The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-09
THE DYING NATIONS.
The Causes That Lead to Their Inev-
liable Dissolution.

To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal:
No more apt allusion to existing conditions
among the nations of the world could be ut
tered than that of the English prime minis
ter, and it has sad response in the recent
wall from leading Spanish paper in the
following:
Amid our a1xieties we cannot discover
head or hand firm enough to confront the
tremendous foreign conflict and check the
gradual internal disorganization that is go
ing on. The men who govern the nation
and those who hope to succeed them inevita-
bly, lack the physical and intellectual means
to make peace or push on the war The
fate of the country cannot remain longer
in such weak hands, such WORKOUT intel
lects."
The real trouble Is undoubtedly well dis
cerned in the alluslon to intellectual infer
iority, but this does not lie much at the
door of craftsmanship as in the actual con-
dtion of the people. The world has passed
the old order of things, and the masses of
the people have caught enough of the spirit
of the new to perceive the fact, but lack
intellectual advancement to adjust them
selves to it and become helpful in working
out the new problems of social and political
life. This is the real trouble with SPAIN
China. and some other peoples. The causes
are all traceable to the home governments.
With such tremendous illiteracy it could
not be otherwise. Whether or not it is due to
inh aren't elements in the Latin civilizations
certain it is that these are dying, in the
sense that the Anglo-Saxon is becoming dom
inant. In the march of the world, standing
still is but another name for dying. If the
LatinS can't march there is nothing further
to do but to die. The natural order is to
advance or be crushed in the march. The
Spanish ministry seem bright, and doubt
less apprehend this order. but their attempt
to do what appears necessary seems as i'm
possible as it would be for big, strong,
up-to-date locomotive engine on a good,
sJrCng steel rail to pull a train of forty cars
off in the mud. The Spanish papers do not
seem to apprehend the real trouble. Anus
ing the masses of the people with centuries
of bull-fightng, rather than qualifying
phases of citizenship, the Spanish govern
ment now finds them a source of weakness
instead of strength. With centuries of level
rs per cent. of illiteracy, while other ma
tons We're constantly reducing that condi-
ton to the minimum by wise home govern
lack of the physical" indeed! But what
may that signify without mental develop
ment? What races could endure more phys
ically than the North American Indian
tribes, but a trained regiment of white men
could put to flight many times their num-
her. Physical power is essential, but it is
as nothing without the Intellectual The
physical man simply carries out the orders
of the mind, and when the intellectual ele-
ment is so stupid as not only to fail to per
ceive it, but rebels at order, then indeed is
there trouble. This is the real trouble with
Spain, and there is no hope, for the march
of the world cannot wait for the centuries
lost, and now required to qualify and catch
on. JNO. b. CONNER.
indianapolis, May T.