The men of Russia, the masses, are about to have a little voice at least, in their own government. It seems that the chief source of the rioting in Tokio was because a park where the people were wont to meet was closed against them, which they construed to mean a denial on the part of the authorities of their right of petition which their constitution guarantees to them. And that was in the land of the Mikado, among a supposed to be pagan people. Surely these should be disquieting days to those who have thrones and who claim a divine right to rule. Many a strong swimmer has been carried down by what seamen call “the undertow.” There is an undertow in the hearts of men and it is gaining in volume and power all the time. Man is asserting himself more and more. Man’s right to be free and to help frame the laws he is to obey is crystalizing into a fixed determination the world around, and in civil government the impression is deepening that no man has any divine rights save those of heart and brain.
The superstitions and tyrannies of the gloomy past are melting away, and, happily, as man gains in self-respect he will gain in respect for legitimate authority with the result that where the people are freest there will be most order and most respect for righteous laws. There never was such a spectacle seen on this earth before as was that of all the sovereigns of all civilized powers of the world sending their thanks to the president of a free republic for his agency in hushing the thunders of a thousand cannons and lifting up the white standard of peace between two warring powers. And that president was but a little while ago a mere citizen of the United States, a little later he will lay aside his official power and become a mere citizen again. What he did was superb; it links his name with the highest, but what he did he was able to do, because above him was the flag with the stars and stripes and behind was the great republic in its splendor, its majesty and power.
Goodwin’s weekly : a Thinking Paper for Thinking People, Salt Lake City, UT, September 16, 1905