The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1910-05-18

them has broken down the iron barriers of |
Moslem conservatism, so that their intro
duction has become burning question IN |
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 assimilated more close
ly to what it Is 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
find echoes in both hemtspheres and IN
every continent. From new discovery IN
science to a new method of combating or
applying Socialism, there is no movement
of note which can take place In any part
Of the globe without powerfully affecting
masses Of people in Europe. America, ana
Australia, in Asia and Africa. For veal
or for woe. the peoples OF MANKIND are
knit together far closer than ever before
So much for the geographical side OF
the expansion of modern civilization. But
only a few of the many and intense &C
tivities of modern civilization have found
their expression on this side. The move
ment has been just as striking In Its con-
quest over natural forces, In its searching
inquiry into and about the soul Of things.
Conquest Over Nature.
The conquest over nature has included
an extraordinary increase in every form
Of knowledge of the world we live In, ana
also an extraordinary increase In the pow
err Of utilizing forces Of nature. In both
directions the advance has been very
great during the past four or five CEN
turtles. and in both directions 1t mas gone
on with ever increasing rapidly during
the 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
IT. 49, o1p1rc HN1y$ a
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-
gam 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
yersity was founded, the methods OF
transportation did not differ in the es-
sentials from what they had been among
the llRlly C1VlllZeu HdllOuS VI dHtllUAIy.
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 it always had been conveyed. A grad
| uate of your university today can go to
d-Asia or mid-Africa with far less con-
seriousness of performing feat of note
than would have been the case hundred
wears ago with a student who visited
Sicily and Andalusia.
| Moreover, the invention and use of ma
| chinery run by steam or electricity nave
| worked revolution in industry as great
as the revolution in transportation; SO
that here again the difference between
ancient and modern civilization is one not
merely 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
| modern life
Steam and electricity have given the
| race dominion over land and water such
| as it never had before; and now the con-
quest of the air is directly impending. AS
| books preserve thought through time, 81
the telegraph and the telephone TRANSMIT
| it through the space they annihilate, ant
| therefore minds are swayed one by an
other without regard to the limitations O.
space and time which formerly forced
each community to work In comparative
isolation 1t is the same with the body al
with the brain. The machinery of the fac
tory and the farm enormously multiple!
bodily skill and vigor Countless trained
intelligences are at work to teach us how
to avoid or counteract the effects o
waste.
In the Realm Of Intellect.
The advances in the realm of pure intel
lect have been of equal note, and the.
have been both intensive and extensive
Great virgin fields of learning and WIS
dom have been discovered by the few
and at the same time knowledge ha
spread among the many to degree neve
dreamed of before. Old men among u
have seen in their own generation tn
rise of the first rational science OF tn
evolution of life. The astronomer and tn
chemist, the psychologist and the ms
torian, and all their brethren In many dif
ferent fields Of wide endeavor, work wit
a training and knowledge and metho
which are in effect instruments OF pre-
cision differentiating their labors fror
the labors Of their predecessors as tn
rifle is differentiated from the bow.
The play of new forces is as evident
the moral and spiritual world as In tn
world of the mind and the body.
One Danger Of Civilization.
One of the prime dangers of civilizatio
has always been its tendency to caus
the loss Of the virile fighting virtues, {
the fighting edge. When men get too con
| Portable and lead too luxurious lives thel
is always danger lest the softness eat lih
, | an acid into their manliness of fiber. TT
| barbarian, because Of the very condition
, of his life, is forced to keep and devele
: | certain hardy qualities which the man
= civilization tends to lose, whether he
! clerk, factory hand, merchant, or even
t certain type of farmer. Now I will n
assert that in modern civilized socie'
, | these tendencies have been wholly owe
' come; but there has been much mo
3 successful effort to overcome them the
e was the case In the early civilization
: This is curiously shown by the milita
: history of the Graeco-Roman period
: compared with the history of the last TO
q or Ave centuries here in Europe al
!. among nations Of European descent.
!. | the Grecian and Roman military histo
e the change was steadily from a citiz
9 army to an army of mercenaries. In t
!; days of the early greatness Of Ather
d Thebes, and Sparta, in the days when t
$ Roman republic conquered what world
knew, the armies were filled with citiz
soldiers. But gradually the citizens I
1S~n, lo0