New-York tribune., 1921-06-16
Fears Toplneavy
Civilization Nav
w recl& Mankind
Dartmouth's President in
University of PennsyI-
vania Address Declares
World Is Facing a Crisis
Discusses Wars Effects
DIR. Hopkins Alludes 10 Use
Evil Minds Could Make of
Scientific Achievements
Special Dispatch to The Tribune


PHILADELPHIA, June 15.-The
peril of civilization grown SO COM
plex and top-heavy that it may col
lapse of its own weight and crush
man, its creator, was pictured here to-
day by DR.. Ernest Martin Hopkins.
president of Dartmouth College, in a
commencement address at tne Uniyer-
sity of Pennsylvania, The question of
whether man is to be the master or
victim Of civilization, whether he shall
escape destruction by the very weapons
ne has devised to defend civilization.
Dr. hopkins asserted, depends on the
extent to which man can increase his
intellectual powers and his VIII and
the speed with which he brings about
this improvement in himself
Gigantic Forces Unleashed"
Has man explored the realms of
science and appropriated knowledge Of
their potentialities beyond his capacity
TO control the forces he has released
or combined ?" DR.. Hopkins asked.
Has man collectively, in his organi-
cation of society. created this massive
structure without offsetting it's flaws,
SO that, subjected to strain however
slight, the gross ponderousness may
crump!e the imperfect part and topple
the whole into tragic and lasting ruin ?
Are the magnitude and the intensit,
and the speed of life to-day within
mans control, or is he a helpless pas
senger in world run wild %
The World War and the natural pro-
gress of events have unleashed gigan-
tic forces with which the Church, as
well as our educational system, must
concern itself primarily and with out
delay, DR.. Hopkins declared. Radical
ism and the rights of dissatisfied mi
norities present an all important ques-
tion, he said, to which the multitude
of other problems Of the time are but
subordinate details.
Discusses Wars
DR.. Hopkins cited the World War as
an example OF the danger civilization
holds for its own existence. Previous
wars, DR.. Hopkins pointed out, were
limited in their evil effects because
malevoent groups could not assemble
their destructive forces with sufficient
speed, or to an extent great enough to
affect large areas of the world. In the
World War, he said, the resources of
The world were thrown into the vortex
and we have, as a reaction from the
war, moral inertia and a social in
difference which reach to the smallest
hamlet of this and other lands.
at is necessary" DR.. Hopkins de-
clared, Ito consider whether we have
not gone beyond the stage where the
sufficiency, if not the omnipotence, OF
majority rule can be conceded, in the
sense which we have long considered it
If man is to escape destruction OF
chaos may not the truth seeking spirit
of inquiry discover that as formerly
special privilege could not be held
within the few, so now it cannot be
held within q restricted group, even
when that group has become the many
"a shutting horse, ramsrackle COW
cred wagon, and what is probably q
psychopathic driver-supplemeuted b.
product OF modern science-threaten
the financial center of the world.
'It is not an agreeable subject for
speculation; but if evil cannot be in
fuenced and if minorities cannot be
absorbed, what is to be the end? Deadly
gasses which give the individual man
capacity to destroy whole populations
availability of disease cultures, and
knowledge of the possibilities of the
propagation of these; genius for me-
chanical devices by which the culmina-
tion of the destructive force of shatter-
ing explosives can be delayed and timed
at desired place for maximum effect
such are the resources for the modern
Sampson, blinded mentally and spirit
ually, who would make the pillars
built for the support of civilization
become its destruction.
Law Can't Compel Good
"But, unless the spirit of education
is dead and civilization has lost its
courage, that civilization has not
breathed life into inanimate force only
to run in terror from its threat. The
situation offers to men of our time
the supreme challenge of all history"
Of still greater seriousness, contin.
ued DR.. Hopkins, ais the effect of the
highly explosive and destructive idea
which can be instantly used to maxi.
mum influence by all the forces of ig-
norance, malevolence, or of menta
disease
Owe cannot make men good by leg
islation, nor make them work by In
junction, nor can we discover maligr
intentions by the threat of punishment
Only by such rehabilitation of the MIND
of men, and such increase of the areas
of intelligence and goodness as shall
eliminate the chance of infection BY
the powers of evil, can the opportuni-
ties of life be insured to those who
crave it's major satisfactions."
| DR.. Hopkins would have colleges anc
! universities recognize the fact thai
! raising the intellectual level of the
mass of men offers the opportunity fol
the man Of genius to emerge.
| Degrees were conferred upon 1,06(
students to-day, the largest graduating
class in the history Of the University
| of Pennsylvania