The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1910-05-19

versity Of Berlin, and received from
that institution the honorary degree
Of Doctor Of Philosophy
Emperor William honored the oc.
casion with his presence. 1t was the
FIRST time His Majesty had graced a
| conferment.
Four hundred guests, who held
cards Of admission, were seated when
Emperor William, accompanying Mr..
Roosevelt, entered the hall. AS they
appeared, the university choir chant
ed Hell Dir I'm Siegerlranz" (Iail
Thee Conqueror's WREATH, the
Prussian national hymn to the strains
or America"
The play of new forces is as evil
dent ia the moral and spiritual world
as in the world of the mind and the
body. Forces for good and forces fca
evil are everywhere evident, each act
ing with hundred or a thousand fold
the intensity fifth which it acted in
former ages. Over the whole earth
the swing Of the pendulum grows
more and more rapid, the handspring
coils and spreads at rate constantly
quickening, the whole world move
ment is OF constantly accelerating We
locity,
In the movement there are signs
OF much that BODIES ILL., The macnin-
cry is SO highly geared, the tension
and strain are SO great, the effort. and
the output have alike so increased
that there is cause to dread the ruin
that,would come from any great acct
dent, from any breakdown, and also
the ruin that may come from the
mere wearing out of the machine it.
self. The only previous civilization
with which our modern civilization
can be in any way compared is that
period of Graeco-Roman civilization
extending, say, from the Athens Of
Themistocles to the Rome Of Marcus
Aurelius Many of the forces and
tendencies which were then at work
are at work now knowledge, luxury
and refinement, wide material con
quests, territorial administration on a
vast scale, an increase in the mastery
OF mechanical appliances and in APP
piled science-all these mark our civ
ilization as they marked the wonder
full civilization that fiourished in the
Mediterranean lands twenty centu-
ries ago; and they preceded the
downfall OF the older civilization Yet
the differences are many, and some
of them are quite as striking as the
similarities. The single fact that the
old civilization was based upon
slavery shows the chasm that sep
arates the two. Let me point out one
further and very significant difference
in the development Of the two civili-
cations, a difference so obvious that
it is astonishing that it has not been
dwelt upon by men of letters.
Civilizations Danger.
zone of the prime dangers OF civ
ilization has always been it's tendency
to cause the loss of virile fighting
virtues, Of the fighting edge. When
men get too comfortable and lead too
luxurious lives there is always dam
ger lest the softness eat like an acid
into their manliness of fibre. The
barbarian, because of the very condi-
tons of his life, is forced to keep and
develop certain hardy qualities which
the man of civilization tends to lose,
whether ne be clerk, factory hand,
merchant, or even certain type OF
farmer. Now / will not assert that in
modern civilized society these ten
denotes have been wholly overcome;
but there has been much more sue
cessful effort TO overcome them than
was the case in the early ciyiliza-
lions.
What is the lesson to us today?
Are we to go the way Of the older
civilizations? The immense increase
in the area of civilized activity today,
SO that it is nearly coterminous with
the worlds surface; the immense in-
crease in the multitudinous variety of
its activities: the immense increase
in the velocity of the world move
ment--are all these to mean merely
ln&I tie crash Will VIC GA NhS AASAS
complete and terrible that the an
swer viii be in the negative: but of
this we can be certain, that we shall
not go down in ruin unless we de-
serve and earn our end There is no
necessity for us to fall; we can hew
our destiny for ourselves, if only we
have the wit and the courage and the
honesty.
Personally. do not believe that
our civilization will fall think that
on the whole we have grown better
and not worse. l think that on the
whole, the future holds more for us
than even the great past has held,
But, assurely, the dreams Of golden
glory in the future will not come true
unless, high Of heart and strong OF
hand, by our own mighty deeds we
make them come true We cannot
afford to develop any one set of quail
tiles, any one set of activities, at the
cost Of seeing others, equally neces-
sary. atrophied. Neither the military
efficiency of the Mongol, the extra
ordinary business ability Of the
Phoenician, nor the subtle and pol
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