Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-05-13
BERLIN STUDENTS
HEAR ROOSEVELT
Continued from First Page

world of the mind and the body. Forces
for good forces for evil are everywhere
evident, each acting with hundred or
thousand fold the intensity with which it
acted in former ages. over the whole
earth the swing of the pendulum grows
more and more rapid, the handspring coils
and spreads at a rate constantly quick
ening; the whole world movement is of con-
stantly accelerating velocity.
I'm this movement are signs of much
that BODIES i'll. The machinery is so highly
geared, the tension and strain are so great,
the effort and the output have alike so
increased that there is cause to dread the
ruin that would come from any great &C
cident, from any breakdown, and also tbs
ruin that may coma from the mere wear
ing out of the machine itself. The only
previous civilization with which our mod
ern civilization can besap any way COM
pared is that period OF Graeco- Roman
civilization extending. say, from the Athens
of Themistoces to the Rome of Marcus
Aurelius. Many of the forces and tenden-
now. Knowledge, luxury and refinement,
wide material conquests, territorial ad-
ministration on vast scale, an increase in
the mastery of mechanical appliances and
| in applied science-all these mark our civil
| lization as they marked the wonderful
civilization that flourished in the Medi-
terranean lands twenty centuries ago; and
they preceded the downfall of the older
| civilization Yet the differences are many
and some of them are quite as striking
as the similarities. The single fact that
the old civilization was based upon slavery
shows the chasm that separates the two
Let me point out one further and very
significant difference in the development OF
the two civilizations a difference OBJ
yious that 1t is astonishing that it has not
been dwelt upon by men of letters.
Luxury Kills ManIiness.
"One of the prime dangers of civilization
has always been it's tendency to cause the
loss of the virile fighting virtues, of the
fighting edge. When men get too COM
| Portable and iead to luxurious lives there
is always danger, less the softness eat
like an acid into their manliness of fiber.
The barbarian, because of the very condi-
tions of his life is forced to keep and de-
yelop certain hardy qualities which the
man of civilization tends to lose, whether
he be clerk, factory hand, merchant. or
even a certain type of farmer, Now l
society these tendencies have been wholly
overcome; but there has been much more
successful effort to overcome them than
was the case in the early civilizations.
What is the lesson to us today? Are we
to 20 the way of the older civilizations?
The immense increase in the area Of civil
lied activity today, so that it is nearly CO.
terminous with the worlds surface; the
immense increase In the multitudinous va
rety of it's activities; the immense increase
in the velocity of the world movement
are all these to mean mercy that the crash
will be all the more compete and terrible
when it comes? We cannot be certain that
the answer will be in the negative; but of
this we can be certain, that we shall not
go down in ruin unless We deserve and
earn our end. There is no necessity for us
to fall we can hew out our destiny for
ourselves II only we have the wit and the
courage and the honesty.
Personally. l do not believe that our
civilization will fall l think that on the
whole we have grown better and not worse.
think that on the whole the future holds
more for us than even the great past has
held. But, assuredly, the dreams of golden
glory in the future will not come true UNI
less, high OF heart and strong OF hand, by
true We cannot afford to develop any one
set OF qualities at the cost Of seeing others,
equally necessary, atrophied. Neither the
military efficiency of the Mongol the ex-
traordinary business ability OF the Phoe-
nician nor the subtle and polished intellect
Of the Greek awaited TO avert destruction.
what Modernism Means.
we, the men OF today and OF the future,
need many qualities If we are to do our
work well. We need, first Of all and most
| Important of all, the qualities which stand
at the base OF individual, of family life,
the fundamental and essential qualities
the homely, everyday, all-important viz
tues. II the average man will not work, II
he has not In him the viii and the power
TO be good husband and father: IL the
average woman is not a good housewife a
good mother of many healthy children, then
the state will topple will go down, no mat.
ter what may be its brllliance Of artistic
development or material achievement But
these honey qualities are not enough
There must, in addition, be that power OF
organization that power of working in com