The Paducah evening sun., 1910-05-12
ROOSEVELT'S SPEECH
Continued From Page Two)

similar records, while time passes II
tens of centuries. OF course Their
was change; of course there wa
action and reaction in influence be
tween them and their neighbors
and the movement of change, of de
velopment, material, mental, spiri
tual, was much faster than anything
that had occurred during the aeons
OF mere savagery. But in contra
distinction to modern times the
movement was very slow indeed
and moreover, in each case II was
strongly localized; while the field
of endeavor was narrow. There
were certain conquests by man over
nature; there were certain con.
quests In the domain of pure intel.
lect: there we're certain extensions
which spread the area of civilized
mankind. But II would be hard to
speak of IL as world movement
at all: for by the greater part of the
habitable globe was not only un-
known, but its existence unguessed
at. so far as peoples with any civil
lization whatsoever we're concerned.
with the downfall of these an
cient civilizations there sprang into
prominence the peoples with whom
our own cultural history may be
said to begin. Those ideas and in
fluences in our lives which we can
conaafouaIv fraoo haolx at all aro In
the great majority OF instances "a
be traced to the Jew, the Greek. OF
the Roman; and the ordinary man
when he speaks of the nations oil
antiquity. has in mind specifically
these three peoples-although
judged even by the history of which
we have record. theirs Is very
modern antiquity indeed.
THE case OF the jew was quite
exceptional. His was a small ma
tion. of little more consequences
than the sister nations of Moab and
Damascus. until all three. and the
other petty states OF the country
fell under the yoke OF the alien.
Then he survived. while all his fel.
lows died. In the spiritual domain
be contributed a religion which has
been the most potent of all factors
in Us effect on the subsequent his.
tory OF mankind; but none of his
other contributions compare with
the legacies left us by the Greek
and the Roman.
The Graeoo-Roman world saw q
civilization far more brilliant, far
more varied and intense, than any
that had gone before IL. and one
that affected a far larger share ol
the worlds surface. For the firsl
time there began to be something
which at least foreshadowed {
world movement In the sense thai
IL affected a considerable portion o
the worlds surface and that it re
presented what was incomparabl,
the most important of all that wal
happening in world history at the
time. In breadth and depth ths
field of intellectual interest haC
greatly broadened at the same time
that the physical area affected by
the civilization had similarly ex
tended Instead of a civilization
affecting only one river valley ol
one nook OF the Mediterranean
there was a civilization which direct.
ly or indirectly Influenced mankind
from the Desert of Sahara 20 the Bal.
tic. from the Atlantic ocean TO the
westernmost mountain chains that
spring from the Himalayas. Through
out most Of this region there began
TO work certain influences which
though with widely varying intensity
did nevertheless tend to affect large
portion OF mankind. In many of the
forms OF science. in almost all the
forms Of art, there was great activity
In addition to great soldiers there
we're great administrato and states
men whose concern was with the
fundamental question of social and
civil life. Nothing like the Width
and variety of intellectual achieve
ment and understanding had ever be
fore been known. aud Tor the mrs
time we come across great Intellect
ual leaders, great philosophers anC
writer's. whose works are a part o
all that l. highest in modern thought
whose writings are as alive toda,
as when they we're first issued; ant
there were others OF even more dar
ing and original temper. philoso
pher like DemOcritus. a poet like
lLucretlus. whose minds leaped ahea'
Through the centuries and saw wha
none of their contemporaries saw
hut who were so hampered by thei
Surroundings that It was PHYSICAL,
Impossible for them TO leave to tn
later world much concrete addition
to knowledge. The civilization wa
one OF comparatively rapid change
viewed by the standard OF Babyloi
and Memphis. There was incessan
movement: and. moreover, the Who'll
system went down with a crash 3
seeming destruction after a perio
short compared with that covered b
the relgns of score OF Egyptia