Mexico Missouri message., 1910-06-09


the great empire OF Rome, It was not
death which ,ame, but transformation.
Both Holland and Italy teach us that
races that fall may rise again.
Danger Of Race Suicide.
There are questions which we Of the
great civilized nations are ever tempted TO
ask Of the future. Is our time OF growth
drawing to an end7 Are we as nations
soon TO come under the rule OF that great
law OF death, which r. itself but part of the
great law of life7 None can tell. Forces
that we can see and other forces that are
hidden or that can but dimly be appre-
hended are at work all around us, both
for good and for evil. The growth in lux
ury, in love Of ease, in taste for vapid
and frivolous excitement, is both evident
and unhealthy. The most ominous sign
is the diminutlon In the birth-rate, in the
rate OF natural increase, now to larger
or lesser degree shared by most OF the
civilized nations OF central and western
Europe. Of America and Australia; dim
mutton so great that II II continues for the
next century at the rate which has OBJ
tained for the last Is years, all the more
highly civilized people will be stationary
or else have begun to go backward In
population, while many OF them Will have
already gone very far backward.
There is much that should give us con-
Germ for the future. But there Is much
Is more apt to be mistaken than the
prophet OF evil ! believe with all my
heart that a great future remains for US;
but whether II does or does not, our
duty is not altered. However the bat
tie may go, the soldier worthy OF the
name will with utmost vigor do his al
loted task, and bear himself as valiant
ly In defeat as in victory. Come what
will, we belong to peoples who have not
yielded to the craven fear OF being great.
In the ages that have gone by, the
great nations, the nations that have eX-
banded and that have played mighty
part In the world, have in the end
grown old and weakened and vanished;
but so have the nations whose only
thought was to avoid all danger all eff
fort, who would risk nothing, and who
therefore gained nothing. In the end the
same fate may overwhelm all alike: but
the memory of the one type perishes with
II while the other lee yes Its mark deep
on the history Of all the future OF man
kind.
A nation that seemingly dies may be
born again; and even though In the
physical sense II die utterly, II may yet
hand down a history OF heroic achieve
ment, and for all time to come may pro-
foundly influence the nations that arise In
II" place by the impress Of what II has
done Best Of all is It to do our part well.
and at the same time to see our blood live
young and vital In men and women At to
take up the task as we lay 1t down; for
so shall our seed inherit the earth. But
II this, which is best is denied us, then
at least II is ours to remember that II we
choose we can be torch-bearers, as our
fathers were before US. The torch has
been handed on from nation to nation,
from civilization TO civilization through
out all recorded time. from the dim years
before history dawned, down to the bla--
Zing splendor of this teeming century OF
ours. It is dropped from the hand of the
coward and the sluggard, Of the man
wrapped in luxury or love Of ease. tho
man whose soul was eaten away by self
indulgence: It has been kept allght only
by those who were mighty of heart and
cunning of hand. What they worked at,
providing It was worth doing at all, was
of no less matter than how they worked,
whether in the realm OF the mind or the
realm of the body II their work was
good. II what they achieved was OF sub
stance, then high success was really
theirs.
In the first part OF this lecture drew
certain analogies between what had oc-
Cured to forms OF animal life through
the procession OF the ages on this planet,
and what has occurred and is occurring
to the great artificial civilizations which
have gradually spread over the worlds
surface during the thousands of years
that have elapsed since cities Of temples
and palaces first rose beside the Nile and
the Euphrates, and the harbors of
Minoan Crete bristled with the masts of
the Aegean craft. But OF course the
parallel is true only In the toughest
and most general way. Moreover, even
between the civilizations Of today and
the civilizations OF ancient times there
are differences so profound that we must
be cautious in drawing any conclusions
for the present based on what has hap
pened in the past. While freely admit
ting all of our follies and weaknesses of
today, 1t is yet mere perversity to refuse
to realize the incredible advance that
has been made in ethical standards. do
nos believe that there is the slightest nee
ing of virile force and this advance in
the moral standard, this growth OF the
sense Of obligation to ones neghbor and
of reluctance TO do that nelghbor wrong
We need have scant patience with that
silly cynicism which insists that kindli-
nesD OF character only accompanies
weakness of character. On the contrary,
just as in private life many OF the men
of strongest character are the very men
of Hottest and most exalted morality, so
] believe that in national life as the ages
80 by we shall ind that the permanent
national types will more and more tend
towards those in which, while the intel
lect stands high, character stands higher;
in which rugged strength and courage,
rugged capacity to resist wrongful ag-
gression by others. will go hand in hand
with lofty scorn of doing wrong to 9TH
ers. This is the type of Timoleon, of
Hampden, Of Washington and Lincoln.
These were as good men. as disinterested
| and unselfish men, as eyer served a
state; and they were also as strong men
as ever founded or saved a state. Surely
such examples prove that there is moth
ing Utopian in our effort TO combine
| justice and strength in the same nation.
The really high civilizations must them
| selves supply the antldote to the self-in-
diligence and love OF ease which they
| tend TO produce.
Problems Of Modern Nations.
Every modern civilized nation has many
and terrible problems to solve within its
| own borders, problems that arise not
merely from juxtaposition OF poverty and
riches, but especially from the self-con-
seriousness OF both poverty and riches
| Each nation must deal with these mat
| ters in its own fashion. and yet the spirit
in which the problem Is approached must
I ever be fundamentally the same. II