Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-08-25
SHALL MIRACLES CEASE?

A HUNDRED and fifty years ago Their
"A was nowhere on the surface of tn,
earth a city of a million people. Mer
were born and lived to n great age anC
!. died who scarcely knew the taste Of meat
The problem Of securing mere bread wa:
q great problem and hunger never ceased
to stalk the streets Of London and the
large towns. A simple diet was received
with thanks to the bountiful Providence
that provided 1t. Ordinary people stayed
in the towns and villages where they
were born. as hemmed in from observation
Of the world at large as IL they lived on
another planet. Ownership Of a book
was distinction and education a class
privilege. great blackness had dwelt
: in the minds Of men for ages and igno-
rance everywhere held court with sump.
tuous ceremonial. Life was close to
nature, but knew nothing of the secrets
Of nature. The English peasant was not
far removed from the Babylonan tiller of
the soil.
The illusions of literature were over
whelmingly agricultural. Provincialism
was dominant throughout the earth.
Eighteen hundred years of Christian
civilization under system of govern
ment by kings and reigning families
found the world intellectually and mate.
rally, but not spiritually, almost exactly
where 1t had been when the Wise Men
journeyed from the East and the Pro-
consul Pontius PLATE gave his assent to
the crucifixion of the Christ.
IN 1776 few plebeians who had drunk
deep of the inspiration flowing from the
giant mountains and vast distances of
the NV World, resolved to shatter the
bo.ins that bound them to a system Of
governp ent and society that had wrecked
human progress. They searched the
political philosophy of the ancients
transmitted into a concrete program the
principles of freedom enunciated by
of every cline and time and
a theory of government
wnicn was destined to work incalculable
ch..hses in the whole structure Of civili-
za;on. An army only did not surrender
81 YORKTOWN. but there the prejudices, the
accepted habits, th. age-old tenets, the
entire political philosophy of mankind
gave way before new idea There time
changed the measure Of his march.
ITNHE sun shines for Europeans as It
shines for us. They have the same |
There are no natural phenomena to make |
minds more acTe or intelligence more |
lctive in America than in other countries. |
But the achievement of political inde-
'endence by the United States began to |
'e followed almost Immediately by most |
evidences Of the capacity of |
under favorable conditions TO |
limb out of the pits up to the very noun.
ain tops.
Political liberty seemed to break the bar.
'iers that held mems souls in thrall
rhe cotton gin came to clothe the world,
team harnessed itself to the vehicles of
and and sea and opened the fruits of
he earth to all the inhabitants thereof,
nd the genius of Morse put thought on
vires and sent it with the speed of light
cross magnificent distances, while Bell |
isintegrated the human voice into elec.
ric current and integrated it miles away |
nto its former form. the whole process
'eing instantaneous. Wright conquered
he air and Lake and Holland the depths
I the seas. II Shakespeare was an in.
ellectual ocean, whose waves touched on |
II the shores of time. the American ex.
eriinent in freedom struck the barnacles
rom the mind of man and electrified his
rental processes into functioning
estined to liberate the race from mate.
IaJ slavery by the opening up of the
secrets Of natural forces ana
he Interpretation and domination of
hem for the service and happiness of |
umanity. The faith of our fathers was
be faith that moves mountains. because
has moved mountains and induced
ataclysmic upheavals in the thought
adverse.
~ think Of this war In material terms.
eceptation ~ Germans of the in-
!. Z x I 7. 81 !, s.1 J! M 3