Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1910-05-18
MODERN CIVILIZATION
is ROOSEVELTS TOPIC
Interesting Lecture on "7he World
Movement" DeHuered at the Uni
uersity Of Berlin by the Ex-Presi-
dent of the United States

Berlin. - Ex-President Theodore
Roosevelt appeared Thursday before
an audience that tested the capacity
of the aula at the University. of Berlin,
and delivered lecture on "The World
Movement. He spoke in English and
was listened to with the deepest in
terest.
Beginning with an eloquent eulogy
Of the German race and it's achieve
ments, the lecturer soon reached the
main theme of his discourse, and re-
viewed the civilization and culture, so
far as We know them, of the earliest
peoples and their contributions to the
modern world. He then continued:
At last. little over 400 years
cation took up it's Interrupted march. The
beginning of the modern movement may
roughly be taken as synchronizing with
the discovery of printing, and with that
series or bold sea ventures which culmi-
mated In the discovery Of America; and
after these two epochal feats had begun
to produce their full effects in material
and intellectual life, it became inevitable
that civilization should thereafter differ
all that had gone before. Immediately
after the voyage of Columbus and Vasco
da Cana there began a tremendous re-
ligious ferment; the awakening Of intel
lect went hand in hand with the moral
uprising; the great names of Copernicus,
Bruno, Kepler, and Calico show that the
mind Of man was breaking the letters
that had cramped it; and for the first
time experimentation was used as check
upon observation and theorization. Since
then, century by century, the changes
have increased in rapidity and complex
1ty, and have attained their maximum In
both respects during the century just
past.
Instead Of being directed by one or two
dominant peoples as was the case with
all similar movements Of the past, the
new movement was shared by many diff
ferent nations. From every standpoint 1t
has been of infinitely greater moment
than anything hitherto seen. Not in one
but In many different peoples there has
been extraordinary growth in wealth, in
population, in power Of organization, and
In mastery over mechanical activity and
natural resources. All Of this has been
accompanied and signalized by an i'm
mense outburst of energy and restless
initiative. The result is varied as it is
striking.
conquest OF the world.
In the first place, representatives Of this
civilization, by their conquest of space,
were enabled to spread into all the prac-
tically vacant continents, while at the
same time, by their triumphs in organiza-
ton and mechanical invention, they &C
quired an unheard-of military superiority
as compared with their former rivals. To
these two facts is primarily due the
further fact that for the first time there
is really something that approaches a
world civilization, world movement. The
spread OF the European peoples since the
days of Ferdinand the Catholic and Ivan
the Terrible has been across every sea
and over every continent. In places the
conquests have been ethnic; that is, there
has been q new wandering Of the peoples
and new commonwealth have sprung uu
In which the people are entirely or main
ly Of European blood. This Is what hap
pened In the temperate and sub-tropical
regions Of the Western Hemisphere, in
Australia, in portions of northern Asia
and southern Africa. In other places the
conquest has been purely political. the
Europeans representing for the most part
merely a small caste of soldiers and adj
ministrators, as in most Of tropical Asia
and Africa and in much Of tropical Amer
lea. FINALLY, here and there instances oc-
cur where there has been no conquest al
ly and radically changed by the mere i'm
pact of western civilization.
There are of course many grades be.
tween these different types Of influence
but the net outcome of what has occurred
during the last four centuries Is that civil.
nZatfon of the European type now exer-
cises more or less profound effect over
practically the entire world. There are
hooks and corners to which it has not YET
penetrated but there Is at present nc
large space Of territory In which the gen.
eral movement Of civilized activity does
not make itself more or less felt. This
represents something wholly different
from what has ever hitherto been seen
In the greatest days Of Roman dominion
| relatively small portion Of the worlds
| surface. Over much the larger part of the
world the process Of change and develop
ment was absolutely unaffected by any.
thing that occurred in the Roman empire
and those communities the play Of whose
influence was felt in action and reaction
and in inter-action, among themselves
were grouped Immediately around thu
Mediterranean. Now, however, the whole
world is bound together as never before
the bonds are sometimes those Of hatred
rather than love, but they are bond:
nevertheless.
All the Nations Linked.
browning or hopeful, every man Of lead
ership in any line of thought or effor
must now look beyond the limits of hi!
own country. The student of sociolog,
may live in Berlin or st. Petersburg
Rome or London, or he may live in Mel
bourne or San Francisco or Buenos Aires
but in whatever city he lives, he must pay
heed to the studies Of men who live IL
each Of the other cities. When in Amer
lea we study labor problems and attemp
to deal with subjects such as life insur
ance for wage-workers, we turn to SCI
Whist you do here in Germany, and W.
also turn to see what the far-off com
monwealth Of New Zealand is doiag
When a great German scientist Is warning
against the most dreaded enemies of man
kind, creatures Of infinitesimal size which