Yes, America leads the world in recognition of the true worth of the man who toils, and yet even in America there is room for still further advancement. Our national life is full of instances of men who have risen from office boy to merchant prince, from plowman to governor, congressman and senator; we have had a rail-splitter made president—and no president ever bore himself better or served amid more trying times—while another president could recall the days when he followed the towpath on a canal. And yet, with these illustrious examples of poverty overcome and great careers built upon a foundation of manual labor, there is still much to be done before the producer of wealth will receive the consideration which he deserves. The dignity of labor will not be appreciated as it ought to be until our young men are taught that it is more honorable to contribute by labor to the sum of the world's wealth than to spend in idleness the money that others have made.
Tolstoy contends that people cannot be kept in sympathy with each other unless all perform some physical labor throughout their lives; he says that contempt for those who do the drudgery of life is natural if we put that drudgery upon others and reserve for ourselves only intellectual pursuits. Whether this be true or not, it is true that we cannot view labor in its proper relation to life unless we measure life by a standard different from that which is now ordinarily applied. So long as we measure life by its income rather than by its outgo, we shall seek those occupations which yield the largest pecuniary reward; when we measure life by what we put into the world rather than what we take out of it, we shall seek those occupations which offer the largest field of usefulness.
Enough has been said to indicate that the world's work is broad enough to enlist all who are willing to work and that the variety is sufficient to allow each to follow his taste and select his field, provided only that he is actuated by a purpose to render to society a service which will be more than an equivalent for all that society has done for him.
CHAPTER XLVI.
A STUDY OF GOVERNMENTS.
One who travels in foreign lands is likely to learn but little of the governments of the lands through which he passes, unless he makes a special effort to inform himself, for the lines of travel are laid through the communities where law and order are maintained and where the government is so stable that the casual observer has no occasion to investigate its inner workings. The mountains tower above him, and he sees them; the chasms yawn before him and he beholds them; and the various forms of agriculture leave a panoramic effect upon his memory. He frequently meets the merchant in his store, sees the laborer at his work quite often, and occasionally beholds a grandee in his carriage; but not being able to speak the language of the country he learns little about the forms of government and less about the political aspirations of the people; and yet the science of government is one of the most important sciences, and the "royal art," as it has been called, stands first among the arts. Tolstoy has declared that the science which teaches us how to live is the most important of sciences, and surely the science of government comes next. While it is true that an individual can by misbehavior forfeit the blessings of good government, or by good behavior minimize the evils of bad government—while it is true that no government, however good, can save a man from himself if he is determined to throw himself away, and that no government, however bad, can entirely deprive him of the rewards of virtue, yet governments may do much to encourage or to hinder the development of the people.
Governments may retard or advance the material growth of a country. For instance, our government is in part, at least, responsible for the unparalleled development of the United States, because it has given the largest encouragement to the individual. The Japanese government has in like manner stimulated education by the establishment of a public school system and has developed a large number of public men by the organization of a parliamentary system. Turkey, on the other hand, has blighted some of the fairest portions of the earth by suppressing political independence, by ignoring education, and by leaving the industrious citizen at the mercy of the marauder. There has been little political life in Turkey because few of the people have had the education necessary to take a broad survey of the country and its needs, while great stretches of fertile country lie uncultivated because the government is so indifferent to the rights of the people that the tiller of the soil has no assurance that he will be allowed to harvest the crop which he plants. Those who have investigated the subject contend that the valley of the Jordan would be a fruitful region if protection were given to those who would cultivate it, but because the Bedouin has been allowed to come down from the hillside and reap where he has not sown, the land is neglected.
In a trip around the globe one sees in actual working every form of government known to man. In Russia, an unlimited monarchy until recently laid its oppressive hand upon more than a hundred millions of human beings. They held their lives, their liberty and their property at the will of the ruler. Any citizen in the czar's vast domains could be taken from his home and exiled for life without his or his family knowing the cause of his punishment. The royal family and the officeholders held the people in contempt and denied even the natural rights of men. The people were taught to be thankful for any favors, however small, that the "Little Father" saw fit to bestow, and they were likewise taught that it was dangerous to complain even when the most fundamental right was ignored. Now there is a duma, and the duma as an institution still lives. No one can predict through what trials and tribulations the country may yet pass, but constitutional government will yet be hers. As in the winter time we cannot foresee or foretell what days will be pleasant and what days stormy, but do know that in a few months we shall have summer, so without being able to determine through what tumults or riots or revolutions Russia must pass, we know that in a few years she will have a stable government in which her people will have a voice.