Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1900-12-22
CHRISTMAS 1900.
Peace on earth, good will to men.

The last Christmas or the nineteenth
century finds the Christian world ex-
employing its founders teachings
with 100000 men under arms and 90
100000 trained soldiers in reserve.
Never before in all the 1900 years has
the art of killing been cultivated on
such a gigantic scale.
! Two hundred years ago Jesuit mis-
sionaries endowed the Chinese Impe-
rial observatory at Pekin with a su-
perb set Of astronomical instruments,
representing the highest flights Of the
science and art Of their day. This was
Christendom's message to China in
those backward times. Today the
troops Of Christian Germany and
France have packed up those instru-
ments to be sent with other loot to the
museums of Berlin and Paris. One
Christian power is desolating South
Africa, another Is slaughtering Filipi-
nos, and all together are ravaging
China.
Nevertheless, the reign Of peace and
good will is not so far away as it SEEM
ed to be. It is much that Europe and
America are at peace at home. No
great powers are tearing at each 9TH
er's throats, as they were when the
century began. It Is nearly 80 years
since the last duel Of that sort ended,
and the majority Of the people now liv-
ing in civilized countries have no recol-
Elections of a great war. That is some
thing that could hardly ever have been
said in any century since the fall Of
Rome. And it Is very doubtful wheth-
er there will ever be a great war again.
The experience Of England and Amer
lea in little wars has not been such as
to encourage any nation to undertake
big war. All the imposing masses Of
soldiery, which up to generation ago
could not have been maintained with
out devoting them to wholesale muir
der, may be only glorifed police, the
watch-dogs of peace instead Of the
bloodhounds Of war.
There never has been an end OF the
century Christmas whose outlook could
compare with this. A hundred years
ago it would have been robust faith
to be cheerful over the prospect. Eu-
rope was bleeding at every vein. Death
had stalked over the fields Of Marengo
and Hohenlinden. Little America, less
populous than Pennsylvania Is today,
saw her commerce threatened with
ruin in the clash of the warning giants
abroad. The union ended at the Mis-
sissippi, and it could not tell what hos
tile power might face 1t on the western
bank.
Today the great world issues have
been fought out and settled. The
boundaries in most quarters have been
finally drawn. The destinies Of the
races have been fixed. 1t is known
that English which a century ago was
spoken by fewer people than French,
or German or Spanish, Is to be the
dominant language Of the earth. 1t Is
known that Russian Is to follow It, and
that German Is to follow that. These
are things which the work Of the nine
teenth century have settled. They can
not be undone. And these facts mark
out the future of history broad and
clear:
| It would have been hard for any
Christmas seer in the year 1900 to pre-
dict the condition Of today. But we
can look forward with confidence on
the state Of the world when on Christ
mas of the year 1000, the currents OF
destiny are sweeping forward on a
course that cannot be mistaken.
A hundred years from now interna-
tional rivalries, as we understand
them, will have ended. There will be
three great powers, the United States,
Russia and the British empire, and
number of minor ones. All North
America will be part Of the United
States; all South America will be de-
pendent upon 1t. The people OF the
Philippines and Of any other ISLANDS
we may have taken under our flag Will
be Americans, proud Of their citizen
ship.
The British empire will include Aus
tralia and perhaps all Of Africa. IL
will not include Canada, and perhaps
not India. It's political center Of graV-
| ity, and perhaps its capital and parlia-
ment as we'll, will be in Australia. It's
government is very likely to be repub-
| lican in form.
Russia will probably rule the whole
Of Asia, and western Europe may be
expected to occupy toward it some
such relation as that which Bulgaria
now bears toward Turkey, or which
the Greek cities of Asia minor bore to-
ward the government Of the great
king.
AS the world in the 10Th century has
solved the problem Of producing
wealth. the world in the Goth century
may be expected to solve the problem
of distributing it. That is really much
the simpler one Of the two. In all the
history Of mankind, down to the be-
ginning of the century now drawing to
an end, the problem Of poverty was
primarily one Of productions. There
were not enough things to go around
consequently some people have to go
without. It was impossible to make
enough to go around. There was only
so much muscular power to cultivate
the ground, harvest the crops with
sickles and make shoes, clothes, nails,
,, boards and bricks by hand. If there
had been plenty of everything it would
have seemed a simple matter enough
to see that everybody got share.
Now we have learned how to pro-
duce plenty. We have mastered ma
ture. We have harnessed steam, cleo
tricity, the cataracts and the winds.
Our complaint now is "overproduc-
tion." Our trusts regulate prices by
shutting down mills. We say that we
have too many good things.
Under such conditions there is no ex-
cuse for failure Of anybody to have