Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1916-10-13

state or mind, we cannot obtain the
viewpoint. that obtained among the
peoples wto lived prior to the end of
the fifteenth century. We can remem-
Der when you were all small children
how mysterious n place the world
seemed to us: we were just beginning
to notice. just beginning to wonder
about things, end all we knew was
our own backyards, and what lay on
the other side of the hill back of the
house was matter OF profound mys-
terry. The minds of the people prior
to the time of Columbus, so far as re-
CARDS the world in which they lived.
were as the minds of little children.
The most celebrated geographer of the
day was Ptolemy. Ptolemy had lived
and drawn his maps and written his
work in the secord century after
Christ. He was still the standard
authority of the time of Columbus. For
thirteen hundred years geography had
made no appreciate progress. II you
have ever examined any of the old maps
of Ptolemy. you will get an idea OF
the absurdities with which the minds
of the people of that day were filled
with reference to the form and charac-
ter of the earth. Instead OF having
Africa, for instance stop definitely at
the Cape OF Good Hope, as we know il
does, he extended that continent on to
the south pole He extended it east
war so that it completely enclosed the
Indian ocean and joined Asia on the
coast of China. Not only were the
learned men of the day totally ignor-
ant of the existence of n new world,
but they were to a very large extent
ignorant of the form and extent of the
very continents upon which they lived.
NOT RESULT OF ACCIDENT.
Such was the state of knowledge at
the time that the glorifed crank Co
lumbus. appeared upon the scene.
1t is the peculiar glory of Co
lumbus that his discovery was made
not as the result of accident, and not
as the result of chance, but that it was
the result of long years of research and
meditation, the result CT carefully
worked out theory Gradually his great
project took form in his mind and he
began to approach the various courts
of Europe to interest the sovereigns in
his plans. We can see him fitting,
so sad in memory, from court to court
for Is long years, dressed in shabby
clothes, reduced to perjury and want,
oftentimes compelled to flee from his
creditors, yet richer than all the
princes of Europe in the vast dreams
that filled his mind and haunted his
waking and his sleeping hours. A
deep religious feeling filled his medta-
tions. He read, as he thought, in the
Holy Scriptures his proposed discov-
cry vaguely shadowe1 forth in the
language Of the Prophets and he looked
upon himself as chosen by God to
bring the ends of the earth together
and unite all races and all languages
under the banner of the Redeemer.
When he returned to Europe from
his cele voyage the world was
n changed world, never to be the same
again. He had dspelled forever the
msts that surrounded mems minds
and had penetrated forever the dark
ness that surrounded the earth The
Frenchman, De TocqueVille. in his
Justly celebrated work on Democracy
in America" says that every great
event and every discovery and every
invention in the past 700 years had
tended toward the equality of man
and the rise and the spread OF demo-
cracy. The discovery OF gunpowder
made the serf equal to his lord in the
field of battle, because a horse and ar
NOR are no proof against a bullet. The
invention of printing placed in the
hands of everybody and within the
reach of everybody the learning and
the science of all previous times, and it
was no longer the monopoly of the few
But the discovery of Columbus marked
the greatest step forward in the free
dom of the human race and in the
growth of democracy, because he gave
to the oppressed of all nations a new
world in which to work out the prob
lens Of democracy. The influence of
Columbus has extended down to our
own time and will continue to extend
for all time to come The men and
the women fathers and mothers of
some here at this board tonight, who
came in to Idaho 80 years ago in
search of gold, we're borne here on
began on the little ship of Columbus
that plunged into the sea at Palos
They were but the latest elimination
of the great dream Of Columbus. The
ideas and the aims OF Columbus and
the things to which he gave his life
were the Advancement of learning, the
progress of humanity, and the spread
and the dispersion Of the Gospel of
Christ. He is the ideal of every mem
Der OF his Order His aims and ideals
are the aims and the ideals OF the
church to which he belonged and which
he loved above all human things. Co
lumbus is honored by all nations. all
races and all faiths. All Americans
are as II were. children of the dreams
of Columbus. And | have never been
able to understand why there should