The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-05-12

Continued From Page One.
rapid. the handspring coils and spreads
at a rate constantly quickening, the
! whole world movement is of constantly
/ accelerating velocity.
'Tn this movement there are signs OF
much that BODIES i'll. The machinery
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, and 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 wav
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 al
work are at work now. Knowledge
luxury, and refinement, wide material
conquests, territorial administration
on vast scale, an increase in the
mastery of mechanical appliances ana
in applied science-all these mark our
civilization as they marked the won
derful civilization that fourished in
the Mediterranean lands twenty CEN
turtles 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 sim
ilarities. 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 difference in the de-
velopment of the two civilizations. a
difference so obvious that it is aston
ishing that it has not been dwell upon
by men of letters.
Zone of the prime dangers of civil
cation has always been its tendency
to cause the loss of the virile fighting
virtues, of the fighting edge. When
men get too comfortable and lead too
luxurious lives there Is always danger
less the softness eat like an acid into
their manliness of fiber. The barbar-
ian, 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
will mot assert that in modern civil
lized society these tendencies have
been wholly overcome; but there has
been a much more successful effort to
overcome them than was the case in
the early civilizations.
what is the lesson to us today? Are
we to go the way of the older civiliza-
tons? The immense increase in the
area of civilized activity today, so that
it is nearly coterminous with the
worlds surface; the immense increase
in the multitudinous variety of its ac-
tivities; the immense increase in the
velocity of the world movement-are
all these to mean merely that the crash
will be all the more complete and ter
rible that the answer will be in the
negative: but of this we can be cer-
tain, that we shall not go down in
ruin unless we deserve. and earn our
end. There is no necessity for us to
fail; we can hew out our destiny for
ourselves, if only we have the wit and
the courage and the honesty.
Personally do not believe that our
civilization will fail. think that on
the whole we have grown better and
not worse. I think that on the whole
the future holds more for us than even
the great past has held But, assured
1y, the dreams of golden glory in the
future will not come true unless high
of heart and strong of hand, by our
own mighty deeds we make them come