The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1910-05-20

AASN ~ NS A">N Nh~N ~
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 Impotence 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 it 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. Blu
only a few of the many and intense ac-
Invites 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
an extraordinary increase in every form
Of knowledge Of the world we live in, and
also an extraordinary increase in the pow
err Of utilizing forces of nature. In both
directions the advance has been very
great during the past four or five CEN
turtles, and in both directions it 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 it
was not until well-nigh our own times
that her domain was once again pushed
hpvnnI tho nnpinrt Ia nd m rEc Ahnt,f the
year $50 A. d. Ptolemy. the g~eographer.
published his map of central Africa and
the sources of the Nile. and this map was
more accurate than any which we had as
hate 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.
A 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
as it always had been conveyed. A 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 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 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
as 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
it through the space they annihilate, and
therefore minds are swayed one by an
other without regard to the limitations of
space and time which formerly forced
each community to work in comparative
isolation. It 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 counterfeit 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,
end at the same time knowledge has
spread among the many to a degree never
| 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
a training and knowledge and method
which are In effect instruments Of pre-
cision differentiating their labors from
the labors Of their predecessors as the
rifle is differentiated from the DOW.
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 a
certain type OF farmer. Now 1 will not
assert that in modern civilized society
these tendencies have been wholly over
come: but there has beep 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 an army of mercenaries. In the
days OF the early greatness Of Athens.
Thebes. and Sparta, in the days when the