work and the orphanages in full activity, yet even so, the spiritual opportunity of which these missionaries would fain avail themselves is open as almost never before. Especially is this true of Bible work. The comfort of the Scriptures can still, even under these abnormal circumstances, be extended to a people to whom almost every other comfort except the alleviation of their most immediate and dreadful wants is denied. Not in vain have these peoples been taught to read. Not in vain has the land been sown with Testaments and Gospels. These seeds, although at the moment they seemed to fall into the ground and die, yet abide not alone. They have promise and potency in the life of these stricken peoples in the age which is to be. "The walls of Jerusalem were built in troublous times." It has always been so. There are obvious reasons in the nature of religious work why it always will be so.

THE NEGRO IN THE NEW DEMOCRACY

By George W. Ellis, K.C., F.R.G.S.

The story of what is called Negro emancipation is one of the most thrilling chapters in the history of human liberty. The last semi-centennial year marks one of the two greatest triumphs in American progress the Declaration of Independence and the Emancipation Proclamation. By one America was liberated from political tyranny and despotism from without; by the other she was freed from the baleful political doctrines and social practices of master and slave from within. So that every citizen should rejoice, not so much that the Negro was liberated, as that the whole nation-white and black alike was suddenly moved immeasurably forward for all the races of men on the highway of social progress and civic freedom.

It would be exceedingly difficult to estimate the intellectual, social and moral benefits which emancipation has conferred upon the white citizens of the United States, no less than upon the black. And while we remember that in different ways as in slavery both races suffer still, we rejoice today for the victories of the past as we renew our inspiration for the triumphs and conquests of the future. What is going on in one of our middle west states is interesting to the lovers of social progress.

Chicago is the second city of the continent and in many respects one of the greatest cities of the world; situated on the southwest corner of Lake Michigan, the greatest grain, live stock, railway and lumber center in the United States with the greatest meat packing plant in the world; stretching 30 miles along the lake and with 130 square miles in area and a population of 2,500,000 of all races, speaking 40 languages, with 20 papers in foreign tongues, and divided by the Chicago River very much like Paris is divided by the Seine, Chicago is the most cosmopolitan

of American cities. Here an experiment in democracy is illuminating and encouraging for all classes and races of men. And it is a significant fact that the first settler in Chicago was the Negro, Jean Baptiste.

THE SPIRIT AND INFLUENCE OF LIBERTY

The citizens of Chicago stand for liberty; and liberty is among the dearest possessions of the soul. To be free indeed is the highest attainment and reward of discipline and self-government. The liberty to labor, to possess, to enjoy, to grow and to contribute one's best toward social uplift and progress, are all dear to Chicago citizens.

The same spirit which enabled the Barons of England at Runnymede to wring from King John the first great bulwark of modern liberty; the same spirit which sustained the peasants in the tempestuous tumult of the French Revolution which stained the sunny hills of France with royal blood that the nation might be free; the same spirit which inspired Kossuth of Hungary, Cavour of Italy, Cobden and Bright of later England, and which sustained Washington from the Boston massacre to Yorktown and consoled Lincoln from Harper's Ferry to Appomattox; by that same spirit of liberty the citizens of Chicago have resolved to keep Chicago free, not merely free for white men but free for black men and all mankind.

THE DAWNING OF THE NEW DEMOCRACY

History and experience show that there can be no liberty and freedom without self-government. True democracy is self-government, the highest and best form of social and political control. No matter how ignorant or how wise as Lincoln said: "No man is good enough to govern another without his consent."

Any group of men excluded from participation in their government are soon given an inferior status in the community and ultimately abandoned to the dependent classes, unable to protect their rights, their property or their homes and are the constant prey of the more favored and ruling

members. So that any government which establishes dependent and inferior classes, whether by race or otherwise, is an aristocracy by whatever other name it may be called. And the essence of all aristocracies is that some sow and work while others reap and enjoy. By the same principle that the highwayman, through fear and force, robs his victim, in aristocratic governments and regimes, the politically favored classes use the functions of government and the organs of society, to exploit and rob on a large scale the subject and dependent classes. For these and other reasons the history of the modern world is chiefly the tragic struggle of men in different countries to establish democracy, as the best protection of their liberty and the surest guarantee of their property, opportunities, destiny and lives.

For these reasons the citizens of Chicago are firm in their attachment to the principles of democracy and grant to the Chicago colored people a greater participation in the city government than the white people in any other American city.

THE FOUNDATION OF TRUE DEMOCRACY

The citizens of Chicago believe not only in liberty and democracy for all men and races, but in universal education as the safest and surest foundation for the highest possible civic and social achievements. They understand that all men regardless of race do not understand the true mission of democracy, and the proper exercise of the franchise. They know that some white men and some black men mistake license for liberty and that the true exercise of freedom is vouchsafed only to the cultured classes. They know too that there can be no true democracy without universal and the highest education. Chicago adopts the view that it is a natural right of man to govern himself and to participate in his government. That regardless of race no man because of ignorance should be excluded from the franchise. That society is largely responsible for man's ignorance and that the greater his ignorance, the greater is the duty of society to educate him in right conduct and good citizenship. So that in Chicago we are actualizing

the true American ideals of equality more than other large cities, with the children of all races attending together the common and higher schools and with a larger number of colored teachers than is to be found in the mixed schools of other cities.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF NEGRO POPULATION

The Chicago spirit for liberty, for democracy and universal education is not to be entirely credited to white Chicago, for colored Chicago has been an important factor in this promising situation. I understand New York with nearly 92,000 colored people has only 1 colored patrolman, while Chicago with 44,000 has something like 125 ranking as high as lieutenant.

Nine cities exceed Chicago in colored population. Because of no political representation Washington, D. C., is excluded. But the remaining eight cities have no colored representation in the state legislature.

Four of these cities have more than double the colored population of Chicago. Two of these are in northern states, one in a border state and the other in the far South. The only four with only a few thousand more colored people than Chicago are also in the South, where conditions are abnormal.

In only a few northern states have the colored people been able to send a representative to the legislature. They sent several from Boston, one from Parsons, Kansas, several from Philadelphia, and several in Ohio, among them a state senator, John P. Green.

But long after this representation disappeared Chicago colored people kept a representative at Springfield. A few