The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1910-06-09
ROMANES LECTURE GIVEN
BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Event Postponed By Kings Death Attracts
Large Audience At 0zford---Lsrd Crzes
lhroduoes he Distinsuished American.

pean type. ~ shown In Portugal. Spain.
and England. The differences between
these new" American and thess old"
European nations are not a. great as those
which separate the new nations one
from another and the ''old' nations one
from another. There are In each case
| very real differences between the new and
the old nation-dinerences both for good
AZ Tor evil: but Ia each case there y
the same ancestral history to reckon with.
the same type Of civilization, with its at
tendant benefits and SHORTCOMINGS; and.
after the pioneer stages are passed. the
problems to Be solved. In spite Of superb
cial differences. are In their essence the
same; they are those that confront all
civilized peoples not those that confront
people, struggling from barbarism Into
civilization.
30. when We speak Of the death" Of
| . tribe. a nation or . civilization. the term
may be used for either one or two totally
different processes; the analogy with
what occurs In biological history being
complete. Certain tribes OF savages. the
Tasmanians. for instance, and various lit
tie clans of American Indians. have within
the last century or two completely died
out: all OF the individuals have persisted
leaving no descendants. and the blood has
disappeared. Certain other tribes Of
Indians have a. tribes disappeared or
are now disappearing: but their blood
the white intruders. or Of the black men
introduced by these white intruders: 70
that In reality they are merely being
transformed into something absolutely
different from what they were.
like wide diversity In fact may be
covered In the statement that a civilixa-
ton has died out"
ehsnomsna That Puzzle.
In dealing. not with groups Of human
beings in simple and primitive relations.
but with highly complex highly special
lied. civilized. or semi-civilised societies.
there 10 need Of great caution in drawing
analogies with what has occurred In the
development Of the animal world. Yet
even In these cases It II curious to se<
how some Of the phenomena in the
growth and disappearance OF these COM
pick. artificial groups Of human beings
resemble what has happened in myriads
OF instances In the history OF life on this
planet.
Why do great artificial empires, whose
citizens arc knit by a bond of speech and
culture much more than by q bond of
blood. show periods Of extraordinary
growth. and again of sudden or lingering
decay? In some cases We can answer
readily enough: In other cases we cam
not as yet even guess what the proper
answer should be. II in any such case
tie centrifugal IOrCeB overcome tne CEN
tripetal. the nation will OF course fly to
pieces, and the reason for it, failure to
become q dominant force 10 patent to
every one. The minute that the spirit
WHICH ands Its healthy DEVELOPMENT In
local self government. and In the antidote
to the dangers Of an extreme centraliEa-
ton. develops into mere particularism.
into inability to combine effectively for
achievement Of common end. then It 10
hopeless to expect great results. Poland
and certain republics of the western
hemisphere are the standard examples Of
failure of this kind: and the United States
would have ranked with them. and its
name would have become a byword Of
derfsion II the forces OF union had not
trtumphed In tho civil war. 30 the
growth Of soft luxury after 1t has reached
q certain point becomes q national danger
patent to ALL Again. It needs but little Of
the vision Of . seer to foretell what must
happen in any community II the average
woman ceases to become the mother of
family Of healthy children. II the average
man loses the will and the power to work
up to old age and to night whenever the
need arises. II the homely. commonplace
virtues die out, II strength of character
vanishes in graceful self-indulgence, II the
virile qualities atrophy. then the nation
has lost what no material prosperity can
Offset.
But there are plenty Of other phenom-
ena wholly or partially inexplicable. 1t IL
easy to see why Rome trended downward
when great slave-tilled farms spread over
what had once been a countryside of
peasant proprietors. when greed and lux
ury and sensua1ity ate like acids into the
fiber OF the upper classes. while the mass
OF the citizens grew to depend. not upon
their own exertions. but upon the state.
for their pleasures and their very liveli-
hood But this does not explain why the
forward movement stopped at different
times, SO far as different matters were
| concerned; at one time as regards litera-
ture. at another time As regards architec-
ture. at another time AZ regards city
building. We cannot even guess why the
| springs OF one kind Of energy dried up
while there was yet no cessation Of an.
| other kind.
Holland a. an Example.
Take another and smaller instanc, that
| Of Holland. For a period covering
little more than the seventeenth century.
Holland. like some Of the italian city
states at an earlier period, stood on the
dangerous heights Of greatness beside ma
| tons 80 vastly her superior in territory
and population a. to make It Inevitable
that sooner or later she must fall from the
glorious and perilous eminencs to which
she had been raised by her own indomita-
BILE soul. Her fall came: 1t could not
have been indefinitely postponed: but 1t
came far quicker than It needed to come.
because of shortcomings on her part to
which both Great Britain and the United
States would be wise to pay heed Her
government was singularly ineffective, the
| decentralization being such as often to
permit the separatist. the particularist,
spirit of the provinces to rob the central
authority Of all efficiency. This was bad
enough. But the fatal weakness was that
SO common in rich, peace-loving societies,
| where men hate to think OF war a. possi-
BILE, and try to Justify their own reluctance
to face 1t either by high-sounding moral
platitudes or else by q philosophy Of
short-sighted materialism. The Dutch
were very wealthy. They grew to BE-
ueve that they could hire Others to do
their fighting for them on land; and on
sea. where they did their own nshting,
and fought very we'll. they refused in
time Of peace to make ready fleets 80 sf-
hcient a. either to insure the Dutch
against the peace being broken or else
to s1ve them the victory when war
came. To be opulent and unarmsd 10 to
secure ease In the present at the almost
certain cost Of disaster In the future,
1t 10 Therefore easy to So why Holland
lost whom she did her position among the