had a marked influence on opinion, and
probably on history, during his thirty-five years of journalistic work,
when, according to James Bryce, he showed a courage such as is rare
everywhere.[217] General J. D. Cox, who had not missed a number of _The
Nation_ from 1865 to 1899, wrote to Godkin, on hearing of his
prospective retirement from the _Evening Post_, "I really believe that
earnest men, all over the land, whether they agree with you or differ,
will unite in the exclamation which Lincoln made as to Grant, 'We can't
spare this man--he _fights_.'"[218]

Our country, wrapped up in no smug complacency, listened to this man,
respected him and supported him, and on his death a number of people
were glad to unite to endow a lectureship in his honor in Harvard
University.

In closing, I cannot do better than quote what may be called Godkin's
farewell words, printed forty days before the attack of cerebral
hemorrhage which ended his active career. "The election of the chief
officer of the state by universal suffrage," he wrote, "by a nation
approaching one hundred millions, is not simply a novelty in the history
of man's efforts to govern himself, but an experiment of which no one
can foresee the result. The mass is yearly becoming more and more
difficult to move. The old arts of persuasion are already ceasing to be
employed on it. Presidential elections are less and less carried by
speeches and articles. The American people is a less instructed people
than it used to be. The necessity for drilling, organizing, and guiding
it, in order to extract the vote from it is becoming plain; and out of
this necessity has arisen the boss system, which is now found in
existence everywhere, is growing more powerful, and has thus far
resisted all attempts to overthrow it."

I shall not stop to urge a qualification of some of these statements,
but will proceed to the brighter side of our case, which Godkin, even in
his pessimistic mood, could not fail to see distinctly. "On the other
hand," he continued, "I think the progress made by the colleges
throughout the country, big and little, both in the quality of the
instruction and in the amount of money devoted to books, laboratories,
and educational facilities of all kinds, is something unparalleled in
the history of the civilized world. And the progress of the nation in
all the arts, except that of government, in science, in literature, in
commerce, in invention, is something unpreced