The Springfield herald., 1910-06-10

their fighting for them on land: and on
sea. where they did their own nghtinE.
and fought very we'll. they refused in
time OF peace to make ready fleets so ef-
.as, nsient a, - either to insure Is. the Dutch itch
to give them the victory when war
| came. To be opulent and unarmed Is to
secure ease in the present at the almost
| certain cost of disaster in the future.
1t is therefore easy to see why Holland
lost when she did her position among the
powers: but It is far more difficult to ex-
| plain why at the same time there should
| have come at least a partial loss of POSI-
| tion In tho world of art and letters. Some
| spark of divine nre burned itself out in
| the national soul AS the line of great
| statesmen. of great warriors. by land and
| sea. came to an end. 80 the line of the
| great Dutch painters ended. The loss of
| pre-eminence in the schools followed the
loss of pre-eminence In camp and in
| council chamber.
In the little republic of Holland. as In
the great empire of Rome. 1t was not
| death which came. but transformation.
Both Holland and Italy teach US that
races that fall may rise again.
| Danger Of Race Suicide.
There are questions which we of the
great civilized nations are ever tempted to
| ask of the future. Is our time of growth
| drawing to an end? Arc nations
soon to come under the rule of that great
| law of death. which is itself but part of the
| great law of life? None can tell. Forces
| that we can see and other forces that are
| hidden or that can but dimly be appre-
| hended are at work all around US. both
| for good and for evil. The growth in lux
| ury. in love of ease. in taste for vapid
| and frivolous excitement. Is both evident
| and unhealthy. The most omlnous sign
| is the diminution In the birth-rate. in the
| rate of natural increase. now to n larger
| or lesser degree shared by most of the
l n 1nH nm Mt troll nd
| Europe. of America and Australia; dim
| mutton so great that II 1t continues for the
| next century at the rate which has OBJ
| tained for the last % years all the more
| highly civilized people Will be stationary
or else have begun to go backward In
| population. while many of them will have
already gone very far backward.
There Is much that should give us con-
| Germ for the future. But there IL much
also which should give us hope. No man
| is more apt to be mistaken than the
prophet of evil. I believe with all my
| heart that great future remains for us.
| hut whether 1t does does not. our
| duty is not altered. However the bat
| tie may go. the soldier worthy of the
| name will with utmost viEor do his al
loted task. and bear himself as valiant
ly In defeat as in victory Come what
| Will. We belong to peoples who have not
| yielded to the craven fear of being great.
In the ages that have gone by. the
| great nations. the nations that have ex-
panded and that have played n mighty
| part In the world. have In the end
4 grown old and weakened and vanished:
but 30 have the nations whose only
| thought was to avoid all danger. all ef-
fort. who would risk nothing. and who
| therefore gained nothing In the end the
| same fate may overwhelm all alike; but
| the memory of the one type perishes with
| It while the other leaves Its mark deep
| on the history of all the future of man
| kind.
In the first part of this lecture drew
| certain analogies between what had oc-
CURED to forms of animal life through
the procession of the ages on this planet.
| and what has occurred and Is occurring
to tho great artificial civilizations which
| have gradually spread over the worlds
surface during the thousands of years
| that have elapsed since cities Of temples
and palaces first rose beside the Nile and
| the Euphrates, and the harbors OF
| Minoan Crete bristled with the masts of
the Aegean craft. But of course the
parallel Is true only In the toughest
| and most general way. Moreover. even
between the civilizations of today and
the civilizations of ancient times there
are differences so profound that we must
| be cautious in drawing any conclusions
for the present based on what has hap
pened In the past. While freely admit
ting all of our follies and weaknesses of
| today. 1t is yet mere perversity to refuse
to realize the incredible advance that
has been made in ethical standards. i do
essary connection between any weaken
ing of virile force and this advance In
the moral standard. this growth of the
sense of obligation to ones nelghbor and
of reluctance to do that neighbor wrong.
We need have scant patience with that
silly cynicism which Insists that kindli
ness of character only accompanies
weakness of character. On the contrary.
Just in private life many of the men
of strongest character are the very men
OF 1oftiest and most exalted morality. so
believe that in national life as the ages
go by we shall find that the permanent
national types Will more and more tend
towards those In which, while the intel
lect stands high, character stands higher:
In which rugged strength and courage.
rugged capacity to resist wrongful ag-
gression by others. will go hand in hand
with lofty scorn of doing wrong to 9TH
ers. This is the type of Timoleon. of
Hamrden. of Washington and Lincoln.
Problems Of Modern Nations.
Every modern civilized nation has many
and terrible problems to solve within Its
own borders. problems that arise not
merely from 1uxtaposition of poverty and
riches. but especially from the self-con-
sciousness of both poverty and riches.
Each nation must deal with these mat
ters in its own fashion, and yet the spirit
in which the problem is approached must
ever be fundamentally the same. 1t
must be spirit of broad humanity; of
brotherly kindness: of acceptance of re-
SpOnSlDlHty, one LOT euCN anu eaCn lot
all; and at the same time 1 spirit re-
mote as the poles from every form of
weakness and sentimentalty. AS in war
to pardon the coward is to do cruel
wrong to the brave man whose life his
cowardice jeopardizes so in civil affairs
1t is revolving to every principle OF
justice to give to the lazy. the vicious. or
even the feeble and dull-witted, n reward
which is really the robbery of what
braver. wiser aber men have earned
The only effective way to help any man
is to help him to help himself: and the
worst lesson to teach him is that he can
be permanently helped at the expense of
some one else. True liberty shows itself
to best advantage in protecting the rights
of others, and especially of minorities.
Privilege should not be tolerated because
1t Is to the advantage of minority. nor
yet because 1t is to the advantage of a
majority. No doctrnaire theories of
vested rights or freedom of contract can
stand in the way of our cutting out
abuses from the body polite. Just lit
tie can We afford to follow the doctrin-
aires of impossible-and incidentally
of a highly undesirabe-social revolution
which. in destroying individual rights
dncluding property rights and the fam
lily. would destroy the two chief agents in
| the advance of mankind, and the two