The Yale expositor., 1910-05-13
MODERN CIVILIZATION
is ROOSEVELTS TOPIC
Interesting Lecture on "7he World
Mouen1ent" DeLiuered at the Uni
uersity of Berlin by the Ex-Presi-
dent of the United States

| the expansion OF modern clVlllzauon. But
| only few of the many and intense ac-
tivites of modern civilization have found
| their expression on this side The move
| ment has been just as striking In its con-
| quest over natural forces, in its searching
inquiry into and about the soul of things.
Conquest over Nature.
| The conquest over nature has included
! an extraordinary increase I'm every form
| of knowledge OF the world we live in, and
also an extraordinary increase in the pow
| er OF utilizing forces of nature. In both
| directions the advance has been very
great during the past four or five CEN
| turtles. and i'm both directions IL has gone
| on with ever increasing rapidity during
the last century After the great age of
| Rome had passed, the boundaries of
knowledge shrank, and in many cases 1t
was not until well-nigh our own times
| that her domain was once again pushed
| beyond the ancient landmarks. About the
year $50 A. ID. Ptolemy, the geographer
| published his map of central Africa and
the sources OF the Nile, and this map was
| more accurate than any which we had as
late as 1850 A. d. More was known of
| physical science, and more OF the truth
about the physical world was guessed at
In the days of Pliny than was known or
| guessed until the modern movement be-
gan. The case was the same as regards
military science At the close OF the Mid
| die Ages the weapons were what they
had always been-sword, shield. bow,
| spear; and any improvement I'm them was
more than offset by the loss In knowledge
| OF military organization. In the science OF
war. and in military leadership since the
days OF Hannibal and Caesar
| A hundred years ago. when this uni
| versity was founded, the methods OF
transportation did not differ I'm the es-
sentials from what they had been among
the highly civilized nations of antiquity.
| Travellers and merchandise went by land
| in wheeled vehicles or on beasts of bur-
den, and by sea in boats propelled by
| sails or by oars; and news was conveyed
| as Il always had been conveyed A grad
uate OF your university today can go 10
mid-Asia or mid-Afrca with far less con-
] sciousness of performing feat of note
than would have been the case hundred
years ago with a student who visited
Sicily and Andalusia.
Moreover. the invention and use of ma
chinery run by steam or electricity have
worked revolution in Industry as great
as the revolution In transportation; so
that here again the difference between
ancient and modern civilization is one not
merely of degree but of kind. In many
| vital respects the huge modern city differs
more from all preceding cities than any
of these differed one from the other; and
| the giant factory town is OF and by itself
one Of the most formidable problems OF
/ modern life.
| steam ana eieCtrlclty nave given tne
race dominion over land and water such
as Il never had before: and now the con-
quest of the air is directly impending. AS
books preserve thought through time, so
the telegraph and the telephone transmit
II through the space they annihilate. and
therefore minds are swayed one by an
other without regard to the limitations of
space and time which formerly forced
each community TO work In comparative
Isolation. 1t is the same with the body as
with the brain. The machinery OF the fac
tory and the farm enormously multiples
bodily skill and vlgor. Countless trained
inteiligences are at work TO teach us how
TO avoid or counteract the effects Of
waste.
The advances in the realm of pure intel
lect have been of equal note, and they
have been both intensive and extensive.
Great virgin fields of learning and wis
dom have been discovered by the few,
and at the same time knowledge has
spread among the many TO a degree never
dreamed of before. Old men among us
have seen in their own generation the
rise of the first rational science OF the
evolution of life. The astronomer and the
chemist, the psychologist and the his
torian, and all their brethren in many diff
ferent fields Of wide endeavor, work with
training and knowledge and method
| which are In effect instruments OF pre-
/ cision differentiating their labors from
the labors of their predecessors as the
rifle Is differentiated from the bow.
The play of new forces is as evident In
the moral and spiritual world as In the
world of the mind and the body.
One Danger Of Civilization.
One of the prime dangers of civilization
has always been its tendency TO cause
the loss OF the virile fighting virtues. OF
the fighting edge. When men get too COM
Portable and lead too luxurious lives there
is always danger lest the softness eat like
an acid into their manliness of fiber. The
/ barbarian, because of the very conditions
of his life. Is forced to keep and develop
certain hardy qualities which the man OF
| civilization tends TO lose, whether he be
clerk factory hand. merchant, or even a
certain type of farmer. Now 1 will not
assert that in modern civilized society
these tendencies have been wholly over
come; but there has been a much more
successful effort TO overcome them than
was the case In the early civilizations.
This is curiously shown by the military
history of the Graeco- Roman period as
compared with the history of the last four
or five centuries here in Europe and
among nations OF European descent. In
the Grecian and Roman military history
the change was steadily from a citizen
army to an army of mercenaries In the
days of the early greatness OF Athens,
Thebes, and Sparta. In the days when the
Roman republic conquered what world II
| knew the armies were filed with citizen
soldiers But gradually the citizens re-
I | fused TO serve In the armies, or became
unable to render good service. The Greek
states described by Polybius. with but few
.. | exceptions hired others to do their fight
/ ing for them. The Romans of the days OF
| Augustus had utterly ceased TO furnish
, any cavalry, and were rapidly ceasing 10
furnish any infantry. TO the legions and
cohorts. When the civilization. came "a
. an end. there were no longer citizens in
| the ranks OF the soldiers. The change
from the citizen army TO the army OF
mercenaries had been completed.
, Modern Citizens Armies.
, Now, the exact reverse has been the
case with us In modern times. A few
centuries ago the mercenary soldier was
4 the principal figure in most armies, and In
! great numbers of cases the mercenary
4 | soldier was an alien. In the wars of re-
: ligion in France, I'm the Thirty Years
r war In Germany, I'm the wars that imme-
Z diately marked the beginning OF tho
: breakup OF the great Polish kingdom, tho
\ regiments and brlgades OF foreign sol.
! 1loro forr,oI ofrfLfnU onI ioo1f,w 20