<h2 class="label">CHAPTER VI</h2>
<h2 class="main">Historical Events of the 20th Century<br/> (<i>Concluded</i>)</h2></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">A subdued applause greeted the Professor the next
day when he entered the lecture room to conclude his review of events
of the 20th Century. Many floral bouquets were tossed to him by his
fair admirers, who were augmented from the other classes, on account of
the full detail of his encounter with Don Seville having been spread
throughout the Seminary.</p>
<p class="par">The Professor, despite some discoloration on his benign
visage, flushed crimson like a bashful child and bowed his
acknowledgements, as he began his discourse thus:</p>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1927</h3>
<h3 class="main">Colonization of Central Africa</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">A system of general colonization on a large scale
was, during this year, undertaken by the <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name=
"pb72" href="#pb72" name="pb72">72</SPAN>]</span>British Government. By a
new homestead law, embodying liberal inducements, a vast army of
colonists from all over the British dominions were transported to
Central Africa. Thousands upon thousands of persons from the congested
districts of London, Glasgow, Liverpool and other large cities, were
persuaded to leave their limited surroundings and uncongenial
atmosphere, and go to the promising new land, teeming with boundless
opportunities.</p>
<p class="par">Almost the entire inhabitants of the isolated islands of
the Shetlands and Orkneys, who led an indolent life and eked a meagre
existence by fisheries, joined this grand trek to Central Africa. Many
thousands from the Canadian provinces and from the United States of
America joined this exodus, as did also thousands from the East Indies.
The thorough and admirable manner in which this laudable movement was
handled mitigated the hardships of transportation, and thus within a
few years more than five million, poor, homeless and indolent people
were given homesteads of their own, awakening them into energy and
thrift. <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb73" href="#pb73" name=
"pb73">73</SPAN>]</span></p>
<p class="par">Within a decade the population of Central Africa reached
the grand total of 25,000,000 industrious, loyal citizens, forming a
flourishing dependency, enjoying home rule and liberty, under the
protection of British laws and arms.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1928</h3>
<h3 class="main">The Conflagration of the Atlantic Ocean</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">One of the most wonderful and at the same time
awful conflagrations of its kind on record in the history of the world,
was that of the apparent burning of the Atlantic Ocean, covering an
area one hundred and fifty miles wide. It started in the Gulf of Mexico
and, like a prairie fire, only a thousand times more furious, this
floating furnace consumed scores of vessels that came into its fiery
path.</p>
<p class="par">A few weeks previous to this awful holocaust, the
petroleum wells in Texas, New Mexico and Louisiana had run dry, on
account of a severe earthquake. It was argued by scientists that, by
some subterranean convulsions the oil well fissures had shifted their
course, into the waters of the gulf, and the vast accumulation of the
inflammable fluid, floating on the ocean<span class="corr" id="xd22e1054" title="Not in source">,</span> had <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb74" href="#pb74" name="pb74">74</SPAN>]</span>been
ignited, either by an electric spark during a thunderstorm, or by some
combustible being thrown from a sailing craft.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1929</h3>
<h3 class="main">The Court of Labor</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">In this year was completed and dedicated the Court
of Labor at Washington. This was an imposing building, in which all the
momentous labor problems were discussed before a tribunal of
disinterested justices, through the able representatives of each
faction, without resorting to disastrous strikes, lockouts and
disturbances of public comfort.</p>
<p class="par">One of the most remarkable features of this Court of
Arbitration was, the colossal group erected between the two grand
entrances to the building. This was not a semi-nude female figure with
bandaged eyes, holding in her hand the conventional pair of scales, but
a Herculean figure of Uncle Sam with his starry hat and glorious chin
whiskers, having three faces, three eyes and three arms. Before him
were a group of three figures which represented respectively
<i>Capital</i>, <i>Consumer</i> and <i>Labor</i>. In each figure were
his eyes wide open and <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb75" href="#pb75"
name="pb75">75</SPAN>]</span>alert, bent with searching scrutiny upon the
person in front, to whom he dispensed the just share of each, from a
huge cornucopia at his feet.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1930</h3>
<h3 class="main">Landlordism In America</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">One of the most scandalous evils which had crept
gradually in the United States, and eventually became a source of grave
anxiety to the government, was a system of Landlordism amongst the very
rich. While the general public were slumbering in blissful ignorance,
this coterie of avaricious syndicates and multi-millionaires had
mysteriously become possessors of vast tracts of lands, in every state
of the Union. Some of these holdings comprised hundreds and thousands
of square miles in extent.</p>
