The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1910-06-08

States. are all NEW" nations, compar,
with the nations Of Europe; but vii
whatever changes In detail. their civiliz,
ton is nevertheless of the general Eur,
: pean type, as shown in Portugal, Spai
, and England. The differences betwee
these new" American and these ''old
european nations are not as great as thos
which separate the new" nations or
from another and the "old" nations or
from another. There are in each cas-
I very real differences between the new an
the old Acknowledgement both for goo
and for evil; but In each case there
the same ancestral history to reckon will
the same type Of civilization, with its al
tendant benefits and shortcomings: and
after the pioneer stages are passed. tn
problems to be solved, in spite Of superb
clal differences, are in their essence tn
same; they are those that confront al
civilized peoples, not those that confron
peoples struggling from barbarism int
civilization.
So. when we speak Of the death" o
a tribe, nation or civilization, the tern
may be used for either one or two total.
inherent processes; the analogy will
what occurs In biological history beinl
complete. Certain tribes Of savages, thu
Iasmanians. for instance. and various lit
tie clans OF American Indians, have within
the last century or two completely dice
out; all Of the individuals have perished
leaving no descendants. and the blood has
disappeared. Certain other tribes Of
Indians have as tribes disappeared OF
are now disappearing; but their blood
remains being absorbed into the veins OF
the white intruders, or Of the black men
that IN reality they are merely being
transformed into something absolutely
different from what they were.
like wide diversity in fact may be
covered In the statement that a civiliza-
ton has died out"
Phenomena That Puzzle,
| In dealing. not with groups of human
beings In simple and primitive relations.
but with highly complex, highly special
lied, civilized, or semi-civilized societies.
there Is need Of great caution in drawing
analogies with what has occurred in the
development OF the animal world. Yet
even in these cases it is curious to sec
how some Of the phenomena in the
growth and disappearance Of these COM
pick. artificial groups Of human beings
resemble what has happened in myriads
OF instances In the history Of life on this
planet.
Why do great artificial empires. whose
citizens are knit by a bond of speech and
culture much more than by bond of
blood, show periods of extraordinary
growth. and again Of sudden or lingering
decay? In some cases we can answer
readily enough; in other cases we can
not as yet even guess what the proper
answer should be. If in any such case
the centrifugal forces overcome the CEN
tripetal, the nation will of course fly to
pieces, and the reason for its failure to
become dominant force Is patent to
every one. The minute that the spirit
which finds its healthy development in
local government, and in the antidote
10 the dangers of
ton, develops into mere particularism.
into inability to combine effectively for
achievement of common end then 1t is
hopeless to expect great results. Poland
ana certain republics of the western
hemisphere are the standard examples of
failure Of this kind; and the United Stat States
would have ranked with them, and its
name would have become byword of
derision, If the forces Of union had not
triumphed in the civil war. So the
growth of soft luxury after it has reached
certain point becomes a national danger
patent to all. Again, it needs but little of
the vision of seer to foretell what must
happen In any community If the average
woman ceases to become the mother of a
family of healthy children, If the average
man loses the will and the power to work
up to old age and to fight whenever the
need arises. If the homely, commonplace
virtues die out, If strength of character
vanishes in graceful self-fndulgence If the
virile qualities atrophy, then the nation
has lost what no material prosperity can
Offset.
But there are plenty of other phenom-
ena wholly or partially inexplicable, It is
easy to see why Rome trended downward
when great slave-tiled farms spread over
what had once been countryside of
peasant proprietors when greed and lux
ury and sensuality ate like acids into the
nper or the upper classes, while the mass |
OF the citizens grew to depend, not upon |
tpelr own exertions but upon the state,
Lor thelr pleasures and their very liveli- |
mood. But this does not explain why the |
forward movement stopped at different |
times, so far as different matters were |
concerned; at one time as regards litera- |
ture, at another time as regards architec- |
ture, at another time as regards CITY
ou1idlng. We cannot even guess why the
springs OF one kind of energy dried up
while there was yet no cessation of an
other kind.
Holland as an Example.
Take another and smaller instanc. that
IT Holland. For a period covering a
little more than the seventeenth century
Holland, like some of the italian cifv
states at an earlier period, stood on tho
dangerous heights of greatness beside ma
lions SO vastly her superior in territory
Ina population as to make it Inevitable
|
glorious and perilous eminence to which
'he had been raised by her own indomita-
Ole soul. Her fall came; 1t could not
1ave been indefinitely postponed: but #
zane far quicker than 1t needed to come
because of shortcomings on her mart to
which both Great Britain and the I1nited
states would be wise to pay heed. Her
government was singularly ineffective the
decentralization being such as often tn
permit the separatist the particularist
spirit OF the provinces to rob the central
authority of all efficiency. This was had
enough But the fatal weakness was that
70 common in rich. peace-loving societies
where men hate to think Of war as nossi'
'le, and try to justify their own relucta mo
o face 1t either by high-sounding moral
,latitudes or else by philosophv Of
hort-sighted materialism. The Dntch
we're very wealthy. They grew to haA
ieve that they could hire others to do
heir fighting for them on land: and IN
lea, where they did their own f1ehttnr
md fought very we'll, they refused n
ime OF peace to make ready fleets so ef-
lcient as either to insure the Dutch
lgainst the peace being broken or else
% give them the victory when war
anne. To be ODulent and unorr,.s L.,