Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-05-14
GERMANS HEAR
AN ADDRESS BY
COL. ROOSEVELT
FORMER PRESIDENT IN NOTABLE
TALK ON "WoRLD MOVEMENT"
BEFORE DISTINGUISHED AUDI
ENCE.
GETS DEGREE FROM
BERLIN UNIVERSITY

BERLIN UNIVERSITY
FIRST TIME KAISER WAS PRES
EMIT At THIS CEREMONY
RoosEvELT's THROAT TRoU-
BLING HIM LESS.
Berlin, May 12.-Col. Roosevelt
found his voice so much improved
this morning that he decided to de-
liver his address at the University OF
Berlin as planned. The historic aula
pany. The Emperor William was
pl esent. The former president re-
ceived gratifying reception. The
subject of his address was THE World
Movement"
Roosevelt received from the uni
versity the honorary degree of doctor
OF philosophy. 1t was the first time
the emperor had graced conferment
and the courtesy was significant IN
view of the fact that the German
court is in mourning for King Ed
ward.
AS Roosevelt and the emperor en-
tered a choir chanted Hell Dir I'm
Siegerlranz" ("Hail to the conqueror's
wreath.") The empress and other
members of the royal family were
present, as we'll as Mrs. Roosevelt and
children, American Ambassador Hill,
and other diplomats, members of the
cabinet and number Of visiting
Americans and distinguished Ger
mans.
Rector Schmidt delivered an ad-
dress reviewing Roosevelt's life, and
then introduced the former president,
who was received most cordially.
Speaking before the University OF
Berlin today Colonel Roosevelt took
as the subject matter Of his lecture
"The World Movement Colonel
Roosevelt said:
''The play of new forces is as evil
dent in the moral and spiritual world
as in the world Of the mind and the
body. Forces for good and forces for
evil are everywhere evident, each act
ing with hundred or thousand fold
the intensity with which it acted in
former ages. Over the whole earth
the swing of the pendulum grows
more and more rapid, the handspring
coils and spreads at a rate constantly
quickening, the whole world move.
ment is Of constantly accelerating We
locity.
"In this movement there are signs
of much that BODIES i'll. The ma
chinery is so highly geared, the ten
sion and strain are so great, the effort
and the output have alike so increased
that there is cause to dread the ruin
that would come from any great acci-
dent, from any breakdown, and also
the ruin that may come from the mere
wearing cut of the machine itself. The
only previous civilization with which
our modern civilization can be in any
way compared is that period OF
Graeco-Roman civilization extending,
say, from the Athens of Themistocles
to the Rome of Marcus Aurelius. Many
of the forces and tendencies. which
were then at work are at work now.
Knowledge, luxury. and refinement.
wide material conquests, territorial
administration on a vast scale, an in
crease in the mastery &C mechanical
appliances and in applied science-all
these mark our civilization as they
marked the wonderful civilization that
flourished in the Mediterranean lands
twenty centuries ago; and they pre-
ceded the downfall Of The older CIV
ilization.
Chasm Between Two Civilizations.
"Yet the differences are many, and
some Of them are quite as striking as
the similarities. The single fact that
the old civilization was based upon
slavery shows the chasm that sep.
arates the two. Let me point out
one further and very significant differ
ence in the development of the two
civilizations. a difference so obvious
that 1t is astonishing that it has not
been dwelt upon by men of letters.
"One of the prime dangers of civ
ilization has always been It's ten
dency to cause the loss Of the write
fighting virtues, Of the fighting edge.
When men get too comfortable and
lead too luxurious lives there is al
ways danger less 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 quail
tiles which the man of civilization
tends to lose, whether he be clerk,
factory hand, merchant, or even GER
tain type of farmer. Now will not
assert that in modern civilized society
these tendencies have been wholly
overcome; but there has been a much
more successful effort to overcome
them than was the case in the early
civilizations.
What is the lesson to us today? Are
we to 20 the way Of the older civifiza
tions? The immense increase in the
area OF civilized activity today, SO that
it is nearly coterminous with the
worlds surface; the immense increase
in the multitudinous variety Of its ac-
tivities. the immense increase in the
Of the world movement-are
all these to mean merely that the
crash will be all the mora complete
and terrible when 1t comes 1--WE cannot
be certain that the answer will be in
the negative, but of this we can be
cart lin that ue> ahn1l not aOS down In