<p class="par">Miles and miles of shore-fronts, immense areas of
forests, whole mountains and lakes, through the conniving, corrupt
state and county officials, had passed into the hands of private
individuals who, in return had become extremely arrogant in their
treatment of the public, by unreasonable restriction. <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb76" href="#pb76" name="pb76">76</SPAN>]</span></p>
<p class="par">There seemed to be a mocking sarcasm in the fact when
common people sang the National Anthem “America,”
celebrating its hills and rills, while at every turn of the road, at
every shore-front, lake, hill and valley, mountain and forests, the
forbidding sign, “No Trespassing Under Penalty,” met their
eyes, or the repulsive muzzle of the Winchester was thrust into their
faces by private watchmen.</p>
<p class="par">This state of affairs had reached such desperate
straits, that the public suddenly awakened on the subject. It started
first by the protest of the rougher element in the mountain districts,
who defied the hired authorities with an organized force. The people
committed acts of violence and incendiarism it is true, but by their
overt acts they awakened the dormant public to realize the enormity of
this scandalous condition of deeding away to millionaires, without the
consent of the commonwealth, the common and inalienable heritage of its
citizens.</p>
<p class="par">By a unanimous uprising and public mandate the Federal
and State authorities were compelled to condemn and confiscate these
stolen public lands. New laws were then enacted by which the acquiring
of extensive <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb77" href="#pb77" name=
"pb77">77</SPAN>]</span>lands was limited, except for agricultural
purposes.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1931</h3>
<h3 class="main">The Discovery of the North Pole</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">The North Pole, that mysterious geographical
locality which for centuries had baffled scientists and explorers, was
located and verified by the combined efforts of American and British
Governments. The expedition was on a gigantic scale, the force of the
explorers being in round numbers two thousand five hundred persons who
by a system of depots and rendez-vous for supplies, formed almost a
continuous chain.</p>
<p class="par">All the latest devices in the form of dynamo-vans and
motor-sleds, with balloon attachments were employed in the undertaking.
Strange to say the casualties did not exceed more than ten per cent of
the expeditionary force. It was discovered, to the great surprise of
scientists, that the locality was nothing more than a plateau, studded
with cones of ice!</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1932</h3>
<h3 class="main">Cure for Laziness</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">The discovery, by an American, of a germicide
<span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb78" href="#pb78" name=
"pb78">78</SPAN>]</span>for indolence was announced during this year, by
which lethargic persons were regenerated into acute activity. It was a
concentrated double extract of pitch-blend, containing the radio active
element, and when applied to certain parts of the body, it
instantaneously transformed the feeling of laziness and ennui, into one
of hustling energy and alertness.</p>
<p class="par">The negroes of the Southern States, the natives of
tropical countries and also officials in the police departments of
large cities, were the ones benefitted by this “golden medical
discovery!”</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1933</h3>
<h3 class="main">Capital Punishment</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">The abolishment of capital punishment in many
States of the Union, through the impulsive sentimentality of a
minority, had given birth to an old time evil, that of feudalism. It
was well for people preaching mercy for murderers, when somebody else
was the victim, but when the crime was perpetrated against one of their
homes, their feelings were entirely changed. The increase of vendetta
was the result, and it occurred with such a lamentable <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb79" href="#pb79" name="pb79">79</SPAN>]</span>degree
of frequency, that the old uncontrovertible Mosaic law, blood for
blood, and life for life was re-established.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1934</h3>
<h3 class="main">Abolition of Hereditary Titles In England</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">The agitation for the abolition of hereditary
titles in England caused a crisis in the political and social world of
Great Britain. The degeneracy of hereditary nobles, their utter
incapacity adequately to fill the positions left by their illustrious
ancestors, to the detriment and retrogression of the British
government, was the main cause of bringing about this bloodless
internecine revolution.</p>
<p class="par">Despite the most strenuous opposition by the friends of
the nobles, a new law was added to the revised Magna Charta, by an
overwhelming public demand. With few exceptions, it nullified the
existing titles, and elevated to peerage only worthy citizens for life,
on condition of the good behavior of the incumbent. This excellent law
brought fresh and saving blood into the political and civic life of
England. The movement precipitated the abandonment of the House of
Lords and <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb80" href="#pb80" name=
"pb80">80</SPAN>]</span>created in its stead a body called Senatorium,
whose members were elected by the tax-paying citizens.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1935</h3>
