The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-06-05

it's clatter and was laid away as one Of
stead we have thousand-power looms of
the factory sending forth their ceaseIess
rear. The hum Of the spinning wheel is
heard no more but above the bass voice
of the engine and the roar of the cataract
there rises the chorus of ten thousand
spindles. The covered wagon and stage
coach in which our grandfather rolled
through mud and hauled their apples and
bacon and Tobacco to some distant market
to bring back calico and coffee and salt
and sometimes silk and ostrich feathers.
have passed away. For, behold the rivers
have been spanned, the mountains have
been leyeled and to the ends of the earth
has been laid this great iron highway of
the nations, over which the locomotive,
with breath of flame and terrific power
rushes, pulling without exertion and with
speed faster than than that of the
fastest race horse, palace cars loaded with
passengers and freight trains with thou
sand wagon loads of commerce.
This advancement in the material world
has raised new questions and evolved new
forces in the moral world The long es-
tablished equilibrium of the competitive
system is disturbed. Various interests are
segregating themselves into vast CO.
operative associations, developing powers
commensurate with the energies of mod
ern civilization claimed to be necessary
for the management of gigantic enter
prises and to the full realization of the
possibilities of the progressive age.
These forces are assuming an attitude
of dominating control. They present a
problem complicated and momentcus.
Our governmental policies have not yet
adjusted themselves to the exigencies of
the times. In the old bottles the new
wine is fermenting. When these agencies
are controlled and utilized for the gen
eral good: when to every one is guaran-
teed the just enjoyment of the result of
mans enlarged powers, advancement will
then receive a new impetus. When as the
result OF human ingenuity the capacity to
produce wealth is multiplied ten fold and
an hundred fold it should be no longer
necessary for man to give his whole time
to acquire the necessaries of life he
can devote himself to the contemplation.
of lofty ideals. to the cultivation of his
higher and nobler nature. BY six thon-
sand years of penance and toll the law
would be satisfied the curse that man
should eat bread in. the sweat of his brow
would be ahrogatcd ands annulled. His
genius would be stimulated for then he
would enjoy the law of perfect Justice
which is the law of perfect freedom. 1T
is the glorious vision that has always
haunted man with CLEANS of fitful splen-
dor, it is the golden age of which poets
have sung, and high-raised seers have
told in metaphor, it is what he saw whose
eyes on Patmos were closed in a trance,
it is the elimination of Christianity, the
City of God on earth, with it's walls Of
jasper and its gates of pearl; it IS the
reign of the Prince of Peace"
The tendency of our times towards cen
tralization contain within themselves the
principle of acceleration of centripetal
forces. Thoughtful men contemplate with
anxiety the momentous consequences.
Shall man be crushed by the forces that
he himself has created, or shall these
forces be utilized for grander achieve
ments? This is the problem which the
Sphynx of Destiny has propounded to us.
1t is a problem that will be solved in
peace, by intellect and not by the sword.
The age of war has passed. Peace is our
inheritance.
1t is true that for a moment the roar
of cannon may rise above the music Of
industry. but we live in times of peace.
orr destiny must be worked out and the
victory won in peace General Grant
stood upon the portico of the palace of
Berlin and saw march by in grand review
the armies of imperial Germany As they
swept by, regiment after regiment, and
squadron after squadron. clad in gorgeous
uniforms. stepping to the inspiring airs
of the Fatherland, the Emperor Of Ger
many turned to the great Captain Of
the Union armies for an expression Of I'd
miration. Grant knew what war was. He,
too, had been at the head of advancing
squadrons when the earth trambled as
they rushed to victory; he knew the Iomp
and circumstance and glory Of war. but
he knew its horrors too, its distress and