The Mobridge news. [volume] (Mobridge, Walworth Co., S.D.) 190?-1917, 1910-06-10
ROMANES LECTURE GIVEN
BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Event Postponed by Kings Death Attracts a
Large Audience at Oxford---Lord Curzon
Introduces the Distinguished American.

from another and the 'old" nations one
from another. There are In each case
very real differences between the new and
the old acknowledgements both for good
and for evil; but in each case there is
the same ancestral history to reckon with,
tle same type Of civilization. with its at
tendant benefits and shortcomings; and,
AFTER the pioneer stages are passed. the
problems to be solved, in spite Of superb
cldl differences, are in their essence the
same; they are those that confront all
civilized peoples, not those that confront
peoples struggling from barbarism into
civilization.
80. when we speak of the death" OF
a tribe, a nation or a civilization. the term
may be used for either one or two totally
dl1erent processes; the analogy with
what occurs in biological history being
complete. Certain tribes Of savsyes. the
Tasmanians. for instance, and various lit
tie clans of American Indians. have within
the last century or two completely died
out; all OF the individuals have persisted.
leaving no descendants. and the blood has
disappeared. Certain other tribes OF
Indians have as tribes disappeared or
are now disappearing; but their blood
remains. being absorbed into the veins Of
the white intruders. or OF the black men
introduced by these white intruders; so
that in reality they are merely being
~tNR
different from what they were.
\ like wide diversity in fact may be
covered in the statement that a civiliza-
ton has died out"
Phenomena That Puzzle.
In dealing, not with groups Of human
beings in simple and primitive relations,
but with highly complex. highly sp.cisl-
ICED. civilized, or semi-civilized societies,
fhAvn ic mood Af np..t ro,,tf,A -, L., u;.
analoSies with what has occurred in tho
development Of the animal world. Yet
even in these cases il is curious to see
how some of the phenomena in the
growth and disappearance of these Gem
pick, artificial groups OF human beings
resemble what has happened in myriad.
Of instances in the history Of life en- this
planet.
Why do great artificial empires, whose
citizens are knit by a bono OF speech and
culture much more than by a bond of
blood. show periods Of extraordinary
growth. and again Of sudden or lingering
decay? In some cases we can answer
readily enough; in other cases we can
not as yet even guess what the proper
answer should be. If In any such case
the centrifugal forces overcome the CEN
%tripetal, the nation will Of course fly to
pieces, and the reason for its failure to
become a dominant force is patent 10
every one. The minute that the spirit
which finds it's healthy development in
local self government. and in the antidote
to the dangers Of an extreme centrallza-
ton, develops into mere partiCularism.
into inability to combine effectively for
achievement Of a common end. then il IL
hopeless to expect great results. Poland
and certain republics Of the western
hemisphere are the standard examples Of
failure Of this kind; and the United States
would have ranked with them. and it's
rame would have become a byword Of
d~erlsion. If the forces Of union had not
triumphed in the civil war. So tho
growth of soft luxury after It has reached
a certain point becomes a national danger
patent to all. Again, 1t needs but little OF
the vision Of a seer to foretell what must
happen in any community II the average
woman ceases to become the mother OF q
family of healthy children. IL tho average
man loses the will and the power to work
up to old age and to fight whenever the
need arises. If the homely. commonplace
virtues die out. If strength of character
vanishes in graceful self-indulsence, II the
virile qualities atrophy, then the nation
has lost what no material prosperity can
Offset.
But there are plenty Of other phenom-
ena wholly or partially inexplicable. It is
easy to see why Rome trended downward
Wlcn great SlSNe-tllleO Farms spread over
what had once been a countryside Of
peasant proprietors. when greed and lux
urY and scnsuality ate like acids into the
fiber Of the upper classes. while the mass
Of the citizens grew To depend. not upon
their own eXertions. but upon the state,
for their pleasures and their very liVeli-
hood. But this does not explain why the
Onward movement stopped at different
times. So far as different matters were
concerned At Onn time a { rPgxriR Efera-
ture. at another time as regards srchitec-
ture. at another time as regards city
building We cannot even guess why the
| springs Of one kind OF energy dried up
while there was yet no cessation Of an
other kind.
Holland as an Example.
Take another and smaller instance. that
Of Holland. For a period covering a
little more than the seventeenth century,
Holland, like some Of the Italian city
states at an earlier period, stood on the
dangerous heights OF greatness beside ma
tons SO vastly her superior in territory
and population as to make 1t inevitable
that sooner or later she must fall frem the
glorious and perilOus eminence 10 which
| she had been raised by her own indomita-
BILE soul. Her fall came; it could not
have been indie finitely postponed; but II
came far quicker than II needed to come.
80 VI Sioi III bH ltt part 10
which both Great Britain and the United
States would be wise 10 pay heed. Her
government was singularly ineffective. the
decentralization being such a. often TO
permit the separatist. the particularist.
spirit of the provinces to rob the central
authority of all efficiency. This was bad
enough. But the fatal weakness was that
so common in r.eh. peace-loving societies,
where men hate to think OF war as possi-
BILE. and try TO Justify their own reluctance
10 face il either by high-sounding moral
platitudes or else by q philosophy OF
short-sighted msterislism. The Dutch
were very wealthy. They grew TO be
lieve that they could hire others to do
their fighting for them on land. and on
sea. where they did their own fighting.
and fought very we'll. they refused in
time of peace 10 make ready fleets so eff
hcient as either TO insure the Dutch
against the peace being broken or else
to give them the victory when war
came. To be opulent and unarmed Is. 70
sA,Tre ess~ III Ire present al the almost
certsfn-cost ~Uf disaster in~s@e-S .uTs.
1t is therefore easy to see -hy Holland
lost when she did her position among the
powers: but IL is far more dificult 10 ex-
plain why at the same time there should
have come at least a partial loss Of posi-
49, c.