Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1922-10-17

:
| the lecture on The Supreme Issue
Confronting the World" by j. Stitt
Wilson. International lecturer for the
Y. NJ. c. A.
The speaker was introduced by
President Arthur j. Roberts of Colby
college as the one man in America
who could talk with authority on the
Social and Industrial situation in
America
Mr. Wilson was greatly pleased with
| the size of his audience for such a
! rainy night and said that he hoped
that as many more would be present
| at his second lecture tonight. He start
/ cd out by saying that he had more
facts to convey to the students of
, the college and to the people Of Wa
! terville than he could ever state in
ono night and had. therefore divided
| his speech up into parts, dealing with
| the Social and Industrial situation at
! the lectures, but that he would talk
on the general side Of the Gaze last
night.
His first few paragraphs lead up to
| the final subject matter which was the
! that being the just control. just use and
| just administration of the institutions
! of property in America. He said that
| his one mission to the students of the
| American colleges and universities was
| TO arrest attention and generate vita,
| interest in the problems which are
| confronting the world today. He said
that he had rather speak too seriously
| than not serious enough because the
young people Of today and in fact all
the American people of today are in
cined TO treat all things too lightly
and that this was not problem to be
| treated such. The world. according to
statement by Mr.. Wilson, is in a
state of social disease and only the
principles of righteousness may be the
cure.
America is the least afflicted of all
| the nations Of the world in this social
| unrest and threat. he declared. Many
! of the prominent men in the world
such as II. G. Wells and George Bran
dies declare that Civilization is rapid
" falling down and that unless every
effort is Bonded in the task Of build
ing up the world. the modern civiliza-
ton will perish. Europe is absolutely
finished and there is only one sane ma
| ton left. he quoted one man as say
ing The one sane nation referred to
was the United States. Mr.. Wilson
said that the threat of the Moslem
powers under kamel Pasha was one
OF the greatest dangers in the world
today.
One Englishman. Conan Doyle. is
quoted as saying that the natural loss
es Of the war were tremendous, the
physical losses incalculatable and the
moral losses colossal. The difficulties
are so great that it is up to the in
teligent church and business man to
understand and solve them. that the
mind and heart must be used in the
solution also.
Continuing, he said that many
diagnosis had been made of | the
trouble and unrest but that the g' eat
danger was that these diagnosis in
many cases were false. He gave a
vivid Illustration Of the false dag
nosis. He said that one time his
taby son suddenly developed a ter
rihle sickness and was rushed to the
hospital at once. All the doctors
that could be procured brought into
consultation and some verdict was
passed. The mother of the child was
frantic and when the doctors ordered
the child packed in ice she immed-
lately gathered the infant in her
arms and throwing the blanket over
il, dashed to the automobile and went
home. She gave the child strocg
emetic and shortly a large green
plum which the child had swallowed,
came up and in half an hour the
baby was out playing in the yard
again.
Mr. Wilson then drew up black
board and on its surface drew large
graph representing the human pro-
gress through the ages. He quoted
Abraham Lincoln. who in a speech
at Republican convention said. If
we first could know where we are
and whether we are tending, we
could know what to do and how to
to do it,
On the graph. Mr.. Wilson drew
three parallel lines which he called
the three great moves in modern
history Of human activity. the first
being the period OF the reformation.
the second the period of the great
revolutionary wars and the third the
period abolition. The first dealing
with the religion. the second with the
political and the third with the
body.
Taking the first topic he went
into great detail about the wars for
the religious freedom of man and his
final triumph The struggle for
that liberty took nearly three hun
dred years but removed the control
OF religion from the hands of those
who used 1t for their own ends. Men
were either prosecuted or prosecutor
and fought and died. but new lib
erty issued into the world.
The political institutions were
tyranies and lasted for nearly one
hundred and fifty years. ending fin
ally in the great revolutions in Eng
gland. France and the United States.
The ruling was done by aristocratic
men who claimed that they ruled by
right but after time the people be-
gan to question the divine right and
found out that the right was unholy
and soon revolted.
The third great institution was
that of slavery and that was re-
moved from this nation after the
Civil war. Leading up to the dramat-
ic point he said that the real point