<h3 class="main">Blowing the Earth Into Fragments</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">The most remarkable sensation of this year was
that of a German scientist and statistician who, after a thorough
investigation and mathematical calculation, announced his conclusions,
that it was in the range of collective human power, that is, by the
combined aid of labor, time, money and high explosives, to rend the
earth in twain, or into fragments, and thus create new planets in
space, producing new climatic conditions, fauna and life, adaptable to
their new positions in the solar system.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1937</h3>
<h3 class="main">An American Penal Colony</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">The census of this year revealed an unprecedented
number of evil-doers, causing great anxiety to the Government. There
were recorded ninety-two thousand criminals in prisons and seventy-six
thousand paupers in the poor houses. This army of public charges cost
<span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb81" href="#pb81" name=
"pb81">81</SPAN>]</span>the State authorities more than thirty million
dollars for their maintenance.</p>
<p class="par">At last by the stress of popular agitation the
government adopted a policy of penal colonization. Selecting a
desirable island in the Philippines, the Federal authorities succeeded
in transporting to the island, within three years, and with half the
cost of their maintenance at home, one hundred thousand of these
unfortunate malefactors.</p>
<p class="par">Here, they were given every facility and aid, for
acquiring and building of homes, farms and factories, and within ten
years, under a wise military administration more than half of that
number were reclaimed, forming a prosperous and loyal community in the
Eastern Hemisphere.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1938</h3>
<h3 class="main">The Great Telescope</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">With the munificent contributions to a general
fund, amounting to two million dollars, by the English, American and
French Governments, the greatest telescope which the world has ever
known was constructed in Paris. Its lenses measured more than two
meters in <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb82" href="#pb82" name=
"pb82">82</SPAN>]</span>diameter which, combined with a mammoth revolving
camera obscura, brought the moon and some of the planets within the
range of visual observation, revealing on Venus and Mars the existence
of vegetation and moving objects.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1939</h3>
<h3 class="main">The Earth An Electric Motor</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">Emil Flammarion, the worthy grandson of the
eminent French astronomer, demonstrated by an extremely clever
mechanical contrivance in Vacuo, that the Earth was merely an electric
Motor in space!</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1940</h3>
<h3 class="main">The Trend of Religious Thought</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">Religious thought or spiritual belief is not an
invention of mortals. It is an inborn attribute of the human mind.
While man was in his savage or semi-barbarous stage, the ethical and
spiritual conceptions were correspondingly crude and religious warfare
predominated. With the advance of civilization its development kept
pace with it until at the dawn of the twentieth century it had
undergone, by natural evolution, a marked metamorphosis. <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb83" href="#pb83" name="pb83">83</SPAN>]</span></p>
<p class="par">It gradually divested itself of its legendary mysticism,
fantastic dogmas and spectacular schisms, and all intelligent thinkers
promulgated a propaganda, not of external forms of worship, but those
uncontrovertible basic truths, which always will hold.</p>
<p class="par">It is true that in an era of commercial materialism
great masses of people embraced agnosticism and ethical culture,
rejecting that supernatural conception of a first cause of which they
claimed their limited intellect had a vague idea and was deeper than
the hazy human comprehension, yet, the shallow Ingersolian philosophy
of attacking a force—which filled millions with hope and goaded
them to self-sacrifice, mercy and charity—without substituting
something better, was repudiated by the intelligent, and appealed only
to the abnormal and the foolish.</p>
<p class="par">This tendency of materialism in religion continued
unabated, until the startling announcement of a German
scientist—who claimed it was within human power to rend the world
in twain—also the marvelous revelation through the mammoth
telescope—by which was discovered moving objects and vegetation
<span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb84" href="#pb84" name=
"pb84">84</SPAN>]</span>in other planets—brought on an acute crisis.
A tremendous religious revival swept all over the world. It expanded
the mental horizon of human conceptions. The existence of living
organism in other spheres came within rational deductions. The possible
existence of beings far superior in intellect to ourselves, came within
the limit of legitimate theorizations, and the more men began to grasp
with the co-operation of science, the infinite vastness of the
universe, with its numberless millions of habitable worlds, the
probability of an intelligent force of vast creative power came within
the scope of human understanding.</p>
<p class="par">The forceful passage in the Holy Writ “that God
created man in his own image” became more and more lucid.
