South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-12-17
THE FINAL TRIUMPH

What IS the final triumph Of civilization? Is It
the mechanical inventions which add to the COM
fort OF human kind? or l. It the adaptation OF
TO tho conditions OF changing life?
II you stand at the top OF the great tower IN the
castle OF early Duke, looking down upon the
vestiges OF a ruin OF a Roman wall. and then turn
TO the great ship yards FROM which gigantic fleets
question.
Nan. the creator IS the final victor
lie has come to this process through slow and
steady stages. For the man
alive man. lie Is the savage That great Roman
wall which was builded by the labor OF captfves
stretching for miles from river source TO the ocean
marks the OF eprropriative
The man OF Roman civilization possessed but
appetite and desire. His only method OF obtaining
satisfaction for his needs was through approprla-
ton. ruthless his methods. What he
saw he took. What he needed, he fought for What
wanted ne seized. Having appropriated. ne
looked about for means to and that great
Roman wall. built In bhe first centuries Is a
70 the fear OF guarding his possessions.
Those Romans had gone 70 England and taken
what they wanted for their bodily comfort Then
they became afraid that the savage men, strong,
primitive would back. they compelled
their subjugated victims to build about them the
great wall from which they might hurl back IN
vading force.
In the ruined castle. abandoned for centuries to
storing OF curious things, you find the second
stage OF civilization which Is the adaptive period Of
life Having taken what he wanted by force, the
savage man turned his mind 20 the purpose OF
adapting them new uses. He took the great
walls. built first his appropriave fear and made
from Il a castle which would be his home He dis.
covered that thhe which seized from a
weaker enemy might be turned into a home by the
simple addition OF walls and a roof.
He discovered that the campfire which had
warmed his chilling flesh could be controlled by
draft. He discovered that the food which he had
taken from the earth could be preserved. that
the game which he had killed could be saved by
hanging in the smoke.
The medieval castle marked the second reriod OF
mankind opened the way that third period
which has produced the thing called modern civil
izaton.
That was only possible when man became the
creator anad let his brain turn the problem of
discovering things. He left the stage of bar
barism when his mind put and he left
OF the habit Of living by his Drawn.
Creative man shaped the ships which followed the
savage custom Of riding astrlde log and the bar
barrie custom OF binding two logs together.
It was the creative mind which made possible the
weaving CT clothes which followed wearing or
skins OF victims OF the hunt.
1t was creative who dreamed OF the great
wharfs the manufacture OF steel the fashioning CT
great engines 20 replace wind of sails
As you look from the turret OF this medlaevel
castle which overIooks the Tyne you ponder on
what the next trlumphs may be A few miles away
IS airdrome which daily comes the huge air
Flames which fast replacing trains as a means Of
destroying time in travel
You discover that It IS possible 10 send wireless
message from this city to Moscow. delivering your
thought 20 that city IN the twinElng OF an eye.
What Will be the step?
Has found the limit OF his accomplishment
in tre mechanical inventions which contribute to
his confort7
Has man reached the summit or his power in these
things which make for comfort. which have given
tho heat the food the security for which those
carly Romans builded great wall and the early
dukes their castle in futile dream to satisfy their
dezrose
or is there some farther realm beyond which the
present mind has little vision as those early
Romans might have had or the modern alrshp as
;hey drove their slaves 20 tho labor on the wall?
IN the midst OF three civilizations two or which
went when they failed 10 satisfy the souls and am
billions OF men. YOU wonder what may follow The
passing OF the third.
written at Newcastle on Tyne Nov. "a. 1929