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Show Good Portents in the East. The minds of Eastern races are stirring with a now impetus. The world has been watching events in Persia that land of immemorial tyrannies tyran-nies during tho past few months. When the old Shah died some immense reforms that he had inaugurated in-augurated wore being established. He had determined de-termined to give to his people a constitution and a share in his government. It was fearoa that his successor would arrest this, but rather he seems more insistent upon the work than his predecessor, pre-decessor, and the people of Russia have an object lesson in tho East of a people, after ages of servitude, servi-tude, coming into their own. Contemplating it, wo can all read with new interest the old story of tho Modes and Persians. When, Babylon was the earth's chiefest glory, and when it became subject to the great Cyrus. Wo in the West have never takon on any especial es-pecial admiration for tho people of Finland, never held them in high estimation as a people. But Finland was given a constitution last year and included in it was full female suffrage the first ever given any woman in Europe. The first election was held the 15th of last month. Tho remarkable feature is the way the women of that country accepted the privilege. They instituted schools all over the country to educate women how to use that privilege. To those schools tho women flocked every day for weeks prior to the election. Poor peasant women of pure Finnish blood, and the educated women of Swedish descent sat side by side in theso schoolr "in rapt attention while the provisions ot the law as well as the task awaiting them as voters, and possible law-givers, were explained to them fully and clearly by the leaders of the women wo-men movement." The account further says that there was no opposition to tho law among the men all approved ap-proved it. To us It is a most wonderful story. It menus that all that great East is soon to bo froo. It moans that to tho souls of those people has come a second birth. Wo hope that the Czar and his advisers have the prescience to read correctly tho signs and will hasten to adjust tho mighty empire to tho inevitable. Ho can never moro be an absolute dospot. If his vision is.olear ho will see that truth and in the same moment will read tho truth that as a constitutional sovereign he would bo greater and would oxorciso a far noblor rule and carry with him a far grander prestige than ever did Czar before. |