Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1920-08-15
JACK OF BALANCE
GREAT WAR
Falian Historian Attributes Late
Conflict to Want of
Equilibrium.
IVES HISTORIC EXAMPLE
recently Published Book Makes
Scientific Explanation of
Why Men Fight.
ny GUGLIELmo FERRE1,o.


ROME. August 1.-THE modern man
so much in need OF nursing niu-
ohs sn, IN regard to the present and
,licity even in chaos itself. For the
as. century PHILOSOPHERS have been
asting their time and their eyesisht
Tyins TO declpher the difficult writ
hg OF this puxziing promise.
rms thought returned to my mind
hen | was read Ing Filippo Carli's
Lenuilihrio dole Nazioni. Zani-
heili. boiogne). There are few
fort to find at least some ultimate
rder In the chaos of our days, some
gal that liz at the Same time a law
-ide and varied, culture that is sell
ON found In any writer nowadays.
ma mind that is restless and In
enetratinE the obscurest depths and
ell disc iplined in the double labor
analysis and synthesis. His style
equencc OF the scicntific jarEon and
certaln emphasis. but is nearly AL
avs clear and vivid and cflcacious.
no nov iet us gee In how Ear he has
dcceeded In his Undertaking.
DimcuIt Task.
II Is not an easy task to give n
rict and clear exposition Of a doc
nr,s w d'Gin y complex and in many
on which. even in physical science.
las substituted kinetic notion for
ne old static notion of equilibrium.
blinking. not even equilibrium is. but
inertia born OF the annuiment OF
ealized continually between Forces IS
dlneIent origins. which balances
ION OF Uniform variations. Equili-
rum IL distinguished from want
equilibrium solely because the fIrst
aiances forces which have uneoual
sigins with uniform variations. while
ave unequal origins with irrer,,iar
nd fitful variations. % 1'''
ApplyinE this doctrine to states
an eternal and continuous baIanc,
&. between class and class and be-
w ree nation and nation. OF vital
8reesii w, whose energy Is diverse from
etion Ito another. When this bnis
n nsins with Uniform variations be be-
ar has soaEhs f Tor the reasons that
to say. an irregular and violent
Tba c'niEIrevoIution and war.
I've birth sometimes to kinetic
quilibrium and sometimes to a vio
mt want Of equilibrium are. accord
tith in the possibilities OF the future
ne Inventive process. that is 10 saw
ioss forces by which man. ampliGes
is E nowisdec over a nature: increasing
Dwells ON wnr.
The worlds war Is, therefore for
1arit the greatest want OF equilibrium
bnF h'1bs ooy ca In The a, last part Of his
"a
uences, The state OF Europe before
ne war is studied with much acumen
no p.ofoundity' although. in my opin-
leach the bottom root OF the evil
hese long, considerations Of Carirs
~ ,si ,n ne read with profit by those who
things.pro Germans or anti Ger.
,ans. Socialists or their enemies
nd VINO are so easily convinced that
hese last years they Know ali that
mere aere Is 10 be known and all that is
e This r. no TOT hd passing Judgment.
hose sin ' is r aabe summary OF work
nee than a dry poverty OF facts and
1eas. beg both author and readers
do more % or To IL do h sette been b unable
rom anything else wanted TO rc.
erve small amount OF space for for
iay hs eSes theIa which perhaps
cal Of courage Carl has had re-
curse 10 almost every known science
s,st HfEef 10 nna the explanation and
bent in contemporary civiIization
But is he quite sure that he has
o. numbered among the eternal
cbicS b on h n a5ay certain passions
he history OF Western civliization
or some time past like moving snirita
me masses and the elites. but
Ehich were. once all powerful Ss nUns
he mind Of men. will one day dis
Ippear without leaving anythinp h,,t
aln and distorted memory behind
allude to what carli calls the
atm In future possibilities and the
EnnenaS I Process; or. in ordinary
On this point IT seems to me that
.aIii goes With the Socialists. or
father With the disciples Of historical
need and ambition of perfectine, me
|nstruments Is the first motive bower
pr history, But 1t IS undoubtedi tbe
F |aae,b ,ha ne, u was only in the seven
hen began TO torture their hra Hns
|Erh the manufacture of instruments
nat should he more powerful fban
nose noser that t they had used for so many
Pn the horlzan the luminous mirage
(ti progress. Up to the sixth centuSv
ne improvements and Inventions in
MS line were so slow and so rare
nat 1t Is difficult, and in some in
tances outright impossible to write
/ rial arts.
Started in Sixth Century.
Up to tho sixth century men had
Peen educated not to believe in tho
possibility of human genius, but to
|ioubt the future. to admire the an.
hs being better than the new. And #
Vas in tho sixth century that that
great historical movement began
Flowly at first and then with greater
rapidly. through which the States
knd social orders became by degrees
pledged IN competition for power
70 hope and desire almost without
limit. And 1t is from that period
bnly that the faith In future possIbiii-
les and In the inventive process have
become two great forces, perhaps the
We greatest forces OF history.
has endeavored to identity what is
great but recent. ana Ike ali i1is.
orfcal phenomena, passing, with
he eternal: l might almost say cos
mic laws Of the life OF nations. Hence
The difficulty in which he sometimes
III these disorders Of the modern n
yorld enter into the universal order,
Is not the truth, az a matter Of fact,
something much moro simple and at'|
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