:t " I niaii?yWlWjpi
7
APRIL 11, 1913
make a condition "worse I may not afterwards m
be able to make it better and I am not willing '
to have that responsibility.
"I have put my philosophy on this point into
the form of an illustration, and it is this: If
I ever get it into my head that I can raise a
man from the dead, I shall try it on a dead
man. I shall not kill a man to experiment with
him. (Applause and laughter.) I believe it
is a fitting illustration because we are called
upon every day to decide whether we will join
with others in getting some reform that is to
day possible although we may not think it as
important as some others, for which we hope
whether we will join in getting some reform
that today is possible or refuse to help in tho
hope that accumulated demand will bring some
greater reform later.
"I believe it is the part of wisdom for those
to join" together who believe that a proposition
is good. Join together and get it today and
then commence tomorrow to secure the next
best thing in sight.
"I believe that God has so made this world
that no good thing secured today will prevent
the securing of. some other good thing tomor
row. Not only that, but we are not able to
measure accurately in advance the importance
of a reform, and we often find that a reform
which today seemed unimportant finally appears
as a necessary stepping-stone to greater things.
"But I am not here to argue in favor of any
particular reform. I am here, as I said, to
encourage reformers and to arouse those who
have not been interested in reforms, and re
formers rfeed encouragement. Not only do they
need encouragement, but in proportion to their
zeal they need encouragement.
"The man who sees a wrong clearly wonders
why others do not see it, and when he has
found a remedy that to him seems adequate he
wonders why all do not accept. And as great
reforms come slowly, it is not strange that those
who are earnest in their efforts should some
times become discouraged, should sometimes
fear that they might die before they see the
fruits of their toil.
"I heard a story that I think illustrates this
tendency to bo discouraged. A man had a
breaking-out on his hand and went to a physi
cian who finally gave him some ointment, and
told him to make application of it every day
for a month and then return and report pro
gress. At the end of the month he went back
and told the doctor he had followed instruc
tions faithfully. The doctor said, 'How is your
hand?' 'Well,' he said, 'doctor, looking at it
from day to day I can not see any change. Look
ing at it from week to week I sometimes think
I can. And now, at the end of the month I
guess it is better, and, doctor, it may get well,
but I am afraid it won't be in my day.'
(Laughter.)
"During the earlier years of my political life
one of my chief occupations was to listen to
the tale of woe of discouraged reformers. I
have not had so much difficulty lately (laugh
ter) ; but in the earlier years I had frequent
occasion to note how despondent men would
sometimes become. Even the great reformers
of history have had their hours of discourage
ment. Elijah, that brave prophet of the early
days who had the courage to stand before kings
and to rebuke wickedness in high places, even
Elijah was faint-hearted when he was pleading
before the wrath of a wicked woman, and when
he thought that all the other prophets of the
Lord had been put to death and it was not
until he was assured that there were seven
thousand who had not bowed the knee be
fore Baal that his hope returned. Later the
hermit whose zeal and eloquence swayed a con
tinent to a crusade, even he had his hours of
darkness and of doubt. And tonight I come
to bring to you a message of encouragement and
of hope. To tell you that no matter along
what line you have labored, no matter what re
form has drawn out the interest of your heart,
whether it was local or state or national or
world-wide, that God is still on His throne and
that the world moves forward. That back of
every righteous cause there is an arm strong
enough to bring victory to His side.
"Tonight I desire to bring before you briefly
evidence in support of three propositions:
First, that the world is advancing in intelli
gence. Second, that it is advancing in morals;
and, third, that it Is advancing in the study of
the science of government. And if I can con
vince you, as I am sure I can, if you need con
vincing, that the world is making progress in
these three important directions, there ought to
be no room for pessimism in any heart.
"I have no difficulty in finding proof. My
The Commoner.
difficulty is in compressing into a reasonable
rfme all that suggests itself in support of these
propositions.
"First, as to the world's advanco in intelli
gence. Every year finds a larger percentage of
tho people of the world able to read and write.
Able to study history, and knowing tho past
judge the future. Every year finds more
schools, more students in attendance, and higher
standards of education; and this is not true
today only, but every day; and not in one place
only but everywhere.
"I have made the statement as strong as
language can make it, and the evidence supports
tho statement. If time pormitted I could bring
illustrations from every laud but a few must
suffice. Fifty years ago comparatively few of
tho people of Japan could read and write. Now
they boast that among the rising generation 90
per cent can read and write, and the study of
our language is so universal in tho higher
classes that you can speak to college students
in that country in our language without the
need of any interpreter.
"A few years ago they had no schools in
China but private schools, and not many at
tended them. Now public schools are springing
up all over China. Seven years ago Yaun Chi
Kai declared that in his district he had estab
lished 4,000 public schools during tho preced
ing five years. You will find that China has
already felt the influence of this intellectual
awakening. The viceroy at Nanking, who had
just before our visit to that country, laid the
cornerstone of the first school for women estab
lished in his district, told me that they had at
that time some 7,000 Chinese students studying
in the schools of Japan, not to speak of those
studying in other countries. And those of you
who are acquainted with what has taken place
recently in China know the prominent part
taken in the establishment of the republic by
those who have obtained their education out
side of China and .then carried back into that
country an enthusiasm that is permeating the
entire country.
"In tho Philippine Islands tho Filipinos are
so anxious to secure an education that one
American official in the islands told me that the
people in the country communities would build
school houses more quickly and more rapidly
than they could furnish teachers for them; and
one American told me that the desire for educa
tion was so widespread that in his district tho
attendance at the schools was 50 per cent above
what the school census would indicate, because
of the number of parents who attended school
with their children.
