912_)
HON. WILLIAM H. TAFT

_Tragedy of the "Titanic"_ (_A.D. 1912_)
W.A. INGLIS

_Our Progressing Knowledge of Life Surgery_ (_A.D. 1912_)
GENEVIEVE GRANDCOURT
PROFESSOR R. LEGENDRE

_Overthrow of Turkey by the Balkan States_ (_A.D. 1912_)
J. ELLIS BARKER
FREDERICK PALMER
PROF. STEPHEN P. DUGGAN

_Mexico Plunged Into Anarchy_ (_A.D. 1913_)
EDWIN EMERSON
WILLIAM CAROL

_The New Democracy_ (_A.D. 1913_)
PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON

_The Income Tax in America_ (_A.D. 1913_)
JOSEPH A. HILL

_The Second Balkan War_ (_A.D. 1913_)
PROF. STEPHEN P. DUGGAN
CAPT. A.H. TRAPMANN

_Opening of the Panama Canal_ (_A.D. 1914_)
COL. GEORGE W. GOETHALS
BAMPFYLDE FULLER

_Universal Chronology_ (_1910-1914_)




AN OUTLINE NARRATIVE

TRACING BRIEFLY THE CAUSES, CONNECTIONS, AND CONSEQUENCES OF

THE GREAT EVENTS


THE RECENT DAYS (1910-1914)


CHARLES F. HORNE

The awful, soul-searing tragedy of Europe's great war of 1914 came to
most men unexpectedly. The real progress of the world during the five
years preceding the war had been remarkable. All thinkers saw that the
course of human civilization was being changed deeply, radically; but
the changes were being accomplished so successfully that men hoped that
the old brutal ages of military destruction were at an end, and that we
were to progress henceforth by the peaceful methods of evolution rather
than the hysterical excitements and volcanic upheavals of revolution.

Yet even in the peaceful progress of the half-decade just before 1914
there were signs of approaching disaster, symptoms of hysteria. This
period displayed the astonishing spectacle of an English parliament,
once the high example for dignity and the model for self-control among
governing bodies, turned suddenly into a howling, shrieking mob. It
beheld the Japanese, supposedly the most extravagantly loyal among
devotees of monarchy, unearthing among themselves a conspiracy of
anarchists so wide-spread, so dangerous, that the government held their
trials in secret and has never dared reveal all that was discovered. It
beheld the women of Persia bursting from the secrecy of their harems
and with modern revolvers forcing their own democratic leaders to stand
firm in patriotic resistance to Russian tyranny. It beheld the English
suffragettes.

Yet the movement toward universal Democracy which lay behind all these
extravagances was upon the whole a movement borne along by calm
conviction, not by burning hatreds or ecstatic devotions. A profound
sense of the inevitable trend of the world's evolution seemed to have
taken possession of the minds of the masses of men. They felt the
uselessness of opposition to this universal progress, and they showed
themselves ready, sometimes eager, to aid and direct its trend as best
they might.

If, then, we seek to give a name to this particular five years, let us
call it the period of humanitarianism, of man's really awakened
kindliness toward his brothers of other nationalities. The universal
peace movement, which was a child in 1910, had by 1914 become a
far-reaching force to be reckoned with seriously in world politics. Any
observer who studied the attitude of the great American people in 1898
on the eve of their war with Spain, and again in 1914 during the
trouble with Mexico, must have clearly recognized the change. There was
so much deeper sense of the tragedy of war, so much clearer
appreciation of the gap between aggressive assault and necessary
self-defense, so definite a recognition of the fact that murder remains
murder, even though it be misnamed glory and committed by wholesale,
and that any one who does not strive to stop it becomes a party to the
crime.

While the sense of brotherhood was thus being deepened among the people
of all the world, the associated cause of Democracy also advanced. The
earlier years of the century had seen the awakening of this mighty
force in the East; these later years saw its sudden decisive renewal of
advance in the West. The center of world-progress once more shifted
back from Asia to America and to England. The center of resistance to
that progress continued, as it had been before, in eastern Europe.

PROGRESS OF DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA

Let us note first the forward movement in the United States. The
Conservation of Natural Resources, that striking step in the new
patriotism, which had been begun in the preceding decade, was carried
forward during these years with increasing knowledge. A new idea
developed from it, that of establishing a closer harmony among the
States by means of a new piece of governmental machinery, the House of
Governors.[1] This was formed in 1910.

