Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1914-12-09
By II. G. WELLS

He suggested now that there should
De new era, starting from that day
as the first day of the first year.
The king demurred
prom this day forth, sir. man enters
upon his heritage" said the American.
Man." said the king. lis always en-
tering upon his heritage. You Amer
leans have a peculiar weakness for
anniversaries-if you will forgive me
saying So Yes, l accuse you Of a lust
for dramatic effect Everything is hap
pening always. but you want to say
this or this is the real instant in time
and subordinate all the others to it."
The American said something about
an epoch making day
But surely" said the king "you
don't want us to condemn all human
ity to world wide annual Fourth of
June forever and evermore on account
Of this harmless necessary day Of dec
larations? No conceivable day could
ever deserve that. Alb. you do not
know. as l do, the devastatiOns Of the
memorable! My poor grandparents
were-rubricated. The worst of these
huge celebrations is that they break
up the dignified succession Of ones
contemporary emotions. They inter.
rupt. They set back. Suddenly out
come the flags and fireworks, and the
old enthusiasms are furnished Upland
it's sheer destruction Of the proper
thing that ought to be going on. SUI
ficient unto the day is the celebration
thereof. Let the dead past bury it's
dead. You see, in regard to the calen
dar. am for democracy and you are
for aristocracy. All things, | hold, are
august and have right to be lived
through on their merits. No day
should be sacrificed on the grave Of
departed events. What do you think
Of it, Wilhelm?'
For the noble, yes, all days should
be noble"
Exactly my position" said the
king, and felt pleased at what be had
been saying.
And then, since the American press
ed his idea. the king contrived to shift
the talk from the question of celebrat.
ing the epoch they were making to
the question of the proba olIlties thar
lay ahead. Here every one became
diftident They could see the world
unified at peace, but what detail was
to follow from that uni6cation they
seemed indisposed to discuss. This
dift1dence struck the king as remarka
BILE. He plunged into the possibilities
Of science. All the huge expenditure
that had hitherto gone into unproduc
tive naval and military preparations
must now. he declared, place research
upon new footing. "Where one man
worked we will have a thousand" He
appealed to Holster. I'VE have only
begun to peep into these possibilities"
he said. "You. at any rate. have
sounded the vaults Of the treasure
house,"
They are unfathomable," smiled
Holster.
Man" said the American, with a
manifest resolve to justify and re-
lnstate himself after the Pickering
contradictions of the king. man, say,
is only beginning to enter upon his
heritage"
Tell us some of the things you be-
lieve we shall presently learn, give US
an idea of the things we may present
~ do said the king to Holster.
Holster opened out vistas.
Science" the king cried presently,
lis the new king of the world"
"Our view," said the president. lis
that sovereignty resides with the peo-
ple"
NO." said the king, 1.-The sovereign
Is being more subtle than that And
less arithmetical. Neither my family
nor your emancipated people, 1t is
something that floats about US and
above us and through us. It is that
common, impersonal will and sense
OF necessity Of which science is the
best understood and most typical as
pect. 1t Is the mind of the race. 1t
is that which has brought us here,
which has bowed us all to it's de-
mands"
He paused and glanced down the
table at Leblanc and then reopened at
his former antagonist.
There is a disposition" said the
king, Ito regard this gathering as if it
was actually doing what it appears to
be doing. as if we ninety odd men Of
our own free will and wisdom were
unifying the world. There is a temp
tation to consider ourselves exception
ally fine fellows and masterful men
and all the rest of it. We are not.
doubt if we should average out as any
thing ADLER than any other casually
selected body of ninety odd men. We
are no creators; we are consequences.
we are salvagers or salvagees. The
thing today is not ourselves, but the
wind Of conviction that has blown US
hither"
The American had to confess he
could hardly agree with the kings es-
innate Of their average.
"Holsten, perhaps, and one or two
others might lift us little," the king
conceded. But the rest of us?''
His eye fitted once more toward Lee
blanc.
Look at Leblanc" he said. Hes
just simple soul. There are hundreds
and thousands like him. l admit q
certain dexterity, certain lucidity.
but there Is not country town in
France where there is not a Leblanc
or so to be found about O'Clock in its
principal cafe It's just that he isn't
complicated or super-mannish or any