Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-10-10
intellectual Progress.


the worlds intellectual progress" said
the speaker, who added that without
a single exception, in every nation
which possesses any degree Of civili-
zation the per centage Of il!iteracy Is
decreasing. Fifty years ago compare
lively few Of the Japanese could read
and write. Now they boast that 80
per cent Of the coming generation can
read and write. In their colleges they
are studying English to such an ex-
tent that one can converse with them
without the Intervention of interpret
ers. In China, in Turkey, in Russia,
in every state of the American Union,
the same showing is made.
In North Carolina. -..
II began coming to North Carolina
nineteen years ago. One Of the first
men I met, who afterward became one
of your greatest educators, was Doc
tor McIver. At Greensboro he showed
me a map showing which schools were
lengthening their terms. and such i'm
provements were occurring constant
ly. If you go south into some Of the
Spanish speaking nations you will
find the per centage of illiteracy very
large, but even there progress is be-
ing made.
IF there were no other evidence Of
the worlds progress except that in
education, that alone would be suffi-
cient to make the future bright with
hope. Every truly progressive move
ment has been brought about by
band of patriots actuated by the same
spirit that made the Kings Mountain
men bare their breasts to the enemy's
fire. These men have wrought in the
battles of peace. ...
I'm glad that's not the only indica-
ton, though I believe in education. II
1 had my way every boy and girl would
receive, not merely a school but col
lege education. have no sympathy
whatever with the idea that the Lord
intended just few to do the thinking
and the rest to bear the burdens which
the thinkers put on them. But be-
lieve in the heart as well as In the
head. A good heart can to an extent
redeem an inferior brain, but no mat
ter how bright the mind, If the heart
be bad no good can come Of it.
Moral Reformation. ........ .
II think that the evidence Of a
worldwide moral awakening is even
more convincing than that Of its ed
ucational progress. A spirit of broth
erhood is abroad in the world. 1t has
been a few years since Dumas, the
wrote a remarkable letter
in which he said that he saw coming
an era Of brotherhood. Two years later
Tolstoi read it and said that he, too.
saw it. And before either had spoken,
England's great commoner, in one OF
his remarkable speeches, had declared
that there was great movement
the world that was bring
ing men together. 1t is not merely
coming, but it is here. There is more
of the sense of kinship. there is more
of altruism on this globe today than
this globe has ever known before. and
there is more in the United States
than in any other country"
In the last ten years, said the speak
er, about a million have been brought
together in clubs and Bible classes,
seeking guidance for their footsteps.
There are five million Christian En-
deavorers, of whom third have
Joined in the past five years. There
are over a million members Of the Y.
M. c. A., who spend $5,O00,O0O a
year for this work, or twice as much
as Is spent once in a quadrennium for
the presidential campaigns.
Awakening Conscience.
Every nation Is giving evidence of
an awakened conscience and every
is being directed at some
evil" said Mr. Bryan, instancing Chi
ma which has at a sacrifice fought
war on opium and Is now attacking
gambling, the second national evil.
I'm most of the countries of Europe
the paramount question Is the liquor
question and the agitation against this
is growing" said the speaker, relating
incidents showing the growth Of the
movement. He referred to the Ger
man emperor's recent address to his
army, in which he pointed out that
brains must be clear and nerves must
be steady in order that they might
meet emergencies. telling them that
alcohol clouds the brain and un-
steadies the nerves, and appealing to
them in the name of the Fatherland to
desist from its use.
when I read that speech" said Mr..
Bryan, Il asked myself. why may
we not appeal to the young manhood
Of this country to abstain from alco-
hol that their brains may be clear and
their nerves steady to solve the prob
lens that face us?" (Cheers)
A Transformation.
II am told that thirty-three years
ago, when the centennial Of the Kings
Mountain battle was celebrated, there
were forty-five distilleries in one
county adjoining this. and that today
there is in that county not one distil
lery and there are sixty-three cotton
mills"
All such moral victories. said the
speaker, have been won because there
have been heroic spirits who dared to