Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1910-05-12
High Honors Paid Ex-Pres-
ident of the United
Statesj
THE WORLD MOVEMENT
Course of Modern Civilization
Described in Learned His
toric Grafton.

yelt delivered his lecture today on
The World Movement" at the Uni
yersity of Berlin, and received from
the University the honorary degree o
Doctor of Philosophy Emperor Will
lam was present 1t was the first
time the emperor had graced a con
ferment with his presence, and the
courtesy is significant in view of the
fact that the German court is in
mourning for King Edward,
The Address.
Berlin. May 12.-Speaking before
the University of Berlin today Colonel
/ Roosevelt took as the subject matter
of his lecture The World MoYement''.
/ Colonel Roosevelt said:
The play Of new forces is as eyi-
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
acting 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
quickening, the whole world move
ment is of constantly accelerating We
| locity.
In this movement there are signs
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 acci-
cent, 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
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
InOw. knowledge, luxury, and refine
i ment, wide material cOnquests, terri
torial administration on a vast scale,
an increase in the mastery of mechan-
ical appliances and in applied science
all these mark our civilization as
they marked the wonderful ciyiliZa-
ton that fourished in the Mediterra-
mean lands twenty centuries ago; and
lthey preceded the downfall of the old
er 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 mased upon slavery shows the
chaSm that separates the two. Let
me point out one further and very
significant difference in the develop
ment of the two civilizations, a differ
ence so obvious that it is astonishing
that it has not been dwelt upon by
men of letters.
"One of the prime dangers of civil
zation 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 toe
luxurious lives there is always dan
ger lest the sOftness eat like an aciC
into their manliness of fiber. The
barbarian, because of the very cOndi
4 tions of his life, is forced to keep ant
| develop certain hardy qualities which
the man of civilization tends to lose
whether he be clerk, factory hand
! merchant or even certain type O
farmer. Now l will not assert that il
modern civilized society these ten
dencies have been wholly overcome
Ibut there has been much more sue
cessful effort to overcome them thai
5, was the case in the early civilizations
II What is the lesson to us today
= Are we to go the way of the oldel
civilizations? The immense increase
81 in the area Of civilized activity today
Z so that it is nearly coterminous will
Ii the worlds surface; the immense in
IS crease in the multitudinous variety o
u its activities; the immense increas,
l. in the velocity of the world move
IL ment-are all these to mean merel,
u that the crash will be all the NOR,
Il complete and terrible when it comes
y We cannot be certain that the answe
Il viii be in the negative; but of this W,
can be certain, that we shall not g
il Gown in ruin unless we deserve AM
l. earn our end. There is no necessit,
i for us to fall; we can hew out ou
n ldestiny for ourselves if only we hav,
II the wit and the courage and the hon
g esty.
e Is Optimistic.
q Personally, | do not believe tha
[. our civilization will fall. | think tha
d on the whole we have grown bette
y and not worse. l think that on tn
whole the future holds more fer II
o than even the great past has held