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The Commoner.
w-L VOLUME' 7, NUMBER 44
A THANKSGIVING MESSAGE
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What have wo to bo thankful for? For
"health? All do not enjoy this blessing; let
those bo thankful who, by inheritance or by
their own care, have escaped a chronic or con
Btitutional disease. For friends? No one need
bo without these, for nothing is easier to secure.
The world is full of love and sympathy, upon
which drafts can be made without limit by those
who show themselves friendly. No one is so
humble or obscure that he can not attach to
himself a circle of friends if he will but be a
friend to others. The little acts of kindness that
flow from an unselfish interest in humankind,
and especially in neighbors, can not fail to win
grateful appreciation. If one is alone in the
world, it Is usually because he repels friendship
by his selfishness.
. Is it for happiness that we should be thank
ful? That is largely in our own keeping. Death
may sadden for a time; sickness may discour
age; calamities may cripple; misfortunes may
overwhelm one; but still it may be asserted
that whether one's life Is happy or not depends
more upon the man within than upon the cir
cumstances without. With some, grinding pov
erty imparts to life a gloom that can not be
entirely dispelled, but it is scarcely more of a
bar to happiness than idleness. Between the
two 'extremes is the great middle class, whose
members labor with hope, feed themselves with
food convenient to them, and escape alike the
despair of the destitute and the ennui that fol
lows in the wake of. luxury.
But let us turn to those causes of thanks
giving which we share in common. Each indi
vidual must decide for himself whether he is
more or less fortunate than those about him,
and whether his good fortune or misfortune
is due to himself alone or to others, but there
are benefits which haye come to all the members
of this generation whidh are worthy to be enu
merated. THE CONVENIENCES OF MODERN LIFE
' ' The present generation is blest beyond any
preceding one; the conveniences of life con
tribute, as never before, to health, comfort, and
progress. This article is written in a sheltered
nook on Snake river, in Idaho, just below Sho
shone Falls. Within the memory of man, the
trip across the desert was a toilsome one, at
tended by many dangers and "hardships. Even
ten years .ago to reach- this place we had to drive
twenty-five miles in a stage over a barren waste
that gave no promise of future cultivation. Now
the place can be reached in less than two days
from out Nebraska home; the railroad runs
to the -very -bank of "the river, and irrigation has
.,8c&ttsrd" oases throughout the desert. This
. tlshut- an Illustration of the improvement in
-- transportation. Not only has the fast express
taken the place of the stage-coach, but electricity
has accelerated urban and interurban travel,
while the ocean greyhounds make it possible to
circumnavigate the globe in less time than it
required to cross the continent in the days of
our grandparents.
The telegraph, by -making quick communi
cation possible, has not only facilitated business,
but it has relieved suspense when members of
the family are separated by vast distances, and
the telephones, scattered throughout the rural
districts, nave shortened hy one-half the time
between sudden illness and the physician's
arrival.
The pine-knot and the tallow candle have
retired before the oil-lamp, and this, in turn,
is being supplanted by gas and the incandescent
light.
Inventions have so cheapened production
that the luxuries of the past generation are the
necessities of today; books have multiplied;
publications have increased; and the rural de
livery gives as prompt service to the farmer as
the letter-carrier has brought to the inhabitant
of the city.
There is no golden age in history that equals
the present in opportunities for service. All
the achievements of the past and the knowl
edge of all the years these are our heritage
and our inspiration, and it is. easier today for
one to become a benefactor to the world than
It was a few centuries ago to leave his impress
upon a single community.
With commerce that is world-wide, with
Instantaneous exchange of thought, with intel
lectual development, with the spread of popular
government, and with the moral progress of the
race has come a peace propaganda which is
destined to make war obsolete and substitute
reason for force as the-arbiter between nations.
Even now we are, by arbitration, adjusting in
ternational differences which, a generation ago,
Would have been regarded as sufficient cause
for war.
But while all now living enjoy advantages
denied to preceding generations, those who live
in the United States have additional reasons
for thanksgiving reasons which should ' make
them more grateful than any other people upon
the earth.
First among these special advantages may
be mentioned our educational system. By the
wisdom of our forefathers, provision was made
for the teaching of every child born in our
country. While our parochial schools and de
nominational colleges furnish instruction for
those who desire to combine religious training
with the elementary and higher branches of
learning, the public schools bring education
within the reach of all. One has only to com
pare the mental development of our people with
that of many of the peoples of Europe and of
all the peoples of Asia and Africa to appreciate
the intellectual superiority of our population.
While everywhere an increasing interest is be
ing taken in schools, the people of southern
Europe are far( behind us and those of the
Orient immeasurably so. Though Japan has
undergone an intellectual revolution in the last
half century, she still has considerable distance
to travel before she catches up with us; in China
the alphabet is so long and the written language
so difficult to learn that but a small fraction of
the people can be classed as literate. In India
less than one per cent of the women can read
and write, and less than eight per cent of the
total population. Much of the educational work
in the Orient is done by outside nations, and
our nation leads all. the others, as it should, in
this altruistic effort.
