The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-05-13
BERLIN UNIVERSITY
HONORS ROOSEVELT
Receives Degree OF Doctor
OF Philosophy.
EMPEROR HEARS HIS LECTURE
In Address to Professors. Former
President Pays ELUSIVE COmpIi-
mentS 10 Kaiser, and speaks Of
Great Debt America owes 10 Ger
man Blood and German Influence.

Berlin May H-Mr. Theodore Roose-
velt delivered a lecture on "The world
movement" at the University Of Berlin.
and received from the university the hon
orary degree Of doctor Of philosophy TO-
day, Emperor William hono.ed the oc-
casiCn with his presence. and the cour-
tesy was significant in view Of the fact
! that the German court is in mourning for
the monarch's uncle. King Edward.
Danger To Civilization.
zone Of the prime dangers of civiIiza-
tion has always been its tendency 90
cause the loss Of the virile fighting vir-
tues Of the fighting edge" said Col
Roosevelt IN part: When men get too
comfortable and lead too luxurious lives
there is always danger lest the sortuess
eat like an acid into their manliness Of
nher. Now, I will not assert that In mod
ern civilized society these tendencies have
been wholly overcome. but there has been
a much more successful effort 20 over
como them than was the case In the early
civilizations. In the Grecian and Roman
military history the change was steadily
from citizen army 70 an army of mer-
cenaries. In the days Of the early great
ness OF Athens. Thebes. and Sparta. in
the days when the Roman republic con-
Quered what world it knew. the armies
weSe filled with citizen soldiers. But
gr5 kually the citizens refused TO serve in
theVarmles. or became unable 10 render
good service.
a few centuries ago the mercenary
soldier was the principal figure in most
armies. and in a great number Of cases
the merCenary soldier was an alien. In
the wars Of religion in France. I'm the
Thirty Years war IN Germany. ir the
wars that Immediately thereafter marked
the beginning of the break up Of the
great Polish kingdom, the regiments and
brigades OF foreign soldiers formed q
striking and leading feature in every
aymy. Too often the men Of the country
IN which the fighting took place played
merely the ignoble part of victims. the
burghers and peasants appearing in but
limited numbers in the mercenarv. armies
by which they were plUndered. Gradu-
ally this has all changed. until now prac-
ticaliy every army is a citizen army.
and the mercenary has almost disap-
peared. while The army exists on a vaster
scale than ever before in history. This
is so among the military monarchies OF
Europe.
In the Civil War.
I'm our own civil war Of the United
States the same thing occurred. peaceful
people as we are. At that time more
than two generations had passed since
the war Of independence. During the
whole Of that period the people had been
engaged in no life-and-death struggle.
and yet. when the civil war broke out.
and after some costly and bitter lessons
at the beginning, the fighting spirit OF
the people was shown to better advan-
tage than ever before
In classic times as the civilization adj
vanced toward its zenith. politics became
a recognized means of accommodating
great wealth. Caesar was again and
again On the verge of bankruptcy: he
spent an enormous fortune: and he re-
couped himself by the money which he
made out Of lis political-military career. |
What a contrast is offered by the caresrs
OF Washington and Lincoln, There were /
a few exceptions in ancient days; but the |
majority Of the Greeks and the I
Romans. as their civilizations eliminated. /
accepted money making on a large scale
as one Of the incidents Of a successful |
public career. Now. all of this is in 4
sharp contrast to what has happened
within the last two or three centuries !
During this time there has been a steady
growth away from the theory that money 1
making is permissible In an honorable
public career.