The Elbert County tribune., 1910-06-10

and unhealthy. The most ominous sign
is the dlminution In the birth-rate, in the
rate Of natural Increase. now to larger
or lesser degree shared by most of the
civilized nations of central and western
Europe. of America and Australia: a dim
mutton great that II II continues for the
next century at the rate which has OBJ
tanned for the last rs years. all the more
highly civilized people will be stationary
or else have begun to go backward In
population. while many of them Will have
already gone very far backward.
There is much that should give US con-
cern for the future. But there IL much
also which should give us hope. No man
is more apt to be mistaken than the
prophet of evil. believe with all my
heart that a great future remains for us;
but whether II does or does not. our
duty is not altered. However the bat
tie may go, the soldier worthy of the
name will with utmost vigor do his al
loted task. and bear himself as valiant
ly In defeat In victory. Come what
will, we belong to peoples who have not
yielded to the craven fear of being great
In the ages that have gone by, the
great nations, the nations that have ex-
panded and that have played a mighty
part in the world. have In the end
grown old and weakened and vanished:
but have the nations whose only
thought was to avoid all danger, all ef-
fort. who would risk nothing, and who
therefore gained nothing. In the end the
same fate may overwhelm all alike: but
the memory of the one type perishes with
It while the other leaves its mark deep
on the history OF all tho future of man
kind.
A nation that seemingly dies may be
born again: and even though In the
physical sense II die utterly, Il may yet
hand down a history of heroic achieve
ment. and for all time to come may pro-
foundly influence the nations that arise in
its place by the impress of what 1t has
done. Best OF ali is 1t to do our part well.
and at the same time to see our blood live
y0ung aqd Yital in men and Wopen at to
take up the task as we lay Il down; for
So shall our seed Inherit the earth. But
IL this. which is best. is denied us, then
at least 1t is ours to remember that II we
choose we can be torch bearers, as our
fathers were before US. The torch has
been handed on from nation to nation,
from civilization to civilization through
out all recorded time, from the dim years
before history dawned down to the bla-
zing splendor of this teeming century of
ours. 1t Is dropped from the hand of the
coward and the sluggard. of the man
wrapped in luxury or love of ease. the
man whose soul was eaten away by self
indulgence; 1t has been kept alight only
by those who were mighty of heart and
cunning of hand. What they worked at,
providing II was worth doing at all, was
of no less matter than how they worked,
whether in the realm OF the mind or the
realm of the body. II their work was
good. II what they achieved was of sub
stance. then high success was really
theirs.
Strength With Morality.
In the first part of this lecture drew
certain analogies between what had oc-
CURED to forms Of animal life through
the procession of the ages on this planet.
and what has occurred and is occurring
to the great artificial civilizations which
have gradually spread over the worlds
surface during the thousands of years
that have elapsed since cities of temples
and palaces first rose beside the Nile and
the Euphrates. and the harbors OF
Minoan Crete bristled with the masts OF
the Aegean craft. But of course the
parallel is true only in the toughest
and most general way. Moreover, even
between the civilizations of today and
the civilizations OF ancient times there
are differences SO profound that we must
be cautious In drawing any conclusions
for the present based on what has hap
pened In the past While freely admit
ting all of our folies and weaknesses of
today. II 10 yet mere perversity to refuse
to realize the incredible advance that
has been made In ethical standards do
not believe that there ia the slightest nec-
essary connection between any weaken
ing of virile force and this advance in
the moral standard. this growth of the
sense of obligation to ones neighbor and
of reluctance to do that neighbor wrong.
silly cynicism which insists that kindli-
ness of character only accompanies
weakness OF character. On the contrary,
just as in private life many of the men
of strongest character are the very men
of 1oftiest and most exalted morality so
believe that In national life as the ages
go by we shall hnd that the permanent
national types will more and more tend
towards those In which, while the intel
lect stands high. character stands higher:
In which rugged strength and courage,
rugged capacity to resist wrongful ag-
gression by Others will go hand In hand
with lofty scorn of doing wrong to 9TH
ers. This is the type of Timoleon. of
Hampden. of Washington and Lincoln.
These were as good men. as disinterested
and unselfsh men. as ever served
state; and they were also as strong men
as ever founded or saved a state. Surely
such examples prove that there Is moth
Ing Utopian in our effort to combine
Justice and strength In the same nation
The really high civilizations must them
selves supply the antidote to the self-in-
dulgence and love OF ease which they
tend to produce.
Problems OF Modern Nations,
Every modern civilized nation has many
and terrible problems to solve within it's
own borders. problems that arise not
merely from 1uxtaposition of poverty and
riches. but especially from the self-con-
sciousness of both poverty and riches.
Each nation must deal with these mat
ters In its own fashion. and yet the spirit
In which the problem is approached must
ever be fundamentally the same. 1t
must be spirit of broad humanity: of
brotherly kindness; of acceptance of re-
sponsibility. one for each and each for
all: and at the same time a spirit as re-
mote as the poles from every form of
to pardon the coward is to do cruel
wrong to the brave man whose life his
cowardice 1eopardizes. in civil affairs
1t is revolving to every principle of
justice to give to the lazy, the vicious. or
even the feeble and dull witted, a reward
which La really the rnhherv ...I.a.