Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1910-05-19

| governmental principles - btftktn8ly IL
Illustrated by the fact that admiration foI
them has broken down the iron barriers O.
Moslem conservatism. 30 that their intro
: ductlon has become burning question Ii
Turkey and Persia; while the very unrest
the impatience Of European or American
control, in India. Egypt or the Philip
pines. takes the form Of demanding that
the government be assimiiated more close.
" to what II II In England or the United
States. The deeds and works Of any great
statesman, the preachings Of any great
ethical, social, or political teacher. now
md echoes in both hemispheres and In
every continent. From new discovery In
science to q new method of combating OF
applying Socialism, there IL no movement
Of note which can take place In any part
Of the globe without powerfully affecting
masses Of people in Europe. America, and
Australia, in Asia and Africa. For veal
or for woe. the peoples Of mankind are
knit together far closer than ever before.
30 much for the geographical side OF
the expansion Of modern civilization. But
only a few Of the many and intense ac-
tivities Of modern civilization have found
their expression on this side. The move
ment has been just as striking in its con-
guest over natural forces. in Its searching
inquiry into and about the soul Of things.
Conqueet OVer NatuT0'
The conquest over nature has included
an extraordinary increase In every form
Of knowledge OF the world we live in, and
also an extraordinary increase in the pow
or Of utilizing forces Of nature. In both
directions the advance has been very
great during the past four or nve CEN
turtles, and in both directions II has gone
on with ever increasing rapidly during
tho last century. After the great age OF
Rome had passed, the boundaries Of
knowledge shrank, and in many cases 1t
was not until well-nigh our own times
that her domain was once again pushed
beyond the ancient landmarks. About the
year $50 A. D. Ptolemy, the geographer.
published his map Of central Africa and
the sources Of the Nile, and this map was
more accurate than any which we had as
late as 1850 A. D. More was known OF
physical science, and more Of the truth
about the physical world was guessed at,
In the days Of Pliny, than was known or
guessed until the modern movement be-
gan. The case was the same as regards
military science. At the close Of the Mid
die Ages the weapons were what they
had always been-sword. shield, bow
spear; and any Improvement In them was
more than Offset by the loss in knowledge |
Of military organization, In the science of |
war, and In military leadership since the |
days Of Hannibal and Caesar.
A hundred years ago. when this uni |
versity was founded, the methods Of
transportation did not differ In the es-
sentials from what they had been among |
the highly civilized nations Of antiquity. |
Travellers and merchandise went by land
In wheeled vehicles or on beasts Of bur-
den, and by sea In boats propelled by
sailS or by oars; and news was conveyed
as II always had been conveyed A grad
uate Of your university today can go to
mid-Asia or mid-Africa with far less con-
seriousness Of performing a feat Of note
than would have been the case hundred
years ago with a student who visited
Sicily and Andalusla.
Moreover, the invention and use of ma
chinery run by steam or electricity have
worked a revolution in industry as great
as the revolution in transportation so
that here again the difference between
ancient and modern civilization IL one not
Of degree but Of kind. In many
vital respects the huge modern city differs
more from all preceding cities than any
Of these differed one from the other; and
the giant factory town is Of and by itself
one Of the most formidable problems Of
modern life.
Steam and electricity have given the
race dominion over land and water such
AZ II never had before: and now the con-
quest Of the air is directly impending. As
books preserve thought through time, 80
the telegraph and the telephone transmit
Il through the space they annihilate, and
minds Nare swayed one by an
other without regard to the limitations Of
space and time which formerly forced
each community to work In comparative
It is the same with the body a.
with the brain. The machinery Of the fac !
tory and the farm enormously multiplies 4
bodily skill and vigor. Countless trained I
ntelligences are al work to teach us how I
10 avoid or cohnteract the effects Of I
waste. q
In the Realm Of Intellect. :
The advances In the realm of pure intel I
ect have been of equal note, and they .
rave been both intensive and extensive. q
3Feat virgin fields of learning and wis., I
lom have been discovered by the few,
md at the same time knowledge has I
pread among the many to a degree never Q
Ireamed Of before. Old men among us =
rave seen In their own generation the !,
Use Of the first rational science Of the \
volution Of life. The astronomer and the q
hemist, the psychologist and the his '
orian, and all their brethren In many DIFF y
.
training and knowledge and method y
which are in effect instruments Of pre- n
ision differentiating their labors from p
he labors Of their predecessors as the p
life IL differentiated from the bow.
The play OF new forces IL as evident in q
he moral and spiritual world as in the y
world Of the mind and the body, y
One Danger Of Civilization. y
One Of the prime dangers of civilization h
Ias always been its tendency to cause II
he loss Of the vlrile fighting virtues, Of n
he fighting edge. When men get too COM h
ortable and lead too luxurious lives there "
J always danger lest the softness eat like A
n acid into their manliness of nbsF. The v
because Of the very conditions n
Z his life, IL forced to keep and develop n,
ertain hardy qualities which the man OF II
utilization tends to lose. whether he be c,
Jerk, factory hand, merchant, or even a N
ertain type Of farmer. Now l will not m
ssert that in modern civilized society ~
hese tendencies have been wholly over y,
ONE; but there has been q much more
uccessful effort to overcome them than
Ias the case In the early civilizations =
his 10 curiously shown by the military y,
istory Of the Graeco-Roman period as y
ompared with the history Of the last four ~
r hve centuries here in Europe and y, "
mong nations OF European descent In u
he orecian and Roman military history W W
he change was steadily from a citiHen y
rmy to an army Of mercenaries In the y. ~
avs Of the early greatness Of Athens, ~
hebes, and Sparta. In the days when the "
oman republic conquered what world II 2.
nav, the armies were filled with citizen ~
,ldiers. But gradually the citizens re- oe