The Washington times., 1920-06-06
CHAPTER VII.
Tho ReSinniup of The Ebb.

W q
lapse OF time. The war was mo-
mentous, not only for what it did
but even more for what it revealed
The legend of white invinctbiIity WAS
shattered. the veil of prestige thnt
dVaped white civilization was TORN
aside, aad the white worlds manifold
Ills were laid bare for candid exsni-
nation.
or course previous blindness to
the trend OF things had not been uni
vcrsal The white world had had its
Cassandras. while keen-sighted Asiat-
les had discerned symptoms. of white
weakness. Nevertheless, SO imposing
vas the white worlds aspect and so
unbroken its triumphant progress
that these seers had been small and
discredited minority. The mass Of
mankind, white and non-white alike
remained oblivious TO signs OF change.
INCREASE Or WHITE RACE.
This, after all, was but natural.
Not only had the white advance been
continuous, but its tempo had been
ever increasing.
We have already surveyed white
territorial gains, both as TO area Of
settlement and sphere of political
control. But along many other lines
white expansion was equally remark
able.
" hiite race-increase--the basis OF
all else--was truly phenomenal. In
the year 1900 the white race (then
confined to Europe) could not have
numbered more than 20 00o, 900.
In 1900 the population of Europe
was $50. .OOO, 900. while the whites liv-
ing outside Europe numbered over
10, 100000. The white race had thus
trifie more than doubled it's num-
bers in three centuries.
But in the yeaer 1900 the population
OF Europe was nearly 450 900, 900.
while the extra European whites
numbered fully 100, 0OO, 900. The total
number of whites at the end of the
nineteenth century was thus nearly
$50, ,0OO, ,00O-a gain in numbers Of
almost 400, ,0O0, 600 or over 400 per
cent.
The prodigious increas- OF the
white race during the Nineteenth
Century was due not only to terri
torial expansion but even more to
those astounding triumphs OF science
and invention which gave the race
unprecedented mastery over the re-
sources Of nature. This material ad-
vance is usually known as indus
trial revolution"
This transformation was, indeed,
absolutely unprecedented in the
worlds history. Hitherto mans ma
terial progress had been gradual
evolution. With the exception OF gun
powder, he had tapped no new sources
OF material energy since very ancient
times.
ENTERED NEW WORLD.
Suddenly all was changed. Steam,
electricity, petrol, the Hertzian wave,
harnessed natures hidden powers,
conquered distance. and shrunk the
terrestrial globe to the measure OF
human hands. Man entered a new
material world.
When I say man" ! mean. so far
as the Nineteenth century was con-
cerned, the white man. 1t was the
white mans brain which conceived
all this. and it was the white man
alone who first resped the benefits.
Europe became the workshop OF the
world.
In fact. during the nineteenth CEN
tury, Europe was transferred from
a semi-rural continent into a swarm
ing hive OF industry, gorged with
goods. capital and men, pouring forth
it's wares TO the remotest corners OF
the earth. and drawing thence fresh
stores of raw material for new fab
rication and exchange.
The amount OF wealth amassed hy
the white world In general and by
Europe in particular since the be-
ginning oil the Nineteenth century is
simply incaicuiable. Some faint con
ception of It can be gathered from
the growth Of world-trade.
In the year 1913 the entire volume
OF international commerce was VAL
ued at only s2,0e0, 600, OOV. In 1900 IL
was increased to SO. 000. 0OO. 900, and
in 1913 IL swelled to the inconceiyable
total Of $4,000, 900, ,0OO--a twenty
/ fold increase in short hundred
/ years. Such were the splendid
| achievements OF Nineteenth century
| civilization.
: MNTERIALIsN OF OUR AGE.
But there was n sesmy side to this
/ cloth OF gold. The vices OF our age
have been portrayed by thouss nd
censorlous pens, and there Is no need
here to recapitulste them. they can
mostly be summed up by the word
"Msterialism."
But. after all. was IL not primarily
due TO the profound disturbance
caused by drastic environmental
! change? Civilized men had just en-.
! tered new material world, and " IL
/ scientific truism that every Twins
/ organism. In ORDER TO survive, must
a6apt itself to its environment
But the changed character Of ou;
! civilization called for idealistic sdap'