[Footnote 1: See _The United States House of Governors_, page 1.]

To a nation bred as the Americans have been in an almost superstitious
reverence for a particular form of government, this change or any
change whatever becomes a matter of great moment. It is their final
recognition that the present can not be molded to fit the machinery of
the past. The nearer a Constitution comes to perfection in fitting the
needs of one century, the more wholly it is likely to fail in fitting
the needs of the next. The United States Government was not at its
beginning a genuine Democracy, though approaching it more nearly than
did any other great nation of the day. Putting aside the obvious point
that the American Constitution deliberately protected slavery, which is
the primal foe of all Democracy, the broader fact remains that the
entire trend of the Constitution was intended to keep the educated and
aristocratic classes in control and to protect them from the dangers of
ignorance and rascally demagoguery.

The weapons of self-defense thus reserved by the thoughtful leaders
were, in the course of generations, seized upon as the readiest tools
of a shrewd plutocracy, which entrenched itself in power. Rebellion
against that plutocracy long seemed almost hopeless; but at last, in
the year 1912, the fight was carried to a successful issue. In both the
great political parties, the progressive spirit dominated. The old
party lines were violently disrupted, and President Wilson was elected
as the leader of a new era seeking new ideals of universal equality.[2]

[Footnote 2: See _The New Democracy_, page 323.]

Nor must we give to the President's party alone the credit of having
recognized the new spirit of the people. Even before his election, his
predecessor, Mr. Taft, had led the Republican party in its effort to
make two amendments to the Constitution, one allowing an Income Tax,
the other commanding the election of Senators by direct vote of the
people. Both of these were assaults upon entrenched "Privilege." The
Constitution had not been amended by peaceful means for over a century;
yet both of these amendments were now put through easily.[1] This
revolt against two of the most undemocratic of the features of the
ancient and honored Constitution was almost like a second declaration
of American independence.

[Footnote 1: See _The Income Tax in America_, page 338.]

Perhaps, too, the change in the Senate may prove a help to the cause of
universal peace. The governments of both Taft and Wilson were
persistent in their efforts to establish arbitration treaties with
other nations, and the Senate, jealous of its own treaty-making
authority, had been a frequent stumbling-block in their path. Yet,
despite the Senate's conservatism, arbitration treaties of
ever-increasing importance have been made year after year. A war
between the United States and England or France, or indeed almost any
self-ruling nation, has become practically impossible.[2]

[Footnote 2: See _A Step Toward World Peace_, page 259.]

In her dealing with her Spanish-American neighbors, the United States
has been less fortunate. She has, indeed, achieved a labor of
world-wide value by completing the "big ditch" between the Oceans.[3]
Yet her method of acquiring the Panama territory from Colombia had been
arbitrary and had made all her southern neighbors jealous of her power
and suspicious of her purposes. Into the midst of this era of
unfriendliness was injected the Mexican trouble. Diaz, who had ruled
Mexico with an iron hand for a generation, was overthrown.[4] President
Madero, who conquered him, was supported by the United States; and
Spanish America began to suspect the "Western Colossus" of planning a
protectorate over Mexico.

[Footnote 3: See _Opening of the Panama Canal_, page 374.]

[Footnote 4: See _The Fall of Diaz_, page 96.]

Then came a counter-revolution. Madero was betrayed and slain, and the
savage and bloody Indian general, Huerta, seized the power.[1] The
antagonism of the United States Government against Huerta was so marked
that at length the anxious South American Powers urged that they be
allowed to mediate between the two; and the United States readily
accepted this happy method of proving her real devotion to arbitration
and of reestablishing the harmony of the Americas.

[Footnote 1: See _Mexico Plunged into Anarchy_, page 300.]

In itself the entire Mexican movement may be regarded as another great,
though confused, step in the world-wide progress of Democracy. The
upheaval has been repeatedly compared to the French Revolution. The
rule of Diaz was really like that of King Louis XVI in France, a
government by a narrow and wealthy aristocracy who had reduced the
ignorant Mexican peasants or "peons" to a state of slavery. The bloody
battles of all the recent warfare have been fought by these peons in a
blind groping for freedom. They have disgraced their cause by excesses
as barbarous as those perpetrated by the French peasantry; but they
have also fought for their ideal with a heroism unsurpassed by that of
any French revolutionist.

