The sun., 1908-12-26
GOODWIN SMITHS S6 YEARS
A LOOK BACKWARD FOR TEE
CORNELL STUDENTS.

Democracy triumphant and the United
States LAgeing Behind, Flis Summary
Of tho Political Changes During q
Long Life-The Advance Of Science.
ITHACA. Dec 25.-In Christmas mes
sage to the students Of Cornell University.
where he, was at one time Q professor.
Goldwin Smith. the English publiciSt.
friends In Ithaca the remarkable changes
that have taken place In the world during
his lifetime, Some months ago he prom
ised to write q message for the Cornell
Era IL he could still move nis pen. for his
eighty six years made II ldifiOult for him
to write much, he said. He fulfilled his
promise, and the Christmas number Of
the magazine contains short article
entitled Then and Now" II sayG
Eighty years ago in an old house OF
an old English town little boy vsS lying
in bed listening to the Christmas chimes
perhaps to the last call OF the watchman
on the street. and looking at the servant
lighting the fro with the a. int steel and
tinderbox Of the olden time. Since that
morning what changesi p
"The main storm OF the French Revo-
luton may be said to have ended at
Waterloo. But there has been Q series
OF afterbiasts which has changed the
political face OF all Europe and In now
apparently, extending itself to the hitherto
stagnant East. We may, set down in
some measure to the same account the
overthrow by civil war Of the same power
in the United States. 8
"The impelling force everywhere has
been democracy. generally triumphant.
advancing to rule apparently even in
Russia and In England completely pos
sessed OF the legislative seat OF real
power. the House OF Comnlons. though
O. remnant OF aristccratio control still
retains q precarious existence in the
,"The United States now instead Of
being the vanguard OF democracy might
almost be said to be its rear guard. the
power OF the Presidency and the Senate
making its Constitution In some respects
the most conservative Of the cot.
mot less but rather moro momentops
than the political movement and fraught
with ultimate change 10 the advance OF
science. which In. two or three genera.
ttons has been almost miraculous and
has carried mechanical Invention with
il. Mechanical invention. with steam
ships rail and telegraph. is bringing the
nations into far closer communication
and making OF them In some respects
almost one commonwealth. 1
"Even this movement In India 10 due in
no small measure to the substitution for
the long voyage around the Cape of the
short route by the Suez Canal. Magical
in locofnotion has been the change.
About half a century ago Greville, as
he tSIt II, hto aAlafrnnira nj travail.
ling By the first built Of the Engleh rail-
roa is He shudders at hearing that an
engine driver had been going at the
uerilous pace OF forty-five miles an hour.
but he is happy to learn that the man has
been dismissed by the company.
Emigration has now been made 80
easy that the labor markets are becoming
fusei. The demaroations Of national
character can hardly fail to become less
sharp. Language must always be a
boundary But even this. commerce and
industry being almost always bllingual,
is becoming less sharp division,
"All nations eat the fruits OF all climes
age or beyond before. he would taste
banana. The expansion Of commerce
In all lines has been immense. The
humble cakeshop In old Reading. at which
that little boy bought cake, has become
the great biscuit firm Of fiuntley Il Palmer.
employing tnOubanub oi uhLub
sin one way. unhappily. invention has
been retrograde. 1t has always been
increasing the construction Of new instru-
ments Of war. the incentives TO enm ity
between nations or the appeal to violence
and destruction. @ =
aThe growth Of physical science, or the
increase Of its influence over the mind.
have had the most momentous effects in
another sphere Those Christmas chimes.
when tho child first heard them. spoke to
all hearts alike, both Of home and the
Church. To not few they now speak
OF the hofne alone, This change has come
rapidly and starttngly over the intelleo-
tual world.
HThe child when still youth heard q
great professor OF physioal science strug- |
ling 70 reconcile geology with Genesis.
Now he reads the work Of D religious
writer such as Gladstone struggling to
reconcile Genesis with geology.
Let the evolutionists, however, remem-
Der t@o things. First. that evolution cam
not have evolved itself; second. that un-
like brutes humanity, as We have been
here noting, advances, and We cannot tell
what the end will be; whether it may not
be the final ascendancy Of the spiritual
over the material In man. Man. let the
evolutiopists remember. advances and
rises. The beast does not