The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-05-12

I FROM every standpoint II mas Deen OF
! infinitely greater moment than any
/ thing hitherto seen. Not in one but in
many different peoples there has been
| extraordinary growth in wealth, in pop
| uIation, in power of organization, and
| in mastery over mechanical activity and
EsturaI resources. All of this has been
accompanied and signalized by an i'm
D1ense outburst of energy and restless
| initiative. The result is as varied as it
| is striking.
| this civilization, by their conquest OF
SPACE, were enabled to spread into all
\ the practically vacant continents, while
| at the same time, by their triumphs in
organization and mechanical invention,
| they acquired an unheard of military
| superiority as compared with their for
nler rivals. To these two facts is pr1-
marily due the further fact that for the
! first time there is really something that
| approaches a world CIVILIZATION WoriC
movement. The spread of the European
| peoples since the days of Ferdinand the
Catholic and Ivan the Terrible has been
| across every sea and over every con-
| tinent In places the conquests have
! been ethic; that is. there has been a
! new wandering of the peoples, and new
commonwealth have sprung up in
which the people are entirely or main
| ly of European blood. This is what
tropical regions of the western hemls-
phere. in Australia, in portions OF
northern asia and southern Africa.
Political Conquest.
In other places the conquest has
been purely political. the Europeans
representing for the most party merely
a small caste of soldiers and admins
traitors. as in most of tropical Asia and
Africa and in much of tropical Amer
| lea. Finally here and there instances
occur where there has been no con-
quest at all. but where al alien peo-
Lilo e -o6i oil
changed by the mere impact of west
ern civilization. The most extra ordi-
nary instance of this, OF course. is
Japan; for Japan's growth and change
during the last half century has been
in many ways the most striking phe-
nomenon of all history. Intensely
proud of her past history, intensely
| loyal to certain of her past traditions,
she has yet with 4 single effort
wrenched herself free from all ham
pering ancient ties. and with bound
mas taken her place among the lead
| ing civilized nations of m9nkind-
There are of course MANY grades be-
tween these different tyres of inf1u-
ence, but the net outcome Of what has
occurred during the last four centuries
| is that civilization of the European
| type now exercises a mora or less pro-
! found effect over practically the en-
tire world. There are no ks and cor
ners to which it has not yet pene-
| trated; but there is at present no large
space of territory in which the general
movement of civilized activity does not
make itself more or less felt. This rep
resents something wholly different
! from what has ever hitherto been seen.
In the greatest days of Roman domin-
! ion the influence of Rome was felt
! over only a relatively small portion of
the worlds surface. Over much the
| larger part of the world the process
| of change and development was abSo-
| lutely unaffected by anything that oc-
Cured in the Roman empire; and
| those communities the play of whose
/ influence was felt in action and reac-
| ton, and in inter-action, among them
selves were grouped Immediately
around the Mediterranean. Now, how
ever, the whole world IS bound to-
gether as never before; the bonds are
sometimes those of hatred rather than
love, but they are bonds nevertheless.
Frownfng or hopeful every man of
leadership in any line of thought or eff
fort must now look beyond the limits
of his own country The student of
sociology may live in Berlin or st.
Petersburg. Rome or London or he
may live in Melbourne or San Fran
cisco or Buenos Aires; but in what
ever city he lives. he must pay heed to
the studies of men who live in each of
the other cities When in America we
study labor problems and attempt to
deal with subjects such life insur-
ance for wage workers. We turn to see
what you do here in Germany, and we
also turn to see what the far-off COM
monwealth of New Zealand is doing.
Western Methods.
When a great German scientist is
warning against the most dreaded enc
fnitesina1 size which the microscope
| reveals in his blood, he may spend his
holidays of study in central Africa or
in eastern Asia: and he must know
what is accomplished in the laborator-
les of Tokyo, just as he must know the
details of that practical application of
science which has changed the 18th
mus of Panama from a deathtrap into
what is almost a health resort. Every
progressive in China is striving to in
troduce western methods of education
and administration. and hundreds of
European and American books are now
translated into Chinese. The influence
of European governmental principles
is strikingIy illustrated by the fact that
admiration for them has broken down
the iron barriers of Moslem conservat-
ism, so that their Introduction has be-
come a burning question in Turkey and
Persia; while the very unrest, the i'm
patience of European or American
control, in India, Egypt, or the Philip
pines, takes the form of demanding
that the government be assimilated
more closely 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 con-
tinent. From a new discovery in sci
ence to a new method of com batting or
applying Socialism. there is no move
ment of note which can take place in
anv part of the globe without power
fully affecting the masses of people in
Europe, America, and Australia, in
Asia and Africa. For veal or for woe,
the peoples of mankind are knit to-
gether 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 in
! tense activities of modern civilization
| haze found their EXPRESSION on this