The New York herald., 1921-01-02
SUNDAY, JANUARY ., 1921.
These Twenty Years.

tury ended last Friday night These
two decades have been eventful and
memorable. In certain lines Of human
activity they have produced progress
which will be Of help to countless
generations
II we could look into the school
books Of a thousand years hence it is
unlikely that more than .v~ events OF
the last twenty years would be found
mentioned One Of these is the war
and the other is EINsTE1N's discovery
Of the theory Of relativity. The chill
dren Of 1920 will, we hope, be able to
discover that the good fruits of the
war eventually more than compen-
sated for the evil of the war itself.
And perhaps DR.. EINsTEIN's discovery
will by that time have led to new and
interesting cosmic revelations. When
q discovery is hailed as "the greatest
single achievement Of the human in
tellect"-as EINsTErN's work has been
called by European admirers-it ought
eventually to produce something to
comfort and edify a world which
gratefully remembers such minor
thinkers as ARISTOTLE, ARcH1MEDEs,
NEWTON and DARWIN.
Possibly the war will have extended
mention In the histories of 1920 not
80 much because 1t killed millions Of
men but because ii appeared to de-
stroy almost entirely the superstition
OF kings. For In the first fifth Of the
century we have seen monarchs go
like discarded. toys. Whether In
lethargic China and revolutionary
Russia or in enlightened Central Eu-
rope the action was the same; and
how inglorlously the emperors went !
But the years that saw so much dis
respect for sovereigns saw also respect
for law. Germany alone regarded In
ternational law as a scrap Of paper
and paid for this offence the price Of
losing the war In this country an
effort was made TO set aside the
foundation OF our laws, the Constltu-
tion. with the result that the attempt,
masked though II was uEser the face
Of idealism, was rebuked by the most
impressive majority ever voted at an
American election.
Socially, the world is looking at
many experiments. If they had begun
earlier In the century we should pos
ssbly be able to appralse them better.
In most Of these experiments, usually
described as "great steps in democ-
racy," we cannot but detect great
,s6>ps toward the pocket Of the other
fellow. The secret Of getting sus-
pended the sentence put upon ADAM
has not yet been revealed. Some
body must work and no manifesto by
LEVINE will make a spear Of wheat
eprout from the earth.
There has been, however, some real
social advance in the twenty years.
In this country and In others woman
has been permitted to have all the
privileges Of citizenship which should
have been hers long before and which
: were only denied her because Of neo-
lithic prejudice. There has also beer
legislation, most Of It conservative
and practical. tending toward anne
iiorating the conditions of labor In
general and Of women and children
in particular. THIS is real progress.
intellectually. except In manifes-
tation Of the usual quality of common
sense. the last twenty years have not
risen to great heights. So far as
literature is concerned, we have no his
torlans who compare with the splen-
ala groups OF the last century. There
IS scarcely a novel OF the war that
viii DO read twenty years from now.
The novels Of the moment are the
transient and occasionally artistic
outpat of the reallsts. Too many Of
the Englishmen write from the bleak
Russian copybook. Our own young
realists are busy showing us the soul
OF the Middle West. This. at least.
is not Russian.
Economically, the world finds itself
badly upset. The pecuniary systems
Of nearly all nations. disturbed II not
destroyed by the imitation of war time.
VIII require perhaps half of the third
decade TO readjust themselves. Even
the United States, most fortunate Of
lands by reason Of natural riches, finds
itself In a slump caused by extraya-
gafcc and false prices.
In the matter Of religion the world
ss no worse Off than IL was at the be.
ginning Of the century perhaps 1t has
improved little. II Is true. however.
xbat the great spiritual uplft" which