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.