New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-13
THE UPLFT OF NATIONS
Address Delivered by Theodore Roosevelt Be
fore the University of Berlin.


-. university or Berlin IN flle
So .,-.r closes its first centenary or
:. is difficult for you n the OLD
So .,I,, 70 appreciate the feelings of q
/ ~,a comes from q nation still IL the
10 a country with an imuemoriai
-. ,as.. and especially is this the case
.ba- country, with its ancient past
- :, vet locks with proud confidence
" -. eut7,rs and in the present shows
p he sboun6ing zfgor Of lusty youth.
& the case with Germany. More than
sao,,ssr6 wears have passed since the
! - Empire o. the West became in fact
[,,--zan Empire. Throughout medieval
/ - .he empire and the Pspacy were the
-s,t-al features in the history Of the
/ ~.s.n, With the OtEos and the Henrys
- she SLOW rise OF that Western life
-, has SHAPED modern Europe, and
...,.sa-e ultimately the whole modern
- Their task was 10 organize society
"a N keen II from crumbling TO pieces.
- we're castle builders, city founders,
"a makers; they battled 20 bring order
=. n the seething turbulence around
.hs-,. and at the same time they first beat
81 beathendom and then slowly wrested
e-oua Il its possessions.
Conditions After Fall OF Rome.
..,s- The downfall OF Rome and the
,-.sktaz y sunder % the Roman Empire.
-,s erst real capitalization Of the forces
,ns. were working for q new uplift OF civil
,.,ior II Western Europe was round the
rys-inr House. and. above all. round the
r,ez. emperor. Karl the Great the seat OF
vbsss empire vas ct Aachen- Under the
Earrings the Arab and the Moor were
s-svsn back beyond he Pyrenees; the last
A. IRE Cd heather Germans were forced
.--o Christianity. and the Avars. wild
rarssr,sn from the Asian steppes. who had
l4pc held tented dominion in Middle Eu-
-,,. were utterly destroyed. With the
brssk-up OF the KarIing Empire came
,ssns once more and fresh thrush Of
.svaze-r: vikings from the frozen north
s-s ReU ho-des Of outlandish riders from
asia Z vas the early eTnperors of Ger
-,s7v r-ope- who uueIled these barbarians;
4. +hefr tine Dane and NorseInan and Mag
VIZ became Christians. and most OF the
slsv peoples a. well. sc that Europe began
~ take OF s shape which We can recognize
tn-6ay. Since then the centuries have rolled
hv with strange alterations Of fortune,
rov vell-nigh barren. and again great with
German achievement in arms and in gov
eminent II science ard the arts. The cen
re OF power shifted hither and thiJher
within German lands, the great House Of
EohenzoIiern rose. the house which has a.
H last seen Germany spring into command
TX position il the very forefront among
The nations OF mankind.
Americas Debt 70 Germany.
To this ancient land with its glorious
land n
NAM memories and OF eager hopes, L come
from Young nation. which is by blood
akin 70. and Yet different from. each Of the
great nations Of Middle and Western Eu-
rope. which has inherited or acquired much
trom each. but is changing and developing
every inheritance and acquisition into
something new and strange. The German
strain il our blood is large, for almost from
the beginning there has been large Ger
nan element among the successive waves
o. newcomers whose children's children
have been end are being fused into the
American nation: and l myself trace my
origin TO that branch OF the Low Dutch
stock which raised Holland out Of the
North Sea. Moreover, We have taken from
YOU. not only much Of the blood that runs
through our veins but much OF the thought
ths- shapes our minds. For generations
American scholars have aocked TO your
universities, and. thanks TO the wise fore
sight q his imperial majesTy. the present
Emperor. the intimate and friendly connec-
ton between the Two countries is now N
ever way closer than il has ever been be-
fore.
Germany is pre-eminently q country IN
which The world movement OF to-day IN al
% lis r-uititUdinous aspects is plainly Wis
ible The life OF this university covers the
period during which that movement has
spread until il Is felt throughout every
continent: while its velocity has been con
sta1tIv accelersting. SO that the face OF
he world has changed, and is now chang
ing. as never before L Is therefore fl and
Appropriate here TO speak on this subject
Tn. Development OF Man
When. Il The slow procession OF the ages
mar was developed on this planet, the
change worked by his appearance was al
first slight Further ages passed, while he
CROPPED and struggled by tntinitesirnal Ge-
grees upward through the lower grades OF
ssvEger-: fo- the general law IS that lie
which IS advanced and complex, whatever
its nature. changes more quickly than sim
pier ana less advanced forms. The life Of
irene slowness. and groups Of savages in
fuence one another but little The first
rudimentary beginnings OF that complex
lie % communities which We call civiliza-
ton marked a period when man had al
ready long been By far the most important
creature on the planet. The history Of the
living world had become. in fact, the his
tory q man, and therefore something
totally different in kind as well as in de-
gree from wha; L had been before. There
are interesting enalogies between what has
gone OF ia the development OF life gen
orally and What has gone on IL the develop
Dent Of human society. and these I shall
discuss elsewhere. But the differences are
profound and 60 10 the root OF things.
Throughout their early stages the move
raents Of civilizstion-for, properly speak
ing, there vas no one aforementioned very
COW, we're local in space and were partial
Il TIE sense that each developed along but
lev lines. OF the nunberless years that
covered these early stages We have no rec
orc- -hST we're the years that saw such
extraordinary discoveries and inventions as
RE- and The Thsel. and the bow. and the
conesficat-or o1 animals So local were
these inventions that a. the Dresen- Sav
there yet Inser savage tribes. still fxed in
TIE half 5estial life Of an Infinitely remote
past. %hO know Dcne Of them except fire
and tte discover and Use Of fire nav have
marked. nct the beginning of civilization.