DEMOCRACY IN THE WORLD

Equally notable as forming part of this unceasing march of Democracy
was the progress of both Socialism and Woman Suffrage. But with these
two movements we must look beyond America; for their advance was not
limited to any single country. It became world-wide. When Woman
Suffrage was first established in New Zealand and Australia, the fact
made little impression upon the rest of the globe; but when northern
Europe accepted the idea, and Finland and Norway granted women full
suffrage and Sweden and Denmark gave them almost as much, the movement
was everywhere recognized as important. In Asia women took an active
and heroic part in the struggles for liberty both in Persia and in
China. In England the "militant" suffragists have forced Parliament to
deal with their problem seriously, amid much embarrassment. In the
United States, the movement, regarded rather humorously at first,
became a matter of national weight and seriousness when in 1910 the
great State of California enfranchised its women, half a million of
them. Woman Suffrage now dominates the Western States of America and is
slowly moving eastward.[1]

[Footnote 1: See _Woman Suffrage_, page 156.]

Socialism, also, though some may call it a mistaken and confused dream,
is yet a manifestation of Democracy and as such will have its voice
along with other forms of the great world-spirit. It has made
considerable advance in America, where there have recently been
Socialist mayors in some cities, and even Socialist Congressmen. But
its main progress has been in Europe. There it can no longer be
discussed as an economic theory; it has become a stupendous and
unevadable fact. It is the laboring man's protest against the tyranny
of that militarism which terrorizes Europe.[2] And since military
tyranny is heaviest in Germany, Socialism has there risen to its
greatest strength. The increase of the Socialist vote in German
elections became perhaps the most impressive political phenomenon of
the past twenty years. In 1912 this vote was more than one-third of the
total vote of the Empire, and the Socialists were the largest single
party in Germany. The Socialists of France are almost equally strong;
and so are those in Italy. When war recently threatened Europe over the
Morocco dispute, the Socialists in each of these countries made solemn
protest to the world, declaring that laboring men were brothers
everywhere and had no will to fight over any governmental problem. Many
extremists among the brotherhood even went so far as to defy their
governments openly, declaring that if forced to take up arms they would
turn them against their tyrannous oppressors rather than against their
helpless brothers of another nation. Thus the burden of militarism did
by its own oppressive weight rouse the opposing force of Socialism to
curb it.

[Footnote 2: See _Militarism_, page 186.]

In Italy the Socialists were growing so powerful politically that it
was largely as a political move against them that the government in
1911 suddenly declared war against Turkey.

Thus was started the series of outbreaks which recently convulsed
southeastern Europe.[1] Seldom has a war been so unjustifiable, so
obviously forced upon a weaker nation for the sake of aggrandizement,
as that of Italy against the "Young Turks" who were struggling to
reform their land. The Italians seized the last of Turkey's African
possessions, with scarce a shadow of excuse. This increase of territory
appealed to the pride and so-called "patriotism" of the Italian people.
The easy victories in Africa gratified their love of display; and many
of the ignorant poor who had been childish in their attachment to the
romantic ideals of Socialism now turned with equal childishness to
applaud and support their "glorious" government. Yet even here
Democracy made its gain; for under shelter of this popularity the
government granted a demand it had long withheld. Male suffrage,
previously very limited in Italy, was made universal.

[Footnote 1: See _The Turkish-Italian War_, page 140.]

The humiliation of Turkey in this Italian war led to another and far
larger contest, and to that practical elimination of Turkey from
European affairs which had been anticipated for over a century. The
Balkan peoples, half freed from Turkey in 1876, took advantage of her
weakness to form a sudden alliance and attack her all together.[2]
This, also, was a Democratic movement, a people's war against their
oppressors. The Bulgars, most recently freed of the victims of Turkish
tyranny, hated their opponents with almost a madman's frenzy. The
Servians wished to free their brother Serbs and to strengthen
themselves against the persistent encroachments of Austria. The Greeks,
defeated by the Turks in 1897, were eager for revenge, hopeful of
drawing all their race into a single united State. Never was a war
conducted with greater dash and desperation or more complete success.
The Turks were swept out of all their European possessions except for
Constantinople itself; and they yielded to a peace which left them
nothing of Europe except the mere shore line where the continents come
together.

[Footnote 2: See _The Overthrow of Turkey_, page 282.]

