The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1910-11-26
SUPREME EPOCH IN
HISTORY OF MANKIND
BY BENJAMIN Ide Wheeler, President Of
University Of California.

NV uHtHlhR w " y ~ >"'''
maks n supreme epoch in the history of
mankind. The celebration Of that event.
if there is to he one, must pay heed To
the historical meaning Of what is being
celebrated. Otherwise it will be n per
version. n violence, and n vanity.
The canal means. FIRST Of all, that our
plan joins the two oceans and looks out
Janus. faced towards its rights and its
risks on both. For the exercises of
It's rights and the facing of its perils
il must unite the waters of the two
oceans. II is one nation aud its two
oceans must become one highway. Our
existence hitherto has been shaP,. by
our position on the Atlantic facing Flu.
rope, II is likely that the coming years
In increasing measure will take their
form and color from our position on the
Pacific facing Asia. The opening of the
Canal yields its significance in terms
of our nation y new outlook through the
Golden Gate upon the Western Ocear,
and IL is only at the Golden Gate hat
the event can tell its meaning to the
world.
And there IL n second consideration.
When Columbus started across the seas
he was seeking, not America. but the old
Orient of India and China and their gold
and spices. Men had always desired the
Fast and the gold and the pepper. There
-... n,,ls.. $50. .la.. a.. ,I.a.t - tha
search. All that was new was the IA.
I~eetion. Columbus went west. Judged
in terms Of its original purpose his voy-
age was n total failure. lie started
straight for Asia. but ran upon the long
broad dyke of land we now call Amer.
lea. IL has cost more than four cen.
turtles for him and those that swarmed
after him 10 traverse and conquer the
hindcring dyke which arose across his
path and forbade him Asia. The open
ing Of the canal In the first cutting of
this ~dyke-thc avenging of Columbus
the end of the four-century halt-the
resumption of the advance toward the
Orient. II would be- n pity and n shame
10 celebrate this event from behind the
bunker. We have been there four hun
bred years. Let Us out now into the
open air of the pacific.
But there is a third consideration
w~eightier han all. The civilization
which we inherit, in which we are shap.
on, and made TO be what we are. and
10 ..las ,ma A. hal 80, a.,n., - ,ha col
leys Of the Euphratcs and the Nile and
on the hillsides of Syria and Greece.
With it's back turned toward the Old
Orient of India and China, il pushed its
way westward around the globe. 1t
passed from Greece To Rome, to Spain
and France and Germany, to England
and to America across the seas. The
opening Of the canal means that il has
entered the Pacific; and this is the
arena in which the two world. halves, the
Orient and the Occidcnt, are 10 stand.
no longer back to back, hut face to face
and no man can fOresec the issue there.
Of, But every man who sees and thinks,
can know that the opening of the Canal
the history Of the human races passes
to 1t last and final phase. Such an event
must be celebrated at n place where il
has signiicancc-whcre the races meet
where the arena, be it mart or battle.
field, il prepared and fixed, whore the
look is straight out wcstward-not
averted or askance, but straight out
westward toward the duty which awaits
the nation.