The new era., 1910-05-19

| Illustrated by the fact that admiration for
them has broken down the iron barriers of
| Moslem conservatism. so that their intro
| duction has become a burning question in
| Turkey and Persia; while the very unrest
the impatience of European or American
control. in India, Egypt. or the Philip
| pines. takes the form of demanding that
the government be assimilated more close
| ly to what 1t Is in England or the United
| States. The deeds and works of any great
| statesman. the preachings of any great
| ethical. social. or political teacher. now
| find echoes in both hemispheres and in
| every continent. From a new discovery in
science to a new method of combating or
applying Socialism. there Is no movement
| of note which can take place In any part
of the globe without powerfully affecting
| masses of people In Europe. America, 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 ac-
| tivities of modern civilization have found
| their expression on this side. The move
ment has been just as striking in its con-
quest over natural forces. in its searching
inquiry into and about the soul of things.
Conquest Over Nature.
The conquest over nature has included
of knowledge of the world we live in. and
also an extraordinary increase in the pow
er of utilizing forces of nature. In both
directions the advance has been very
great during the past four or five CEN
turies and in both directions 1t 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 In many cases 1t
was not until well-nish our own times
that her domain was once again pushed
beyond the ancient landmarks. About the
year 150 A. d. Ptolemy. the geographer.
published his map of central Africa and
the sources of the Nile and this map was
more accurate than any which we had as
late as 1850 A. D. More was known of
physical science, and more of the truth
about the physical world was guessed at,
in the days of Pliny, than was known or
guessed until the modern movement be-
gan. The case was the same as regards
military science. At the close of the Mid
die Ages the weapons were what they
had always been-sword. shield. bow.
spear; and any Improvement in them was
more than offset by the loss in knowledge
of military organization. in the science of
war, and in military leadership since the
days of Hannibal and Caesar.
hundred years ago. when this uni
versity was founded, the methods of
transportation did not differ In The es-
sentials 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 bur-
den. and by sea In boats propelled by
sails or by oars: and news was conveyed
it always had been conveyed. grad
uate of your university today can go to
mid-Asia or mid-Africa with far less con-
seriousness of performing a feat of note
than would have been the case a 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 great
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 respects 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 most formidable problems of
modern life.
Steam and electricity have given the
race dominion over land and water such
| 1t never had before: and now the con-
| quest of the air Is directly impending AS
| books preserve thought through time. SO
| the telegraph and the telephone transmit
| 1t through the space they annihilate. and
| therefore minds are swayed one by an
other without regard to the limitations of
space ard time which formerly forced
each community to work in comparative
isolation. 1t is the same with the body as
with the brain The machinery of the fac
tory and the farm enormously multiplies
bodily skill and vigor. Countless trained
intelligences are at work to teach us how
to avoid or counteract the effects of
waste.
In the Realm of Intellect.
The advances in the realm of pure intel
lect have been OF equal note. and they
have been both intensive and extensive.
Great virgin fields of learning and wis
dom have been discovered by the few,
and at the same time knowledge has
ha ms nv n a 6apr
dreamed of before. Old men among US
have seen In their own generation the
rise of the first rational science OF the
evolution of life. The astronomer and the
chemist the psychologist and the his
torian, and all their brethren in many diff
ferent fields of wide endeavor. work with
training and knowledge and method
which are in effect Instruments of pre-
csion differentiatng their labors from
the labors of their predecessors the
rifle is differentiated from the bow.
The play of new forces is as evident in
the moral and spiritual world as in the
world of the mind and the body.
One Danger Of Civilization.
One of the prime dangers of civilization
has always been its tendency to cause
the loss of the virile fighting virtues. of
the fighting edge. When men get too COM
Portable and lead too luxurious lives there
| is always danger lest the softness eat like
| an acid Into their manliness of fiber. The
barbarian, 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
| certain type of farmer. Now I will not
| assert that in modern civilized society
| these tendencies have been wholly over
| come; but there has been a much more
| successful effort to overcome them than
| was the case In the early civilizations.
| This Is curiously shown by the military
| history of the Graeco-Roman period as
compared with the history of the last four
| or five centuries here in Europe and
| among nations OF European descent In
| the Grecian and Roman military history
| the change was steadily from a citizen
| army to army of mercenaries. In the
| days of the early greatness of Athens.
| Thebes and Sparta. in the days when the
| Roman republic conquered what world 1t
| LIZ fbo las .xrItl h nit