Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1914-01-02
The First Day of a
Wonderful Year.

could be the most eyentful in thu
history of the world, Emu yet il
may be one of the most quiet and
peaceful brown for a long time.
In mans mastery of many Of
the forces Of nature it is the most
wonderful year on record. By the
aid of electricity man flashes mes,
sages and news over seas and un.
der seas, around the world and to
any place upon it's surface, wheth-
er it be on land or on ocean.
By means of electricity man il
Eliminates his cities, streets, hous-
es, his ships and railroad trains,
and he uses it to store up private
conversations and public addresses
md to reproduce them at need,
md to have repeated by its means
through the instrum, n .ality Of in
,enious mechanisms at his pleasure
the order in which it was first
presented, all the music, vocal and
instrumental, every note sounded
as it was rendered by singers or
orchestra.
To day by his mastery of physi-
cal forces man drives swift vehicles
over the land, forces fleet ships on
he surface of the sea and beneath
its waters at will, and he flies in
the air, either propelled by power
full mechanisms or he floats through
space ON the wings of buoyant
gases. In speeding from place to
place he is virtually able to ami
hilate time and distance.
Today man possesses explosive
compounds so frightfuily dcstruc,
tive that it would seem that not
even our solid earth itself could
resist their tremendous forces. In
addition to the new and startling
discoveries of science which he is
daily making, and the buried mys-
teries of antiquity which he is
constantly unwilling, and welding
as he does the thunderbolts of
Jove, many man may almost be.
lieve he is a god. But despite his
wonderful knowledge and the
pride and vainglory it breeds in
him, man is, after all, a pitfful
creature.
His thundelbolts turn against
him and destroy him and his
works; his flying machines fall
from the skies, his great ships
sink to the depths of the ocean
with all on board, his swift rail
way trains are wrecked and his
tremendous explosives blow up at
the wrong time, and, worst of all,
these frightful forces are too often
used Intentionally to destroy his
fellows. And thus man, if he de-
voted his knowledge and powers
to doing good, would rise to a po-
sition a little lower than the angels,
whereas, too often, he employs
them for purposes so vile and ma
lignant that he comes little short
of being a devil.
Thus, armed with powers that
seems little short of supernatural
and possessing more gold and jew.
els than ever before, man is able,
possiblp as he never was before,
to make this year of our Lord,
1914, more remarkable for charity,
good wonks and beneficence than
was ever known before, or he can
fill the world with evil to degree
beyond all human experience.
But whether men are growing
better or worse for it all is cues.
ton which it is not proposed here
to answer. Never in the historic
times did our globe have as many
inhabitants as now, for wars are
not so continuous and destructive
as they once were, and the human
race is no longer ravaged by the
terrible epidemics of mortal dis
ease which through ages In the
past swept around the world ma