But then there followed what most of the watchers had expected, a
division among the victorious allies. Most of these were still half
savage, victims of centuries of barbarity. In their moment of triumph
they turned upon one another, snarling like wild beasts over the spoil.
Bulgaria, the largest, fiercest, and most savage of the little States,
tried to fight Greece and Servia together. She failed, in a strife
quite as bloody as that against Turkey. The neighboring State of
Roumania also took part against the Bulgars. So did the Turks, who,
seeing the helplessness of their late tigerish opponent, began
snatching back the land they had ceded to Bulgaria.[1] The exhausted
Bulgars, defeated upon every side, yielded to their many foes.

[Footnote 1: See _The Second Balkan War_, page 350.]

Thus we face to-day a new Balkan Peninsula, consisting of half a dozen
little independent nations, all thoroughly democratic, except Turkey.
And even Turkey, we should remember, has made a long stride toward
Democracy by substituting for the autocracy of the Sultan the
constitutional rule of the "Young Turks," These still retain their
political control, though sorely shaken in power by the calamities
their country has undergone under their brief régime.

From this semi-barbarity of southeastern Europe, let us turn to note
the more peaceful progress which seemed promising the West. Little
Portugal suddenly declared herself a Republic in 1910.[2] She had been
having much anarchistic trouble before, killing of kings and hurling of
bombs. Now there was a brief, almost bloodless, uprising; and the young
new king fled. Prophets freely predicted that the unpractical and
unpractised Republic could not last. But instead of destroying itself
in petty quarrels, the new government has seemed to grow more able and
assured with each passing year.

[Footnote 2: See _Portugal Becomes a Republic_, page 28.]

In Spain also, the party favoring a Republic grew so strong that its
leaders declared openly that they could overturn the monarchy any time
they wished. But they said the time was not ripe, they must wait until
the people had become more educated politically, and had learned more
about self-government, before they ventured to attempt it. Here,
therefore, we have Democracy taking a new and important step. To man's
claim of the right of self-government was subjoined the recognition of
the fact that until he reaches a certain level of intelligence he is
unfit to exercise that right, and with it he is likely to bring himself
more harm than happiness.

Perhaps even more impressive was the struggle toward Democracy in
England. Here, from the year 1905 onward, a "Liberal" government in
nominal power was opposed at every turn persistently, desperately,
sometimes hysterically, by a "Conservative" opposition. The Liberals,
after years of worsted effort, saw that they could make no possible
progress unless they broke the power of the always Conservative House
of Lords. They accomplished this in 1911 amid the weeping and wailing
of all Britain's aristocracy, who are thoroughly committed to the
doctrine of the mighty teacher, Carlyle, that men should find out their
great leaders and then follow these with reverent obedience. Of course
the doctrine has in the minds of the British aristocracy the very
natural addendum that _they_ are the great leaders.[1]

[Footnote 1: See _Fall of the English House of Lords_, page 133.]

With the power of the nobles thus swept aside, the British Liberals
went on to that long-demanded extension of Democracy, the granting of
Home Rule to Ireland. Here, too, England's Conservatives fought the
Liberals desperately. And here there was a subtler issue to give the
Conservatives justification. The great majority of Irish are of the
Roman Catholic faith, and so would naturally set up a Catholic
government; but a part of northern Ireland is Protestant and bitterly
opposed to Catholic domination. These Protestants, or "Ulsterites,"
demanded that if the rest of Ireland got home rule, they must get it
also, and be allowed to rule themselves by a separate Parliament of
their own. The Conservatives accepted this democratic demand as an ally
of their conservative clinging to the "good old laws." They encouraged
the Ulsterites even to the point of open rebellion. But despite every
obstacle, the Liberals continued their efforts until the Home Rule bill
was assured in 1914.

Let us look now beyond Europe. England deserves credit for the big
forward step taken by her colonies in South Africa. All of these joined
in 1910 in a union intended to be as indissoluble as that of the United
States. Thus to the mighty English-speaking nations developing in a
united Australia and a united Canada, there was now added a third, the
nation of South Africa.[1]

[Footnote 1: See _Union of South Africa_, page 17.]

In Asia, too, there was a most surprising and notable democratic step.
China declared itself a Republic. Considerable fighting preceded this
change, warfare of a character rather vague and purposeless; for China
is so huge that a harmony of understanding among her hundreds of
millions is not easily attained. Yet, on the whole, with surprisingly
little conflict and confusion the change was made. The oldest nation in
the world joined hands with the youngest in adopting this modern form
of "government by the people."[2] The world is still watching, however,
to see whether the Chinese have passed the level of political wisdom
awaited by the Spanish republicans, and can successfully exercise the
dangerous right they have assumed.

