This revelation of the inner meaning of what was thought highest in modern education was due to the fact that German universities and schools were state institutions and faculties felt compelled to support government. The value of academic freedom was realized as never before, though it was pathetic to see that great mental attainments proved insufficient to give that independence of judgment which might be expected pf men looked up to as leaders of the intellectual life of Europe. The tendency to set success in life as the principal goal of education was unveiled. The incidents led to a review of the reasons for German prominence in education and its definite elimi nation. At the end of the war Germany had lost not only her position in world affairs but above all her primacy in the academic world.
An even severer blow to the prestige of university teaching was the discovery that aca demic chairs had been made pulpits for the spread of the doctrines which animated the Central Powers during the war and which proved a shock to the rest of the world. The struggle for life had been taken in a very lit eral non-Darwinian sense as the order of tilt universe in securing the survival of the fittest. This was particularly applied to international affairs and charity and justice were supposed to be things apart from national aggrandisement. The three great apostles of these teachings, which had not been taken quite seriously out side of Germany but deeply influenced German academic minds, were Nietzsche, Treitschke and Bernhardi. Nietzsche, with some mental dis turbance from early adult life, spent many years before his death in an insane asylum. In a series of books he supplied pan-Germanism with a basic philosophy. A typical expression was, °Te say it is the good cause which hal loweth even war, I say unto you it is the good war which halloweth every cause.' War and courage have done more great things than charity.' Instead of the Christian law of char ity Nietzsche proclaimed °this new command ment which I give you, Oh my brethren, Be ye hard.' Treitschke was a professor of history at the University of Berlin attracting large audiences by the spell of his eloquence. The basic principle of his philosophy of history was that a state is not subject to the moral law. Its only policy is expediency and even its treat ies bind only so long as it is advantageous to keep them. state cannot bind its will for the future as against another state. A state has no superior judge over itself and it will con clude all its treaties with this tacit reservation.' Bernhardi, much read in Germany, was scarcely known in other countries, for his teaching seemed too contradictory of accepted principles to be taken seriously. It was the culmination of the philosophy of Nietzsche and the philos ophy of history of Treitschke as applied to the 20th century situation. Bernhardi hailed war as the greatest good. Nature wanted the sur vival of the fittest and war brought that about. °Might is at once the supreme right and the dispute as to what is right is decided by the arbitrament of war. War gives a biologically just decision since its decisions rest on the very nature of things.' The materialistic philosophy of the later 19th century had run itself out to its legitimate conclusions and a great educated people proceeded to apply those conclusions and the world then had to take them seriously.
The literary output of the century was mainly notable for its lack of serious signifi cance. There was never so much reading in the history of humanity and books sold as never before and never so much attendance at plays and never so much money made by novelists and dramatists, but there is more than a serious doubt as to the enduring literary value of any thing written in the century. The war stimu lated some young poets °whose souls were touched by flame in the trenches' to flights of song higher than for a generation, but even with the stimulus of war nothing has been writ ten that is taken seriously as great poetry and great literature. Reading has become very
largely a recreation, attendance at the theatre to a great extent a dissipation of mind and seri ous thoughts are not welcomed. Large collec tions of books are available for all those who wish to make use of them but three out of four of the volumes taken from the libraries are of fiction, just as about the same proportion of the theatres are filled with audiences intent on light musical comedy. Great museums are visited by discouragingly few people, one in 10 or less of the population goes once a year, and popular education seems to have resulted largely in the cult of the trivial.
The 20th century was a period of enterpris ing invention and adventurous discovery. After years of effort the North Pole was reached by Peary 6 April 1909, and only two years later the South Pole was reached by Amundsen 16 Dec. 1911. He preceded Scott with a British expedition by but a few weeks. Wireless teleg raphy became a means of communication even to the antipodes, invaluable for ships at sea, saving many lives; wireless telephony became an actuality. The triumph in invention was the solution of the problem of flying by the Wright Brothers in America. The Great War brought intensive development of aviation so that just after the war (1919) transoceanic flight was not a surprise. Facility of communication pro gressed, annihilating distance. Men developed ever so much greater power to use physical re sources. There was some question whether the mental side of. humanity was not pushed into the background by this. Rodin, the French sculptor, said that the telephone represented man's ear, stretched out to hear a thousand miles; the fast express train was a lengthening of his legs to get over ground as if with °seven league boots'; as man's mind remained the same, exaggeration of the body without corre sponding mental development made a monster of him. During the Great War the applications of science added immensely to destruction and to the toll of human lives and suffering de manded by the struggle. Man's material prog ress proved as potent for ill as for good.
The world figure of the first two decades of this century is Theodore Roosevelt, born of an old Dutch family with a Celtic strain of which he was proud. He won back seriously threatened health by years of ranching in the West to be robust and vigorous, and developed into a man of broad views who in every posi. tion looked to the general good rather than that of any faction despite what might be the result for his own career. The Spanish-American War brought him into national prominence; elected governor of New York and then Vice President for McKinley's second term, the as sassin's bullet made him President at a moment when the °big interests' were in control of our politics. He set himself to oppose them for the benefit of the people, and while the advo cates of special privilege roused opposition to him he became the most popular individual in the United States. Under his leadership the Progressives became a great factor in politics. His activity in bringing about the peace con ference between Russia and Japan and the value of his influence in securing the acceptance of peace conditions made him a world figure. He put aside a third successive term as Presi dent though he might have argued that his first incomplete term did not bring him under the traditional restriction and there seems no doubt that he could have been President again. When the reactionary movement gained the upper hand he brought the defeat of President Taft and came to be looked upon as the most strik ing personality in the country whose opinions were considered as always thoroughly repre sentative of the best interests of the whole people. At the beginning of the war he of fered to organize and lead a division on the Western front. His four sons were prominent in the war. He died suddenly 6 Jan. 1919, re gretted by all his fellow-countrymen even by those who had not followed his leadership.