THE VALUE OF COMPARISON
It is an excellent preparation for Thanks
giving day to travel through other countries and
compare the school facilities with those of Our
own the millions of children (yellow, white,
brown and black) growing up with no thought
of books; with the children of the United
States, trooping to school, each assured of an
opportunity to pursue his studies as -far as he
wills. k
A second special advantage is found in our
industrial development. The natural resources
of .the country are so diversified that one- can
consult his own tastes in choosing a -vocation.
We have every variety of soil and climate that
the farmer could wish. The wheat fields of the
north, the cotton fields of the south, and the
corn belt between .the" two and overlapping
both all these call for laborers, while the horti
culturist has his choice between the fruits of
tire temperate zone and the fruits of the tropics.
So varied' are the" conditions that each farmer
can follow his preference and trust the natural
rainfall or rely upon irrigation.
If one has a bent for mining, he can indulge
it in the gold fields, the silver lodes, the copper
mines, the lead and zinc deposits, or the
colleries.
Our manufacturing represents every indus
try, and our internal trade is so enormous that
full play is given to the commercial instinct,
while mechanical engineering is vieing with the
professions in attractiveness. Surely America
illustrates what can be done when the ingenuity
of man makes intelligent use of the generosity,
of the Creator.
Our form of government gives us a third
cause for special thanksgiving. It was fortunate
that this experiment in self-government was
reserved for a new continent and a new people.
In older communities each generation is more
or less hampered and restrained by existing in
stitutions and by traditions. These are changed
slowly and only with great effort. Every reform
of any moment causes an upheaval in old coun
tries because the crust of society has to be
broken. Those, however, who settled at Ply
mouth Rock, at Jamestown, and at New Amster
dam found not only virgin soil for their plow
shares, but a place where new ideas of govern
ment could be developed, Their very surround
ings taught self-reliance and, too far from home
to rely upon Europe for protection, they nat
urally began to assert their right to shape their
own destiny. They recognized the inability- of
Europeans to understand the needs of the col
onists, and saw that it was only a question of '
time when they must assume control of their
own affairs. It was natural, too, that, havin? -shared
together the hardships of pioneer life
they should rebel against the artificial distinct '
tions which had classified and stratified the -society
of the old world. Companionship in '-.
struggles and in dangers had given them practi
cal lessons in the study of the science of gov
ernment, and made it easy for them to accent
the doctrine of equal rights.
TWO FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF
GOVERNMENT
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In the Declaration of Independence and in
the federal constitution, which gave legal ex
pression to that declaration, two fundamental
principles of government were enunciated; and
to these two principles we are largely indebted
for the success which we have achieved in gov
ernment. The first is the right of the people
to rule, and the second the recognition of the
advantage of local self government. The first ,
dethrones the king and abolishes the theory '
of divine right in one or a few to exercise au-
thority over the many; the second insures the
intelligent administration of government by com
mitting to each community the custody of its
own affairs.
The right of the people to govern thera
sleves seems to us so indisputable that we won
der how it could ever have been questioned, and
yet for the establishment of this doctrine mil
lions have given their lives. It is the vital point
of difference between republics and arbitrary
governments. There are but two theories of
government: the theory of republics and democ
racies; namely, that ,a government is a thing
created by the people for themselves and admin
istered by them for the advancement of their
own welfare, and the theory of monarchies and
aristocracies; namely, that a government is a
thing imposed upon the many by the few and
administered by self-selected agents who main
tain their position by the exercise ofi. force and
who-.assume $0 .decidft ..without appeal what is
best for the ruled .as well as for the rulers. The
doctrine that "governments derive their just
powers from the consent of the governed" did
not originate in this country, but it has found
here Its clearest statement, its strongest defense,
and its largest application. It had been the
boast of kings that popular governments lacked
the unity necessary to give strength, and were
too slow in action to secure efficiency, but our
nation has vindicated those who trusted the peo
ple, and justified the assertion made by the
historian Bancroft about three-quarters of a
century ago that a republic is, in truth, the
strongest of governments, because, discarding
the implements of terror, it dares to build its
citadel in the hearts of men.
Experience .has shown that our government,
resting securely" upon the will of the people, is
able to repel attacks from abroad and to survive
even civil vwar, and now we can watch with
gratification the spread of our ideas of govern
ment as they march, triumphant, around the
world. They are few countries with any degree
of civilization which have not, to a greater or
less degree, adopted our fundamental principles
of government. In most of the countries of
Europe constitutions have been secured, and the
power pf the monarchs is being more and more
restricted. Within a decade the king of Den
mark has conceded the right of the dominant
party in parliament to name the ministry; within
two years Austria and Sweden have made the
popular branch of their governments even more
popular, and within three months the house of
commons of Great Britain has begun a move
ment for curtailing the power of the house of
lords, while Russia is even now in the throes
of a political revolution which has for its object
the early establishment of a constitutional gov
ernment in that unhappy land, where despotism
is unquestionably making its last stand.
It Is a cause for thanksgiving that we have
so long enjoyed here the blessings of free gov
ernment for which many are still contending
with heroic effort and immense sacrifice, and
with free speech, a free press, and freedom of
conscience we are in a position to maintain the
liberties which have come down 'to-us from the
. fathers. '
The dual character of our government has
played an important part in its perpetuity- a
more important part than many suppose. Cen-
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