[Footnote 2: See _The Chinese Revolution_, page 238.]

Turn back, for a moment, to review all the wonderful advance in popular
government these brief five years accomplished: in the United States, a
political revolution with changes of the Constitution and of the
machinery of government; in Britain, similar changes of government even
more radical in the direction of Democracy; two wholly new Republics
added to the list, one being China, the oldest and most populous
country in the world, the other little Portugal, long accounted the
most spiritless and unprogressive nation in Europe; a shift from
autocratic British rule toward democratic home rule through all the
vast region of South Africa; a similar shift in much-troubled Ireland;
Socialism reaching out toward power through all central Europe; Woman
Suffrage taking possession of northern Europe and western America and
striding on from country to country, from state to state; a bloody and
desperate people's revolution in Mexico; and a similar one of the
Balkan peoples against Turkey! Individuals may possibly feel that some
one or other of these steps was reckless, even perhaps that some may
ultimately have to be retraced in the world's progress. But of their
general glorious trend no man can doubt.

Were there no reactionary movements to warn us of the terrible
reassertion of autocratic power so soon to deluge earth with horror?
Yes, though there were few democratic defeats to measure against the
splendid record of advance. Russia stood, as she has so long stood, the
dragon of repression. In the days of danger from her own people which
had followed the disastrous Japanese war, Russia had courted her
subject nations by granting them every species of favor. Now with her
returning strength she recommenced her unyielding purpose of
"Russianizing" them. Finland was deprived of the last spark of
independence; so that her own chief champions said of her sadly in
1910, "So ends Finland."[1]

[Footnote 1: See _The Crushing of Finland_, page 47.]

In southern Russia the persecutions of the Jews were recommenced, with
charges of "ritual murder" and other incitements of the ignorant
peasantry to massacre. In Asia, Russia reached out beyond her actual
territory to strangle the new-found voice of liberty in Persia. Russia
coveted the Persian territory; Persia had established a constitutional
government a few years before; this government, with American help,
seemed likely to grow strong and assured in its independence. So
Russia, in the old medieval lawlessness of power, reached out and
crushed the Persian government.[2] At this open exertion of tyranny the
world looked on, disapproving, but not resisting. England, in
particular, was almost forced into an attitude of partnership with
Russia's crime. But she submitted sooner than precipitate that
universal war the menace of which came so grimly close during the
strain of the outbreaks around Turkey. The millennium of universal
peace and brotherhood was obviously still far away. Not yet could the
burden of fleets and armaments be cast aside; though every crisis thus
overpassed without the "world war" increased our hopes of ultimately
evading its unspeakable horror.

[Footnote 2: See _Persia's Loss of Liberty_, page 199.]

MAN'S ADVANCE IN KNOWLEDGE

Meanwhile, in the calm, enduring realm of scientific knowledge, there
was progress, as there is always progress.

No matter what man's cruelty to his fellows, he has still his
curiosity. Hence he continues forever gathering more and more facts
explaining his environment. He continues also molding that environment
to his desires. Imagination makes him a magician.

Most surprising of his recent steps in this exploration of his
surroundings was the attainment of the South Pole in 1911.[1] This came
so swiftly upon the conquest of the North Pole, that it caught the
world unprepared; it was an unexpected triumph. Yet it marks the
closing of an era. Earth's surface has no more secrets concealed from
man. For half a century past, the only remaining spaces of complete
mystery, of utter blankness on our maps, were the two Poles. And now
both have been attained. The gaze of man's insatiable wonderment must
hereafter be turned upon the distant stars.

[Footnote 1: See _Discovery of the South Pole_, page 218.]

But man does not merely explore his environment; he alters it. Most
widespread and important of our recent remodelings of our surroundings
has been the universal adoption of the automobile. This machine has so
increased in popularity and in practical utility that we may well call
ours the "Automobile Age." The change is not merely that one form of
vehicle is superseding another on our roads and in our streets. We face
an impressive theme for meditation in the fact that up to the present
generation man was still, as regarded his individual personal transit,
in the same position as the Romans of two thousand years ago, dependent
upon the horse as his swiftest mode of progress. With the automobile we
have suddenly doubled, quadrupled the size of our "neighborhood," the
space which a man may cover alone at will for a ramble or a call. As
for speed, we seem to have succumbed to an actual mania for
ever-increasing motion. The automobile is at present the champion
speed-maker, the fastest means of propelling himself man has yet
invented. But the aeroplane and the hydroplane are not far behind, and
even the electric locomotive has a thrill of promise for the speed
maniac.[2]

[Footnote 2: See _Man's Fastest Mile_, page 73.]

