New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-13

e,,ar eitv he lives he must pay heed to the
r+,fiies of men who live in each of the other
c;,,as When IN America we study labor
,rob,ar,s and attempt TO deal with subjects
such as life insurance for wage workers;
we turn to see what you do here in Ger
many and we also turn to see what the
fa- off commonwealth of New Zealand is
doing When a great German scientist Is
warning against the most dreaded enemies
of mankind creatures Of fnfnitesimal size
which the microscope reveals In his plood,
he NAV spend his holidays Of study In Cen
trail Africa or in Eastern Asia, and he
must know what is accomplished IN the
Ia bors tories OF Toxic, just as he must know
the details OF that practical application OF
science which has changed the Isthmus OF
Panama from death trap MO what Is
almost q health resort Every progressive
in China is striving to Introduce western
nsthods of education and administration
and hundreds of European and American
hooks are now translated into Chinese. The
influence Of European governmental prin-
ciples is strikingiy illustrated by the fact
that admiration for them has broken down
the trnn barriers of MosleTn conservatism,
so that their introduction has become a
burning question in Turkey and Persia.
while the very unrest, the impa nence OF
European or American control, IN INDIA
Egypt or the Philippines, takes the form
of demanding that the government De as
simulated more closely TO what it is IN Eng
land or the United States The deeds ana
works of any great statesman. the preach
irgs of any great ethical, social or political
teacher now find echoes In both hernl-
spheres and in every continent FROM
new discovery In science to new metnod
of combating or applying socialism there Is
no movement Of note which can take place
I'M any part of the globe without powerfully
affecting masses of people In Europe, Amer
lea and Australia, in Asia and Africa For
veal or for woe, the peoples of mankind are
knit together far closer than ever before.
So much for the geographical side Of the
expansion of modern civilization. But only
a few of the many and intense activities
of modern civilization have found their ex-
preston on this side. The movement has
been just as striking in its conquest over
natural forces, in its searching inquiry into
and about the soul Of things.
The Conquest Over Nature.
The conquest over nature has included an
extraordinary increase in every form OF
knowledge of the world we live in, and also
an extraordinary increase in the power OF
utilizing the forces Of nature. In both d.
rections the advance has been very great
during the last four or five centuries, ano
in both directions II has gone on with ever
increasing rapidity during the last century
After the great age of Rome had passed
the boundaries of knowledge shrank, and
II, rnany cases il was not until weilnigh our
own times that her domain was once again
pushed beyond the ancient landmarks
About the year $50 A. D.. PteleTny, the geos-
rapher. published his map OF Central Africa
and the sources of the Nile, and TINS map
was more accurate than any which we mad
as late as 1850 A. D. More was Known OF
physical science and more of the truth
about the physical world was guessed al III
the DAYS of PHny than was known oI
guessed until the modern movement began
The case was the same as regards military
science. At the close of the Middle Ages
the weapons were what they had always
heen-sword, shield, bow, speaT-and any
Improvement in them was more than offset
bv the loss in knowledge Of military or
SANITATION. in the science Of war and IN
military leadership since the days OF Hanni-
bal and Caesar.
CHANCES in Traffic Systems.
hundred years ago. when this univer-
sitv was founded, the methods or trans
portatfon did not differ in the essentials
from what they had been among the highly
civilized nations of antiquity. Travellers
and merchandise went by land in wheeled
vehicles or on beasts OF burden, and by
sea in beats propelled by sails or by oars
and news was conveyed as it always hao
been conveyed. What improvements there
had been had been in degree only ana not
in kind; and in some respects there had
been retrogression rather than advance.
There were many parts of Europe "here
the roads were certainly worse than the
old Roman post roads; and the Meduer-
ranean Sea. for instance, was by no means
as we'll policed as in the days of Trajan
Now steam and electricity have worked a
complete revolution; and the resulting i'm
rnenseIy increased ease of communication
has in its turn completely changed all the
physical questions of human life. voyage
from Egypt to England was nearly as serl-
GUS an affair in the eighteenth century as
in the second and the news communica-
tons between the two lands were not mate
riaIlv improved A graduate of your uni
yersitv to-day can go TO mid-Asia or mid
Africa with far less consciousness of per
forming a feat of note than would have
been the case d hundred years ago with a
student who visited Sicily and Andalusia.
Moreover. the invention and use of ma
chinery run by steam or electricity have
worked a revolution in industry as great
as the revolution in transportation; SO that
here again the difference between ancient
and modern civilization is one not merely
of degree but of kind. In many vital re-
spects the huge modern city differs more
from all preceding cities than any Of these
differed one from the other: and the giant
factory town is Of and by itself one of the
Outlook for Conquest of Air.
Steam and electricity have given the race
dominion over land and water such as 1t
never had before: and now the conquest of
the air is directly impending. AS books
preserve thought through time. so the tele-
graph tnd the telephone transmit IL through
the space they annihiIate, and therefore
minds are swayed one by another without
regard 10 the limitations Of space and time
which formerly forced each community 10
work in comparative isolation. It is the
same with the body as with the brain The
machinery of the factory and the farm
enormously multiplies bodily skill and
vfgor. Countless trained intelligences are
at work to teach us how to avoid or coun-
teract the effects OF waste. Of course. some
of the agents in the modern scientific de-
yelopment of natural resources deal with
resources of such a kind that their develop
ment means their destruction. that ex-
10 in