Consequently the pantheism of the old Greeks were revived with more
clearness, and the existence of a personal God somewhere in this
boundless universe appealed to multitudes with new zest.</p>
<p class="par">“Pray, Professor, what is your opinion of a first
cause?” ventured one of the students.</p>
<p class="par">“There are so many mysterious forces,”
answered the Professor, “that although we cannot see, yet we feel
their power and are <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb85" href="#pb85"
name="pb85">85</SPAN>]</span>conscious of their results. And as our mortal
organism cannot conceive a thought which is beyond its own limitations,
the very idea of our thought of a first cause falls within the range of
human conceptions.</p>
<p class="par"><span class="corr" id="xd22e1199" title=
"Not in source">“</span>When we gaze at an automobile, which is
the creation of a creature, we see a wonderful parallelism; its
requirements to make it an active energy, bears a strong analogy of its
inventor, yet, an automobile with all its requirements for power
supplied, is a worthless mass, unless operated and guided by its
creator. Does not this vast universe with all its wonderful
manifestations suggest a creative force, which governs it?”</p>
<p class="par">“Albeit, it is not within my province nor in my
power to penetrate the veil” continued the Professor, looking up
in pensive mood. <span class="corr" id="xd22e1204" title=
"Not in source">“</span>But as the coral protoplasm begins its
edifice from the calcerous mire in the dark recesses of the ocean,
upwards through the murky and semi-transparent liquid, finally reaches
the pelucid surface, kisses the wave and sees the light, me-thinks
likewise, the spiritual perceptions of mankind which has grown from the
depths of savagery and through the maze of intolerance, <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb86" href="#pb86" name="pb86">86</SPAN>]</span>dogmas
and schisms, will go onward in its evolution and perhaps our posterity
will at last penetrate the mystic veil and see the
light,—God.<span class="corr" id="xd22e1209" title=
"Not in source">”</span></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1941</h3>
<h3 class="main">The Birthday Anniversary of Noted Centenarians</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">“Lithia Bingham,” “Young Dr.
Bray” and “Sister Eddy” received the homage and
congratulations of millions of their admirers, on their hundred and
fiftieth birthday anniversary.</p>
<p class="par">The remarkable longevity of this trio of Methuselahs was
attributed, in the case of the two first mentioned, to their own
“cure all” concoctions, and the last, to her scientific
revelation of thinking that, there is no such thing as pain or
death!</p>
<p class="par">“In closing this review of historical
events,” said the Professor looking around the auditorium,
“there are a few other important happenings that bring us to the
present decade.</p>
<p class="par"><span class="corr" id="xd22e1224" title=
"Not in source">“</span>The remarkable decadence of Germany under
a Socialistic regime, a doctrine, that although theoretically seems to
be so desirably altruistic, convincing, and in poetry sounds so well,
but in practise has proved to be <span class="corr" id="xd22e1227"
title="Source: determental">detrimental</span> to a <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb87" href="#pb87" name="pb87">87</SPAN>]</span>life of
strenuous efforts, and suicidal to individual
ambitions—conditions which are eminently essential to growing and
prosperous communities.</p>
<p class="par"><span class="corr" id="xd22e1233" title=
"Not in source">“</span>The consequent exodus of Teutons to other
parts of the world that promised freedom to independent action.</p>
<p class="par"><span class="corr" id="xd22e1237" title=
"Not in source">“</span>The political union of Spain and
Portugal.</p>
<p class="par"><span class="corr" id="xd22e1241" title=
"Not in source">“</span>The re-conquest by France of Alsace
Lorain.</p>
<p class="par"><span class="corr" id="xd22e1245" title=
"Not in source">“</span>The puerile uprising by a section of
Irish people against England are still fresh in our memory—and to
which most of you have been eye-witnesses—are some of the events
worthy of record.”</p>
<p class="par">Here the Professor, after a pause, changed his subject
to future possibilities and, presenting to the class in eloquent words
a glowing, optimistic picture of conditions for future generations,
brought his discussion to a close. When he stepped down from the
rostrum he was at once surrounded by the entire class and was tendered
an impromptu but agreeable reception. <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name=
"pb88" href="#pb88" name="pb88">88</SPAN>]</span></p>
</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div id="ch7" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#xd22e247">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />
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