Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-01-02
ON A QUARTER CENTURY

prsyious one and the seed sown our
,nv n NAV not come to maturity
until later. Yet there is that about
the period ending December 81. l9zo'
vh,ch invites and repays consldera-
ton. which refuses heedlessly 10 DC
consigned to oblivion along with the
nsttv af1ictions and mistakes that
have beset us during those years.
A TRANQUIL evenness in the AFFAIRS
NJ Maine has been marked, yet the
shock Of the greatest war IN all MS
tory was keenly felt here and Names
mart Of the human sacrifice laid up
IN the altar lacked nothing that II
b shouId have been and the record 10
,naftaceable. There have been no
p.rceptible Rubicons passed here IN
Maine during the past Is years. we
have been experimenting with the
initiative and referendum after the
manner of a dilettante. and no one
No far has been able to put a finger
on a real cure that has been erected.
We have built miles on miles OF In
yiting highways stretching through
yistas of lakes, shores and the rest
fu, green forests. We refused to re-
neal our old-time prohibitory law
and were ready to approve the adop-
ton by the country of measures that
we had found to be helpful here IN
Maine. We celebrated a centennial
which reminded us that we had no
slight task to improve on the last
hundred years and rear men ana
women more influential in the
worlds affairs. Our serenity OF
progress, however. has not been
otherwise uninfuenced by marVel-
ous world changes; 1t was on the
coast of Maine the round-the-worid
Overs returned home from a hight
of 10000 miles.
But what a change this quarter
Of q century has witnessed all IN
ali. What assures have opened IN
the foundations of methods OF gov
ernins Russia, Germany. Turkey, In
~dia and Africa; what marvellous
shift in the impressive power OF the
great Russia, threatening England
and longing for command or the
Dardanelles: how changed are our
conventions Of the German culture
our faith in the power Of her might;
how marvellous the achievements OF
the brown brother guarding the door
of Russia to the Pacific! Now royal
families are often regarded with
administration, although autocratic
power fingers in the teeming brain
of a. Mussolini. A long leap from the
Victorian age! Now Turks are dis
cardfng the fez, their women tearing
the veil from their faces, harems
have been consigned to the ash-cart
and the power Of a caliph is not
what 1t was in the Moslem world.
Today governments are puzzling
how they may get control OF the
chaos Of messages vexing the olue'
arching vault above US; on waves
of the ether the scientist tells the
world how health has been made
possible where the waters OF the
Pacific and the Atlantic were joined
IN Panama, where the workmen or
deLesseps> wrought and died a few
years before; tells us OF the SUD-
lection of the white plague. Of DOM
ination over the fevers Of the tropics
Of successful advances toward health
and longevity. and titillates our fancy
with a description Of the eggs OF q
dinosaur that have been in hot stor-
age for millions of years.
The horse is fast becoming a play
thing and q luxury and Is belng
ordered off the highway; we travel
70 the rythm Of motors in place OF
hoof-beats along the advancing ways.
The bandits lair has been moved
from the wild places to the vicinage
of the police station Of the metrop-
oils. for there are no wild places
except man, not God, makes them.
But how much has man changed?
He is beginning to feel cramped for
elbow-room but reason bids him take
heed Of his neighbor, now at his
side, and enter into agreement with
him to respect each others rights.
In close proximity these are per-
ceived to be very like: that If we
transmit to him the faint OF i'm
morality we may not escape the re-
suits: that live and let live must be
applied intelligently. maintained un-
remittingly. or we die. Man is forced
10 see truths he never needed before.
forced to deal with them. They
press upon him and he may not
betake himself to a place apart to
consider them.
The last quarter century has made
Of this such a little world. 1t has
left with us so much that must be
done to keep it a livable world. to
catch up with the innovations, to fit
into the new environment the old
man, possessing or possessed of the
came emotions, the same selfshness,
the same antipathies. The next
quarter of a. century may be required
TO straighten things out. or has our
ability to assimilate kept pace. We
nay know more about this by 1850.