The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-06-07
in contrast with the multiplicity and

well as upon the huge scale Of public
az we'll as private expenditure In our
day. According TO his computation. the
entire expenditure OF the Roman En-
pre when Il included the basin OF the
Mediterranean and large parts OF Eu-
rope, Asia and Africa fell short OF the
budget Of New York city.
The disease of which the Roman
Empire died seems to this student lex
ceseive urbanizatlon." But this urban
ization, whether or not 1t was the
death OF the Roman Empire, was trivial
to what Is going on now. In fact 1t
was q mechanical impossibillty, in the
absence Of modern rleans of transport
tation, for the ancient cities to vie with
the modern In populousness. There
was no way OF getting means of sub
sistence for so many. Rome was far be-
fore any other city of the ancient world
in the number of its inhabitants. Many
and widely varying estimates of its
population have been made by moderns,
but MIR. Ferreros researches have
brought him to the conclusion that IL
never could have amounted to q mill
ion. But II was not in Rome alone
that the organization" operated. Dur
ing the first two centuries of tho Chris
tian era 1.-The rapid growth and enrich
ment OF the cities" was as character
istic an achievement of Roman civil
ization as OF the civilization OF the
nineteenth century In Europe and
America, although the ancient urbani-
zation was on so much smaller a scale.
The limit imposed by the necessity OF
bringing all supplies to the city mar
kets. either by means of animals trav-
elllng on highways or OF small vessels
driven by the action OF the wind on
canvas, was inexorable. What n freight
train Is to an OK team In speed and
carrying capacity, or Roman galley
to a twenty thousand ton steamer, such
Is the ratio of the possibilities OF popu-
lation in the great cities OF the TWEEN
tieth century compared with those Of
the ancient world. But, on however
smaller a scale the urbanizatiJn was
effected, It was as characteristic of
Roman civilization after the Augustan
age as of modern civilization. And II
concided with the decline of Rome.
The great Roman ruins which attest
either the ambitions of rival Roman
or colonial cities, or the efforts of
Roman Carnegies and Rockefellers to
endow their fellow citizens with mag
nlficent and durable monuments to
themselves-and both causes were at
work-are all of late date, OF the third.
fourth and fifth centuries A. d. "a
fairly safe rule for guessing the CEN
fury to which Roman monuments be-
long Is to assume that the more i'm
posing the ruins the later is the epoch
to which they should be attributed"
"Urbanization." then. is one charac-
teristic of Americanism, as another Is
the rapid accumulation of wealth by a
huge and unprecedented production Of
commonplace objects. What Is the
great industrial movement of modern
times but continual deception for
cloaking the deterioration which II is
bringing about in the quality OF things
as the price OF increasing the quantity
of them?" These tendencies are known
in Europe as American" particularly
by those who dislike and resent them,
not because they are confined to Amer
lea but because II Is in America that
they have had their perfect work and
have been less offset and counteracted
by other ideals Of life than those which
prevail in America.
Mr.. Ferrero made his first entry into
this hemisphere in South America. He
| made two voyages thither as a lecturer.
1t will surprise many North Americans
| to find that he was struck with Ameri-
canism, In the sense we have been ex-
planning and in contradistinction to
Europeanism, In Latin American
country before he had ever laid eyes
on this continent at all. 1t was not his
first impression. for his first impression
was derived from the harbor and city
Of Rio de Janeiro. And behold! my
first impression of America was as OF
a strip of India, and the first American
city ] had seen reminded me OF the
East, and especially, for some reason
or other, of Bagdad." And on this first
evening he attended a dinner party
and found himself discussing in French
the latest literary and artistic novelties
as II we had been on the banks of the
Seine" There Is nothing Of American
ism" here. Since 1t was in South America
that he was to encounter America nism
II was necessarily In Argentina, and In
Buenos Ayres, now become the second
city Of the Latin world in wealth and
population after Paris" He was taker
about and sights were shown to him
| immense and marvellous ranches
herds OF many thousand head. markets
| overlooking with wealth, magnificent
schools and superb hospitals" and sta
tistics showing the commercial and in
dustrial progress Of the country were
emptied upon him, for all the worlG
as II he had been in the American OF
the Canadian Northwest. He found
everybody an ardent believer in prog.
ress' In the North American sense
and possibly found, though he no.
where mentions. that 1t was not the
native or imported "Latins" who hat
originated the progress and kept II
going. But the point is that the Latins
were proud of II. II very soon realized
that American progress. the rapid in
crease, that Is to say. Of the wealth o.
Argentina and the incessant moderniza'
ton of the customs and institutions o.
the country were sort of national re-
ligion. which was accepted by mos
people with blind credence." Evi
IDENTIFY he personally preferred Rio
which lives "in the shade of It's garden.
and between the forest and the sea,
and which was the only great American
city he visited in which people nall
In a leisurely saunter instead of rush.
ing along TT not only lives repose
fully but it thinks, and even dreams {
little"
After South America, his first sur
prise in North America was in observ
ing the difference in the treatment o