La Junta tribune., 1910-06-18

Ve4St ASAS00 AAsok - g oAo00sh " sesSs
can but dimly te spprehendcd are
1t work all around VI. both for good
and for evil. The growth In luxury.
tn love Of ease, In taste for vapid and
frivolous excitement. u both evident
and unhealthy. The most ominors
sign Ii the dtminution In the birth
rate. In the rate OF natural increase.
nov to . larger or lesser degree shar-
ed BY most Of the civilized nations
Of central and western Europe. Of
America and Australia: q diminuti0n
SO great that II It continues for the
next century At the rate which has OBJ
tained for the last twenty-five years.
all the more highly civilized peoples
will be stationary or else have begun
to go backward In population. while
many Of them viii have already gone
very far backward
There b much that should give us
concern for the future. But there Is
much also which should give us hope
No man is more apt TO be mistaken
than the prophet Of evil After the
French Revolution In 1880 Niebuhr
hazarded the guess that all civilixa-
ton was about to go down with \
crash that we were all about to share
the fall of third and fourth century
Rome--a respectable but painfully oy-
erworked comparison. The fears once
expressed by the followers OF NAL
thus as to the future OF the world
have proved groundless as regards
the civilized portion OF the world:
II is strange indeed to look lack at
Carlyle's prophecies OF some seventy
teeming life OF achievement. the life
OF conquest OF every kind. and OF
noble effort crowned by success. which
has been ours for the two genera
tions since he complained TO high
heaven that all the tales had been
told and all the songs sung. and that
all the deeds really worth doing had
been done 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 battle may go. the soldier worthy
Of the name will with utmost vigor
do his allotted task. aud bear him
self as valianuy In defeat as in vie
tory. Come what viii. We belong to
peoples who have not yielded to the
craven fear of being great. In the
ages that have gone by. the great ma
tions. the nations that have expand
ed and that have played a mighty
part in the world. have In the end
grown old and weakened and vanish
ed. but SO have nations whose only
thought was TO avoid all danger. all
effort. 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 IL: while the
other leaves its mark deep on the
history Of all the future Of mankind.
A nation that seemingly dies may
be born again: and even though In
the physical sense It die utterly. 1t
may yet hand down 4 history OF he
roic achievement, and for all time
10 come may profoundly influence the
nations that arise In its place by the
Impress Of what II has done. Best
Of all is 1t to do our part well. and
at the same time to see our blood
live young and vital In men and wo-
men III to take up the task rs we
lay II down: for so shall our seed
inherit the earth. But II this, which
Is best. Is denied US. then at least
!; h ours to remember that II we
choose We can De torch-bearers, as
our fathers were before US. The
torch has been handed on from na.
ton TO nation. from civilization to
civilization. throughout all recorded
time. from the dim years before his
tory dswned. down to the blazing
splendor OF this teeining century OF
ours. II dropped from the hand OF
the coward and the xiuggard. OF the
man wrapped In luxury OF ease. the
man whose soul was eaten away by
sclf.indulgcnce: It has been kept
Alight only by those who were nigh.
~ OF heart and cunning OF hand.
What they worked at. providing It
Was worth doing at all. VAS OF less
matter than how they worked. wheth.
cr IN the realm Of the mind or the
realm of the body. II their work
vas good. II what they achieved was
Of substance. then high success WAS
really theirs.