In thus developing his mastery over Nature man sometimes forgets his
danger, oversteps the narrow margin of safety he has left between
himself and the baffled forces of his ancient tyrants, Fire and Water,
Earth and Air. Then indeed, in his moments of weakness, the primordial
forces turn upon him and he becomes subject to tragic and terrific
punishment. Of such character was the most prominent disaster of these
years, the sinking of the ocean steamer _Titanic_. The best talent of
England and America had united to produce this monster ship, which was
hailed as the last, the biggest, the most perfect thing man could do in
shipbuilding. It was pronounced "unsinkable." Its captain was reckless
in his confidence; and Nature reached down in menace from the regions
of northern ice; and the ship perished.[1] Since then another great
ship has sunk, under almost similar conditions, and with almost equal
loss of life.

[Footnote 1: See _Tragedy of the Titanic_, page 265.]

Oddly enough at the very moment when we have thus had reimpressed upon
us the uncertainty of our outward mechanical defenses against the
elements, we have been making a curious addition to our knowledge of
inner means of defense. The science of medicine has taken several
impressive strides in recent years, but none more suggestive of future
possibilities of prolonging human life than the recent work done in
preserving man's internal organs and tissues to a life of their own
outside the body.[2] Already it is possible to transfer healthy tissues
thus preserved, or even some of the simpler organs, from one body to
another. Men begin to talk of the probability of rejuvenating the
entire physical form. Thus science may yet bring us to encounter as
actual fact the deep philosophic thought of old, the thought that
regards man as merely a will and a brain, and the body as but the
outward clothing of these, mere drapery, capable of being changed as
the spirit wills. There is no visible limit to this wondrous drama in
which man's patient mastering of his immediate environment is gradually
teaching him to mold to his purpose all the potent forces of the
universe.

[Footnote 2: See _Our Progressing Knowledge of Life Surgery_, page
273.]

In this assurance of ultimate success, let us find such consolation as
we may. Though world-war may continue its devastation, though its
increasing horrors may shake our civilization to the deepest depths,
though its wanton destruction may rob us of the hoarded wealth of
generations and the art treasures of all the past, though its beastlike
massacres may reduce the number of men fitted to bear onward the torch
of progress until of their millions only a mere pitiable handful
survive, yet the steps which science has already won cannot be lost.
Knowledge survives; and a happier generation than ours standing some
day secure against the monster of militarism shall continue to uplift
man's understanding till he dwells habitually on heights as yet
undreamed.




THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF GOVERNORS

A NEW MACHINERY ADDED TO THE FEDERAL FORM OF GOVERNMENT

A.D. 1910

WILLIAM G. JORDAN

THE GOVERNORS

The formal establishment of the "House of Governors," which took place
in January of 1910, marked the climax of a definite movement which has
swept onward through the entire history of the United States.

When in 1775 the thirteen American colonies made their first effort
toward united action, they were in truth thirteen different nations,
each possessed of differing traditions and a separate history, and each
suspicious and jealous of all the others. Their widely diverging
interests made concerted action almost impossible during the
Revolutionary War. And when necessity ultimately drove them to join in
the close bond of the present United States, their constitution was
planned less for union than for the protection of each suspicious State
against the aggressions of the others.

Gradually the spread of intercourse among the States has worn away
their more marked differential points of character and purpose. Step by
step the course of history has forced our people into closer harmony
and union. To-day the forty-eight States look to one another in true
brotherhood. And as the final bond of that brotherhood they have
established a new organization, the House of Governors. This
constitutes the only definite change made in the United States
machinery of government since the beginning.

The House of Governors sprang first from the suggestion of William
George Jordan, who was afterward appropriately selected as its
permanent secretary. Hence we give here Mr. Jordan's own account of the
movement, as being its clearest possible elucidation. Then we give a
series of brief estimates of the importance of the new step from the
pens of those Governors who themselves took part in the gathering. In
their ringing utterances you hear the voice of North and South,
Illinois and Florida, of East and West, Massachusetts and Oregon, and