La Junta tribune., 1910-06-18

titled farms spread over what had
once been a countryside OF peasan,
proprietors, when greed and luxury
and sensuality ate like acids into the
fiber OF the upper classes. while the
mass Of the citizens grew To depend
not upon their own exertions, but
upon the state for their pleasures and
their very livelihood.
Take another and smaller instance,
that OF Holland For period GOV.
ering little more than the seven.
teeDth century. Holland, like some OF
the italian city states at au earlier
period stood on the dangerous heights
OF greatness beside nations 80 vastly
her superior In territory and popula.
ton as to make II inevitable that
sooner or later she must fall from
the glorious and perilous emlnence
to which she had been raised ly her
own indomitsbie soul Her fall came
1t could not have been Indefinitely
postponed. but 4 came far quicker
Than II needed TO come. because OF
shortcomings on her part to which
both Great Britain and the United
States would be wise TO pay heed
Her government Vas singularly inef.
fective. the decentralization being
such as often 10 permit the separa-
list. the partlcularist. spir. OF the
provinces TO rob the central author
iiy OF all efficiency This was bad
enough. But the fatal weakness was
that so common In rich. peace-Ioying
societies. where men hate to think
Of war as possible. and try 10 Justify
their own reluctance TO face Il either
by high-sounding moral platltudes or
else by a philosophy OF shori-sighted
materiallsm. The Dutch were very
wealthy. They grew to believe that
they could hire others to do their
fighting for them on land and on
sea. where Aey did their own fight
ing. and fought very well, they re-
fused In time OF peace TO make ready
fleets so efficient a. either to Insure
the Dutch against the peac. being
broken or else TO give them the vic
tory when war came. To be opulen,
and unArmed Is to secure ease In
the present at the almost certain coat
Of disaster In the future.
In Italy. where history Is recorded
for far longer time. the course OF
affairs Was different When the
Roman Empire. that was really
Roman. went down In Ruin. there fol-
lowed an interval OF centuries when
the gloom was almost unrelicyed
Every form OF luxury and friyoli,y. Of
eontemptuous repugnnaee for serious
work. OF eneryating s.lf-lndulgene.,
every form OF vice and weakness
which We regard as most ominous In
the civilization of today. had been
a, work in Italy for generations. The
nation had lost all patriotism II
had ceased TO bring forth fighters or
workers. had ceased TO bring forth
men OF mark Of any kind. and the
remnant of the Italian people cover,
cd Ia helpless misery among the
horsehoofs Of IN. barbarlans a. the
Wild northern bands rode In TO take
the land for a prey and the cities for
spoil II was one OF the great cat.
aclysms of history. but In the end IL
was seen that what came had been
In par; change and growth 1, was
not all mere destruction. Not only
did Rome leave vast heritage OF
language, culture. law. ideas. TO all
the modern world. but the people OF
Italy kept the old blood as the chief
strain. in their veins In a few cen.
turtles came a wonderful new birth OF
Italy. Then for four or five hundred
years there was growth OF many
litll. city states which. In their en-.
crgy both In peace and war, In their
fierce tervent life. In the hlsh quail
" OF their men Of arts and letters,
and In their utter inability TO com
bine so as to preserve order among
themselves or to repel outside insa
sion. can not unfairly be compared
with classic Greece Again italy fell
and the land was ruled by spaniard
or frcnohman or Austrian: and again
In the nineteenth century. there came
lhrsh.
The phenomena OF national growth
and decay. 10th those which can and
those which cannot be explained
have been peculiarly In evidence dur