The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 21 - The Recent Days (1910-1914) | Page 2

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,