Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1901-01-05
IN THE new CENTURY.
Some Representations or Emf
nent Frenchmen.
VIEW OF FRANCES CHIEF CHEMIST


and Gas--GabrieI Monod on the Adj
vance of observation-disclosures ard
the Arts.
OF and on during the past few weeks
the Paris press has made an amuse-
ment OF representations OF the GEN.
fury to come. Men eminent In science
and literature and art. and trusted OBJ
servers Of the course of contemporary
history, have been drawn with success,
writes the Paris correspondent Of the
New York Post. NJ. Berthelot, the
chief chemist of France during the last
half century. the friend of Renan, who
led with him the young inteilectuals
of 1S4S; the member elect of the French
Academy TO represent science In that
body. as Pasteur did in his day. has
given an opinion on practical things
on the development of machinery by
the use OF motor power. He declares
frankly against steam. which. be says,
is already growing obsolete. while cleo
tricity, which is only an intermediary
between the material source of energy
and It's application. will always cost
too much TO become the motor force of
common Industrial life. For him the
future OF motor power belongs TO pc
troleum and to gas. The steam engine
will be relegated to museums where
other anthropoiogical curiosities are
collected from the stone age down. 1t
will be remembered that NJ. Berthelot
long since predicted that the time OF
chemical feeding of humanity is to
come, when we shall carry beefsteaks
and breadstuffs In our vest pockets.
In the shape OF convenient pellets sup
plying the necessary elements, carbons,
azotes, phosphates and the rest. to
needy tissues: but this reform he does
not announce for the twentieth century.
The Pasteur people. with Metschinikof
at their head. have also given over
promising serums to save from old
age, but they foresee with reasonable
hone remedies for cancer. consumption
and the plague.
In political and social history M.
Gabriel Monod has prophesied grave
things, of which more elementary
vision has bad glimpses for some time
past. The influence of M. Monod until
recently was almost preponderant In
France In historical studies His long
years 1T the Ecole Normale Superieure.
where men like ex-Minister Hanotaux
passed under him; at the Ecole Pra-
tiuue des Hautes Etudes of the Sor-
bonnie. of which he has been a CHER
organizer. and the foundation of the
Revue Historique, which was due to
him, give him place apart. His be-
longing to noted family of Protestant
clergymen aud his pronounced stand
In favor Of the innocence of Dreyfus
may have made his name unpopular
of late, but they have scarcely lessen.
ed the esteem In which he is held fol-
Judicial moderation and breadth OF
view. He announces plainly for the
twentieth century the advance and the
triumph Of socialism.
OF course, this does not mean that
any special school or party OF what arc
now called socialists will necessarily
seize on political power, but that the
tendencies making for what is proper
ly called socialism are contained in the
present evolution of society and are
bound to prevail. just as democracy
has constantly progressed with the cen
fury that is past. The triumph of de
mocracy itself is far from being com
plete, and 1t has left a train Of revolu
lions, more or less bloody, behind 1t In
France. Tolstoi. in Maitre Labori's
Grande Revue of this month, treats
of the modern slavery and finds that
present day government is universally
organized violence. Anatole. France
In lighter vein. defines the organized
Justice of society as the organiza ton
OF force.
With these opinions, smelling of ca.
archy, from the sages and philosophers
Of the day in the background It would
not be strange that other revolutions
should be In store for us. but socialism
as 1t IL, with two ministers in the gov
ernment-M. Millerand for commerce
and Industry and NJ. Baudin for public
works-goes along peaceably enough.
1t would be curious to sum up the
measures taken since 1848 and now In
full practice, which were then consid-
cred altogether revolutionary. A few
Of the political weather prophets have
ventured to foresee In the coming yeare
the extinction Of international wars
through arbitration, but even NJ. Monod
makes no prediction as to the charac-
ter OF the struggle Of classes which
might precede the conversion Of society
to socialism. If the transformation 10
to be gradual. then the entrance Of NJ.
Millerand into the ministry of repub-
iican defense Is only comforting step
of the necessary evolution. The old
fashioned Journal des Debats. which
represents the Liberalism that has for
gotten nothing and learned nothing
continues to see In II only the surren-
der OF the republic to the forces of rev.
oiution. One hundred years since Lib
eralism itself was the revolution.