"In India, while education is very backward,
the desire for it is so universal that every
meeting of the native congress results in the
demand for larger educational opportunities;
and only a few years ago the people of India
reached the conclusion that the viceroy was not
sufficiently encouraging higher education, and
they raised money by private subscription and
sent young men to study in the colleges of other
lands. In Calcutta we attended a farewell re
ception given to forty-four of these young men,
some of them starting for the United States.
"In Africa there are 17,000 students, 10,000
boys and 7,000 girls attending schools and col
leges established by missionaries, not to speak
of an increasing number attending the govern
ment schools.
"What is known as tho young Turk move
ment in Turkey is largely the outgrowth of edu
cational work done in the sultan's empire. And
in Russia twice as large a percentage of the
present generation as of the last, can read and
write; and the czar insists that the percentage
of illiteracy is decreasing at the rate of one
per cent a year, and bases tho statement upon
the statistics furnished by enlistments in tho
army.
"If you cross the ocean you will find the same
is true on this side of the Atlantic. It is true in
Canada on the north. It is true In every state
of the union. It is true in tho republics to tho
south of us. I think I can safely say that there
is not one state among our sisterhood of forty
eight, in which there is not some movement on
foot and growing that has for its object either
extension of the area of education or the rais
ing of the standard.
"When you come to the Spanish republics to
the south of us you will find that while they
vary in the percentage of illiteracy, and whilo
in some of them the percentage of illiteracy is
very largo, yet everywhere it Is decreasing.
Visiting those countries some three years ago I
found that everywhere they are not only awake
to the Importance of bettor education, but that
our government is exacting a' great influenco
upon thom. In Peru, for Instance, wo found
seven Americans who were thoro by Invitation
of that government, who drow salaries from tho
public treasury, and whoso business It was to
bring tho school system of Peru moro Into har
mony with ours. At Lapaz, tho capital of Bo
livia, there was an American Institute that was
established by Americans at tho request of tho
Bolivian government, and It is largely supported
by government contributions. A few days ago
I learned for a second time from the minister
from Uruguay that their school system down
there Is identical with ours, the rcttult of a visit
paid by one of that country to this country many
yoars ago. And the Peruvian minister told mo
that they had now some twenty-five Americans
who had been cnlled down there to assist In
educational work. And so I might go on.
"But let me just call your attention to on'
single Illustration before I puss from this branch
of my subject. At Lima, Peru, we found an In
stitution of learning that has tho distinction of
being the oldest In tho western hemisphere, I
was surprised to find that moro than fifty .Vrs
before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth RoMc
this university was OBtabllshod at what was then
tho capital of Spain's South Amorlcan posses
sions, and this institution has had a continuous
existence. But It was a very aristocratic Insti
tution. It cost $10,000 to graduate. A man
had to finance a bull fight and give a public
dinner In order to secure a diploma (laughter.)
I am not surprised that you laugh at it, and
it makes mo think of a man once who told a
remarkable story, and whon the man to whom
he told it did not bolleve it, ho said, 'I don't
blame you; I would not have believed it my
self If I had not seen It.' And the other man
said, 'I have not seen It.' (Laughter.) And so
I feel about this thing. I would not have be
lieved it myself if I had not read It in a hook
that I think is entitled to credit. The book was
written by a citizen of that country. On tho
first page It says that It was prepared at the
request of the president and under the super
vision of tho secretary of state. And It not only
said what I have stated, but it said that that
condition existed from the beginning to 174 0,
when the law substituted a deposit of $2,000
for tho expense of the dinner and tho hull fight,
and that continued from 1740 to 1870, when
tho sum was reduced to $800. But during tho
last forty-three years reduction after reduction
has been made until now It costs $100 to securo
ono degree, and $f0 another. And I mention
this to show the tendency toward democracy in
education, and It Illustrates what Is going on
nut only In that country and 'n South America,
but throughout the world.
"The Idea of universal education Is not an
ancient one. Wo only have to go back a few
generations even among our ancestors to find
that even the very best people thought that
God never Intended tho masses to be educated.
But that is not tho way we Interpret God's will
today. We say that when God gave brains to
all Ho gave the best possible proof of His de
sire that all should have the benefit of mental
discipline, and wo do not think ourselves wiso
enough to draw a line through society and
say that the children on one side shall be edu
cated and the children on tho other side con
demned to the night of ignorance. The Ameri
can Ideal is that there shall be an open school
door before every child born Into tho land, and
that every child shall be urged to make the
largest possible use of these opportunities free
ly furnished. And this is not only our ideal,
but it is the ideal toward which the whole world
is marching, our nation leading the way.
"Wo have such faith In education, desiring
It for ourselves and providing it for those about
us, that If there was no other evidence of tho
world's advanco than waB to bo found in this
advance in intelligence, even then tho future
would seem bright with hope. And yet it would
bo a very risky thing if we were strengthening
men's minds and making those minds moro
powerful, moro powerful for harm as well as
for good, if wo wore not putting behind these
stronger minds a heart development that
would assure society that these larger men
tal powers would be employed for the advance
ment of the common weal.
"I am glad, therefore, to advance the second
proposition, that the world Is making progress
in morals as well as in intelligence. And if I
had to decide the question I would be compelled
to say that at tho present tlmo the evidence of
a world-wide moral awakening is even moro
abundant than the evidence of the world's in
tellectual advanco. And here, too, I am em
(Continuod on Pa-go 10.)
