River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1910-05-19
COL. ROOSEVELT
HEARD IN BERLIN
Ex-PreSident Lectures on "The
World Movement"
UNIVERSITY AULA THRONGED
Modern Civilization Is Compared With
That of Former Ages-Speaker Is
Hopeful for the Future of
Mankind.

Mankind.
Berlin.-Before an audience of
learned men and officials of high
mark, Theodore Roosevelt lectured
Thursday in the University Of Berlin.
Every seat in the aula was occupied,
and many hundreds of requests for
admission had to be denied. The dis
tinguished American was introduced
to his hearers by the rector of the
university. His subject was "The
World Movement" and he spoke in
English instead of in German as he
at one time intended.
Beginning with an eloquent eulogy
of the German race and its achieve
ments, the lecturer soon reached the
main theme of his discourse, and re-
viewed the civilization and culture, so
far as we know them, of the earliest
peoples and their contributions to the
modern world. He then continued:
Modern Movement Begins.
At last, little over 400 years
ago, the movement towards world civili-
cation took UP its interrupted march, The
beginning Of the modern movement may
the discovery of printing, and with that
series of bold gea ventures which culni-
mated In the discovery of America; and
after these two epochal feats had begun
to produce their full effects in material
and intellectual life, it became inevitable
that civilization should thereafter differ
not only in degree but even in kind from
all that had gone before. Immediately
after the voyage Of Columbus and Vasco
da Cana there began tremendous re-
g.. ~ -
lect went hand in hand with the moral
uprising; the great names of Copernicus,
Bruno, Kepler, and Calico show that the
mind Of man was breaking the letters
that had cramped It; and for the first
time experimentation was used as check
upon observation and theorization. Since
then, century by century, the changes
have increased in rapidity and complex
Ity, and have attained their maximum in
both respects during the century just
past.
Instead Of being directed by one or two
dominant peoples as was the case with
all similar movements of the past, the
new movement was shared by many diff
ferent nations. From every standpoint 1t
has been of infinitely greater moment
than anything hitherto seen. Not in one
but in many different peoples there has
been extraordinary growth in wealth, in
population, in power of organization, and
in mastery over mechanical activity and
natural resources. All OF this has been
accompanied and signalized by an i'm
mense outburst of energy and restless
initiative. The result is varied it is
striking.
Conquest of the World.
I'm the first place, representatives of this
civilization, by their conquest of space,
were enabled to spread into all the prac-
tically vacant continents, while at the
same time, by their triumphs in organiza-
-.
quired an unheard-of military superiority
as compared with their former rivals. To
these two facts is primarily due the
further fact that for the first time there
Is really something that approaches a
world civilization, world 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 continent. In places the
conquests have been ethnic; that is, there
has been a new wandering of the peoples,
and new commemorative have sprung up
In which the people are entirely or main
iy Of European blood. This is what hap
pened in the temperate and sub-tropical
regions of the Western Hemisphere. in
Australia, in portions of northern Asia
and southern Africa. In other places the
conquest has been purely political, the
Europeans representing for the most part
merely a small caste Of soldiers and adj
ministrators, as in most of tropical Asia
and Africa and in much of tropical Amer
lea Finally, here and there instances oc-
cur where there has been no conquest at
all, but where an alien people is profound
ly and radically changed by the mere i'm
pact Of western civilization.
There are of course many grades be-
tween these different types of influence,
but the net outcome of what has occurred
during the last four centuries is that civil
iization of the European type now exer-
cises a more or less profound effect over
practically the entire world. There are
hooks and corners to which 1t has not yet
penetrated; but there is at present no
large space of territory in which the gen
eral movement of civilized activity does
not make itself more or less felt. This
represents something Wholly different
from what has ever hitherto been seen.
In the greatest days Of Roman dominion
the influence of Rome was felt over only
O relatively small portion of the worlds
surface. Over much the larger part of the
world the process of change and develop
ment was absolutely unaffected by any
thing that occurred in the Roman empire;
and those communities the play of whose
influence was felt in action and reaction,
and In inter-action, among themselves,
were grouped Immediately around the
Mediterranean. Now, however, the whole
world is bound together as never before;
the bonds are sometimes those of hatred
rather than love. but they are bonds
nevertheless.
All the Nations Linked.
Browning or hopeful, every man Of lead
ership in any line of thought or effort
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 Mel
bourne or San Francisco or Buenos Aires;
but in whatever city he lives, he must pay
heed to the studies of men who live in
each of the other cities. When in Amer