Copyright, Francis D. Tandy Company, New York Thomas Lincoln's Home in Illinois, where He Died in 1851 (Built by Thomas Lincoln in 1831 on Goose Nest Prairie. Coles County)

In all these difficult and vexed works and undertakings the American Minister almost always sympathized with Japan, and often took our side, even by isolating himself from among his colleagues. It is through such friendly attitude taken by the American representative, of course supported by your Government, that the American people are deeply endeared to ours, and we want to reciprocate what has been done for us. We have never had an idea for a moment of displeasing your people, much less of waging war against you.

It was for this reason that when displeasure was manifested in this country in regard to Japanese immigration, we readily consented to the adjustment of the question under certain conditions, by limiting the immigration of laborers to the minimum number. As a consequence, emigration has been greatly reduced-notably since last July-and it is found that during the latter half of 1908 the number of Japanese immigrants who returned to Japan from continental United States was larger by twenty-one hundred than that of those who arrived in this country; and the number of those who returned to Japan from the Hawaiian Islands was also fifteen hundred in excess of those which arrived there from Japan.

While it is not certain how long this condition of movement will continue, it is possible that every half year hereafter for some years will witness the decrease of Japanese residents in this country in about the same proportion. It is said in some quarters that our laborers are coming to this country across the Canadian and Mexican borders, but we have already prohibited the immigration of laborers into those countries under certain conditions, and there is no ground whatever for the apprehension of their coming through those frontiers-except a smuggled few, if any.

Again, when there was some apprehension of a misunderstanding arising between us in regard to trademarks, copyrights, and other matters of kindred nature on the Asiatic continent, the two governments at once opened negotiations and concluded conventions with the view of protecting our mutual interests in this regard. We also signed a Treaty for the general arbitration of controversies between the two

countries, and, lastly, as you are undoubtedly aware, we exchanged, a few months ago, a Declaration defining the policy of the two governments in China and the Pacific Ocean, with a view to encouraging the free and peaceful development of the commerce of the two nations, and also to preserve the general peace in that region. Thus we have been using every effort not only to remove all possible causes of misunderstanding and conflict, but to bring about a clear and definite understanding between the two countries in order to cement the closest bond of friendship and good neighborliness. All this, I venture to say, is the result of the application of the Golden Rule in your diplomacy and of the adoption of the same rule in ours, and I most emphatically declare that so long as the Golden Rule is considered the guiding principle of our diplomacy, we shall be enabled to enjoy the benefits of peace and prosperity; and this must be, I dare say, in accordance with the high ideal forever fixed by Lincoln's diplomacy, and which is so energetically applied and propagated by another great President, Mr. Theodore Roosevelt.

LINCOLN, THE MAN OF THE PEOPLE *

WHEN

EDWIN MARKHAM

THEN the Norn Mother saw the Whirlwind Hour
Greatening and darkening as it hurried on,

She left the Heaven of Heroes and came down
To make a man to meet the mortal need.

She took the tried clay of the common road-
Clay warm yet with the ancient heat of Earth-
Dashed through it all a strain of prophecy;
Tempered the heap with thrill of human tears;
Then mixed a laughter with the serious stuff.
Into the shape she breathed a flame to light
That tender, tragic, ever-changing face.
Here was a man to hold against the world,
A man to match the mountains and the sea.

The color of the ground was in him, the red earth;
The smack and tang of elemental things;

The rectitude and patience of the cliff;

The good-will of the rain that falls for all;
The friendly welcome of the wayside well;
The courage of the bird that dares the sea;
The gladness of the wind that shakes the corn;
The mercy of the snow that hides all scars;
The secrecy of streams that make their way
Beneath the mountain to the rifted rock;
The undelaying justice of the light
That gives as freely to the shrinking flower
As to the great oak flaring to the wind-
To the grave's low hill as to the Matterhorn
That shoulders out the sky.

Copyright, 1909, by Edwin Markham.

Sprung from the West,

The strength of virgin forests braced his mind,
The hush of spacious prairies stilled his soul.
Up from log cabin to the Capitol,

One fire was on his spirit, one resolve-
To send the keen ax to the root of wrong,
Clearing a free way for the feet of God.
And evermore he burned to do his deed
With the fine stroke and gesture of a king.
He built the rail-pile as he built the State,
Pouring his splendid strength through every blow,
The conscience of him testing every stroke,
To make his deed the measure of a man.

So came the Captain with the thinking heart;
And when the judgment thunders split the house,
Wrenching the rafters from their ancient rest,
He held the ridgepole up, and spiked again
The rafters of the Home. He held his place-
Held the long purpose like a growing tree-
Held on through blame, and faltered not at praise.
And when he fell in whirlwind, he went down
As when a lordly cedar, green with boughs,
Goes down with a great shout upon the hills,
And leaves a lonesome place against the sky.