Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1910-05-20
EMPEROR LISTENS
WHILE ROOSEVELT
MAKES A SPEECH
luxury Debilitating, Declares
q Speaker, but He Thinks
World Is Growing
Better

Berlin. May ~14.-Theodore Roosevelt,
former president of the United States,
delivered a lecture today on the topic
1.-The World Movement at the Uni
versity of Berlin, and received from
the university the honorary degree Of
Doctor of Philosophy. Emperor Will
lam honored the occasion with his
presence.
1t was the first time his majesty had
graced a conferment, and the courtesy
was significant in view of the fact
that the German court is in mourning
for King Edward The of
comforting the degree was staged and
conducted with impressive simplicity.
There were no flags or emblems of roy
atty. and the government n the walls
or the Aula were bare, save for the
rows of busts OF Germany's famous
scholars and scientists.
The only touch of color was fur
nished by the senators of the uni
versity with their robes of scarlet and
blue and the five heads of the student
corps, who wore blue Jackets. white
breeches, jack boots and parti-colored
SaShs.
Escorted by Emperor.
Four hundred guests of the uni
Nversity, who held cards of admission,
were seated when Emperor William,
accompanied by Mr.. Roosevelt, entered
from a side door of the hall. AS they
appeared the university choir chanted
Hell Dir I'm Siegerkranse" C"Hail to
Thee in the COnqueror's WREATH"
The two were followed by Empress
Auguste Victoria, Princess Victoria
Louise, Prince and Princess Eitel Fred
erick. Prince and Princess August Will
helm, Prince Adalbert. Mrs. Roosevelt,
Miss Roosevelt and Kermit Roosevelt.
This party took seats which had been
reserved for hen on the platform.
Surrounding them were seated Amer
lean Ambassador Hill and Mrs. Hill,
the other ambassadors and their wives;
Henry White, formerly American am
baSsadOr to France, and Mrs. White;
Seth Low and Mrs. Low, American
Consul General Thackara, T. St. John
Gaffney, American consul general at
Dresden; Imperial Chancellor Won
Bethmann-HOllweg, Foreign Minister
Won Schcen and the members Of the
abine On either side of this block
of chairs were the senators of the
university.
Mr.. Roosevelt occupied the seat at
the reading desk and at his side the
heads of the student corps with drawn
swords. This striking guard of honor
remained standing m almost immov-
able for the three hours OF the lecture
n ceremony.
The auditorium was filled to it's ca
patty at I,ZUU persons Dy the FACULTY
of the university, students and guests.
Rector Erich Schmidt opened the pro-
gram by giving an outline of the life
of Mr.. Roosevelt from the time he was
a delicate child until he became an
: African nimrod. When he had fin
ished this sketch he introduced the
former president, who was received
most alphabetically.
Mr.. Roosevelt appeared rugged and
in the pink Of physical condition. His
voice, husky at first, gained steadily in
clearness as he proceeded, and he was
able to deliver his complete written
thesis Of 5000 words and to which he
added eXtempOraneously from time to
time by way Of emphasis and e~xplana-
ton.
Colonel Roosevelt's Lecture.
Colonel Roosevelt said in part:
The play of the new forces is as evil
dent in the moral and spiritual world
as in the world of the mind and the
body. Forces for good and forces for
evil are everywhere evident, each act
ing with a hundred or a thousand fold
the intensity with 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 a rate constantly quicken
ing, the whole world movement is of
constantly accelerating velocity.
III NAiiS lItIG are SlHnS
of much that BODIES i'll. The machin-
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 accident
from any breakdown, n also the ruin
that may come from the mere wearing
out of the machine itself. 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 n refinement, wide material
conquests, territorial administration on
a vast scale, an increase in the mas
terry of mechanical appliances and in
applied science-all these mark our CIV
iliZation as they marked the wonderful
civilization that flourished in the Med
~iterranean lands 20 centuries 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
separates the two. Let me point out
one further and very significant differ
ence in the development Of the two civ
i~lizations, a difference so obvious that
1t is astonishing that 1t has not been
.dwelt upon by men of letters.
Danger of Luxury.
"One of the prime dangers of civil
iZation has always been it's tendency to
cause the loss of the virile lighting vir-
tues, of the fighting edge. When men
get too comfortable m lead too lux
urious lives there Is always danger less
the softness eat like an acid into their
manliness of fiber. The barbarian, be-
cause of the very conditions of his life,
is forced TO keep INT develop certain
hardy qualities which the man of civ
iiization tends to lose, whether he be
clerk, factory hand. merchant, or even
a certain type of farmer. Now / will
not assert that in modern civilized soci-
ETY. these tendencies have been wholly
overcome; but there has been a much
more successful effort TO overcome
them h a was the case in the early
civilizations.