The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-01-14
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.

From every quarter will come during
the next few months, comments upon the
wonderful progress of the nineteenth cen
fury and conjectures. more or less bold
on the possible achievements of the
twentieth century.
The Marine Review, in an article On tina
opening of the century remarks: There
is reason to believe that the nineteenth
century will go unchallenged among the
centuries. Assuredly the vacancies for
invention are few The amount of ter
1ltory uneXplored is little. The twentieth
century cannot do much more than apply
the great principles which the nineteenth
century has discovered.
This is taken as sample of the opin-
ions of those whose view of the evoIu-
ton Of the human race is taken from
the level of the business world.
The evolution of the human mind and
the consequent progress of society pro-
ceeds in geometrical ratio. The achieve
ments of the eighteenth century surpass-
ed those of the seventeenth, but the nine
teenth century held fast to its inheritance
from the past and delved deep into the
hidden mysteries of air and earth. II
seemed to be a wonderful lean toward
the light; it was, however, but the legiti-
mate result Of mental and physical evolu-
ton. Progress moves by leaps and
bounds but the path must be prepared
1t is usually prepared by unseen forces.
Between the Roman galley with its
banks of oars and the Bon Homme Rich
ard, there was not much difference. The
invention of gunpowder added the can
non, but after all the result was deter
mined by a hand-to-hand fight Those
twenty centuries had added only small
cannon to the problem of naval warfare
The application of the power Of steam
made the modern battleship possible.
Given, the first iron-clad warship, the
evolution of the thirteen-inch gun and
modern explosives was but a matter Of
years.
The end Of the twentieth century will
see the Oregon obsolete as the CID Con-
stitution is today. Submarine and aerieI
torpedo boats will have driven the battle
ship from the seas. With torpedees from
below and dynamite dropping from the
air. of what use win be an iron-clad war
ship?
Perhaps the greatest progress which
marked the nineteenth century is that of
thought. And vet the foundation of this
remarkable change was laid long before
the century opened. The one man of
the century who stands pre-eminent as
q moulder of thought is Charles Darwin.
Darwin was Of the nineteenth century,
yet the way was prepared for him in
the intellectual struggles of the pre-
vious century. That the scientific world
was ready to receive him-to accept his
theory of evolution-is; proof conclusive
that the human mind had advanced to
that point and only awaited a master
mind to formulate what it already
thought.
The church, which has been for centu-
| rfes the conservative force of the world.
frowning upon scientific investigation
| and checking intellectual growth, has
during the past century yielded its an
cient citadels of superstition and no long
er stands in the way of progress. This
result is credited TO the nineteenth CEN
fury. but it was the product of four CEN
turtles of Intellectual evolution. The con-
gress OF religions at the Worlds Fair,