The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-11-12

ard important of the scientific departments
| of the government
! 1t was after o'clock, the usual hour
for the closing of the departments, that
the writer called at the bureau of ethnol-
ogy and found Prof. MCGEE still at his
desk. AS he rose to shake hands with his
visitor the scientist presented at least the
outward appearance of man who is ca
pable of graphing with the mighty ques-
! lions which his laboratory subject, his fell
| low man, presents. He impresses one as
might a great physician whose duty one
might imagine to be TO keep his hands
on the pulse of the nat ons of the earth
when the internal fires of civilization shall
burn TOO iereely to warm them against
! the fever and decay which followed in the
instances of Greece and Rome, and which
seems to be in progress now among the
French peoples.
| A little above the average hight is Prot
MCGEE thickset, strong, broad of should
er and erect in carriage. His head is set
squarely on his shoulders and around the
| temples his he'r is streaked with gray
| His forehead is square, prominent and
most aptly described by the word massive.
His face is grave and kindly and in his
manner he is easy and cordial.
| Prof. MCGEE was busy. He has been
that way all his life. But when he learned
the writer's mission he turned from his
desk and talked willingly.
Man ut His High Water Mark.
you want to know my conclusions
about my fellow man of the present gen.
GRAFTON? You desire to find out whether
mankind Is falling back in the great race,
or standing still on his present pinnacle
or pushing forward to an even greater
Development" said Prof MCGEE sum
marizing the questions put to him.
Man is to-day at the high water mark
of his development as compared with the
.a-N 4
it may safely be predicted, in view of the
present progress that the billion, five hun
dred million, of human beings who inhab-
IL the globe are making, that we are but
on the eve of development which as far
transcends that of the present as the pres
ent surpasses that of centuries since.
There is certain class of prophets and
historians which is continually trying to
impress upon the men of to-day their in
feriority to their parents In all ways except
those of material progress. The son, they
say, Is not the physical, mental and moral
equal of his father. They look ever back
wards for good and so distorted does their
vision become that in looking forward they
can see nothing but evil.
Now this view is wrong; let me empha-
size that point. 1t is totally wrong The
son of tomorrow will prove a better man
in every way than the father of to-day.
He win far surpass in the elements that
/
father of yesterday. Let this too be en-
phasized, but do not let it be misunder-
stood. The world is moving onward and
upward AS men grow old their mental
ity reverts and they appreciate more keenly
the triumphs, the struggles the achieve
ments of their younger days What is
good and what is great in the past comes
| keenly back TO them. With Mark Antony
| they are too willing to believe that the
evil that men do lives after them while
the good is too often inferred with their
| bones.
We Are Advancing Mentally.
But the stores of useful knowledge
| which men are accommodating the good
that they are doing is not buried with
them. knowledge may be transferred in
definitely from party TO party; yet no
party loses. though all may gain. But all
grant that we are advancing from the
| standpoint of mentality. The critics point
| TO the physical man Of to-day and make
| the claim that he does not equal the phys
| ical man of the past.
| zone of the best indications of the
strength of a race, all things considered
| is the longevity Of it's peoples Recently
there have been eXhumed from the ruins
of Pompeii a number of actuarles tables.
| In these the ancient Italian insurance
| agents had worked out carefully the ex-
J pectatlon OF life for the people with whom