The daily journal. (Salem, Or.) 1899-1903, 1900-01-17
DIR. JORDAN PREDICTS
BRITAIN'S DOWNFALL,
II England Wipes Out The Transvaal
This Will Mark the Beginning of
The EmpIre'a DECAY

The Empires Decay.
In Great Britain's present war with
the Transvaal, President David Starr
Jordan, of Stanford University, sees the
FIRST step in the downfall of that nation.
At the Unitarian church, in Oakland,
President Jordan spoke to large audi
ence on "Some Lessons of the War in
the Transvaal." In substantiation of
his belief, DIR. Jordan cited the examples
OF Greece, Rome and more recently of
Spain. lie said:
"The fall Of these great nations is due
to war. There is cynical line in one of
Kipling's poems that has great signif-
cance. Send forth the best ye breed, "
he says, and that is what England is
doing now, that is what Greece and
Rome did. The best and strongest of
the young men those without fault and
blemish went forth TO fight and die.
And il the best went forth, who were
left behind but the second best TO breed
the next generation? That is why the
Italian, French and Spanish peasantry
at the present day, such men as the
Man with the hoe are small and
weak. They are the descendants of the
scullions and the cooks and slaves, those
not good enough to fight. of the previous
generations This has been true of all
nations called decadent. France lost her
best blood in the wars of Napoleon. The
plains Of Austerlilz and of Lodi and all
the great battle fields Of the Napoleonic
era are strewn with the skulls of the
best that France bred. The peasantry os
England has deterioratcd sadly since
that nation has become an Empire. BY
the same path as her predecessors she
must 20 10 destruction" "
DR.. Jordan said that his sympathies
in the present war were with the body
OF the British people, who were. in his
opinion, "the victims of gigantic bunko
game" and had been led into the war
uuawares by the politicians and dema-
gogues OF Great Britain. The primal
sin, he said, of England had been the
desire to seize whatever of value there
was which belonged TO some one else.
There were certain principles, he went
on, which were at the root Of the present
difficulty, among them being the be-
lief that Chamberlain has iostered that
British influences should he everywhere
tendency TO keep sore
place" between all English colonies and
their neighbors, and 10 overreach on
every frontier, just as she had done in
Venezuela and in Alaska.
Following this line Of thought, Presi-
dent Jordan hit the British hard. 'It
has seemed 10 he a rule in England war
fare, he said, "never to attack any
body with clothes on, never to strike
anybody unless he was down and never
10 hit above the belt, save when that
was the only vulnerable point. In deal
ng with the Dutch Great Britain broke
every pledge made 10 them The truth
If IL IL that the British want their land
and must have il to make possible the
scheme Of Rhodes and Chamberlain for
. united British South Africa.
"Many reasons England has given for
lhe war, but they are all specious. She
has tried to treat the two republics az
-evolted colonies. She has complained
hat her sons there have been refused
he franchise; she has pointed TO the
corruption and tyranny in the Trans
'aal Government. That the Beers
,oasted that any one Boer could whip
I've Englishmen ranked; no did the
memory of Majuba hill.
"Not because OF her military glory do
We honor England, but because she has
,ad more than her share of the wisest
md best men OF the world. And so the
lory of the Anglo.Savon race is not in
Is dominion but, il it may be 30 ex-
ressed, in the permeation or spread OF 5
Is thought and its ideas and its infu- a
nee. They pirate Of irresistible tenden-
les and manifest destiny and so on, but y
say now, as ! said at the beginning Of
he war, il English soldiers cross the
,and andswipe out the Boer ration, II
i'll be the beginning of the end OF the
ritish empire"
#-------=--