HISTORICAL EVENTS OF THE 20TH CENTURY
The senior class of the Diana Seminary were assembled in the
auditorium, listening in a trance of respectful attention to Professor
Cielo Allenson. He had just begun his review of the historical events
of the 20th Century, now and then giving his individual comments upon
the subjects presented.
1900
An Era of False Prosperity
With the beginning of the 20th Century was inaugurated an era of false
prosperity. The Census Bureau at that time furnishes statistics and
comments upon the wonderfully perceptible decrease of the criminal
classes, called foot-pads, sneak thieves and highwaymen, which
was attributed chiefly to the existing national prosperity. It
overlooks the fact, however, that a new species of miscreants,
comparatively more dangerous, had begun to thrive like mushrooms in
prolific numbers,--that of so-called commercial brigands or financial
buccaneers who, under fascinating and attractive names, such as mining
syndicates with their fabulous deposits of gold, offering bucketfuls
of shares for a dime; banking and building loan associations, with
palatial homes thrown in gratis to every subscriber; promoters of
illusionary inventions, seeking shareholders, which would make them
millionaires in the twinkling of an eye.
Alchemists who, with their artful empyrics of legerdemain, transmuted
base metals into gold, and were willing to dispose of their precious
wares for pennies; Wall Street and race-track spiders posing as
benevolent philanthropists, scattering fortunes right and left to
every applicant, sapped the avaricious, sottish public of its dearly
bought earnings. Strange to say, despite many colossal exposures and
failures, as these adroit swindlers grew more subtle and audacious,
the more the gambling-crazed public rushed to their destruction.
The effect was appalling. In consequence of the depredations of these
pirates of industries, the reputable business and financial firms were
the greatest sufferers. Their legitimate transactions were paralyzed
to such a tremendous degree that they were compelled to devise ways
and means to counteract its evils. In 1908, after mature deliberation
at a general convention in Washington, it was decided to raise ample
funds and create a bureau under the auspices of the Federal Government
called the Bureau of Frauds and Swindles. The duties imposed upon
its officers were the ferreting out and prosecuting of the wild-cat
schemes and to warn the public against them.
The measure, being approved by the National Government, had the
desired effect of freeing to a great degree the financial world
from its parasites of industrial malefactors, and to some extent
established again the stability and integrity of honorable financiers,
in the meanwhile safeguarding foolish persons from being fleeced out
of their savings.
1902
The Cataclysm at Martinique
St. Pierre, Martinique, was destroyed by a volcanic eruption of Mount
Peleé, on the eighth day of May. In a few minutes more than thirty
thousand human beings were hurled into eternity.
1908
The Mormon Question
The anti-plural wives laws were enforced to the letter. Its emphatic
application to all members of the sect was brought about principally
by the Women's Clubs, whose persistent and overwhelming aggressiveness
played an important factor in the stamping out of this demoralizing and
materialistic religion. In this era of civilization the existence of
a religious organization of this character, like a cancerous growth,
was threatening to debase womanhood and lead the communities to
unbridled licentiousness.
1909
Capital and Labor
Every new movement, be it religious, political or economic, has its
birth like a volcano, and unionism was no exception to this rule. The
labor unions at first had their violent agitators who, possessing
greater physical than mental calibre, laid the crude foundation of
a force in an arbitrary manner that consequently had its gradual
evolution of development.
Their constant conflicts with capital were characterized by an
unreasonable amount of physical argument which resulted in more or
less disastrous denouements, but these very acts of lawlessness and
disturbances awakened a third party, the consumers in general, who
were equally affected by the disturbances between capital and labor
and brought about a realization of the true relative positions.
Labor certainly has its unalienable rights and was entitled to due
consideration and justice. However, like the negative and positive
poles of electricity, which are both essential in order that a circuit
of effective force be generated, capital and labor likewise had their
dual relative values of importance, without which there could be no
constancy of harmonious production.
By the gradual awakening of both capital and labor to their
true limitations, the questions involved began to assume a more
intelligent basis under the codes of arbitration. At the same time
the violent agitators of labor were succeeded in the trend of this
onward development by more intelligent organizers. These latter were
merged into accomplished, rational leaders and, through the efficient
medium of the ballot box, into national representatives. Consequently,
the more dignified, orderly and responsible labor became, the more
the workers became entitled to the benefits of their labor.
A Department of Capital and Labor which, so far, had been merely
probationary now became a permanent institution at the Capitol and
in every State of the Union as well.
1910
The Expense of Living
It is one of the strangest inconsistencies of social problems, that
although political economists and scholars have preached the doctrine,
that inventions and improved methods in mechanical lines contribute
to the blessings of mankind by cheapening the necessities of life,
yet in spite of their plausible declarations, the cost of living
year by year grew higher and higher, entailing untold suffering and
despair among the poorer classes.
The cause of this lamentable perversion was due to a certain clique
of unscrupulous progeny of Mammon, called trusts and corporations,
who, being blinded with an insatiable desire for pelf and lust, and
stupefied with a frenzied avarice, monopolized all the necessities
of life. The vast occidental domain of our country was of unlimited
resources and was capable of producing in abundance the products which
they "cornered." The modus operandi of their rapacious operations
were manifold. They limited the output of Nature's bounty in order to
keep them at prohibitive values, and at the same time deprived hosts
of sons of toil of earning their livelihood. They kept at their
inoperative mercy--by their abominable tactics of purchase--the
producer from receiving his just share, and they also mulcted the
helpless consumer by the unlimited inflation of their capital stock
and fictitious expenses until at length the burden of their avarice
became unendurable.
Although attempts have repeatedly been made by sincere executives of
the Nation, by the advocation of measures for curbing the rapacity
of these trusts, their endeavors met with failure on account of the
vague and flexible laws already in existence, and by the array of
sycophantic traitors in high circles who prevented any legislation
which was conducive to the tranquility and welfare of the masses. At
last, only after a series of sanguinary demonstrations by the people
which almost endangered the stability of the republic, they were
compelled to yield.
By the passage of clearly defined laws the career of their nefarious
system of spoliation was brought to an end. One of the most efficacious
laws passed was the creation of a body of competent men of supreme
power who appraised approximately the capitalization of these
concerns and licensed them as such under oath. The States in the
meantime assumed the power of fixing a maximum value for which their
commodities might be placed on the market. By the above legislations
the inflation of their capital and extortion from the consumer were
made securely impossible.
1911
Death of an Eminent Scholar
Professor Henry Richfield, a profound scholar, and the author of
"How to Get Rich"--a ponderous work in twelve octavo volumes--passed
away in an attic, in abject penury and squalor.
1912
The Annihilation of Mosquitoes
Although the mortality statistics in the United States for last year
reached the round number of two million persons from various diseases,
among them chiefly from consumption, pneumonia, typhoid fever and
epidemics of smallpox and diphtheria, a few sporadic cases of death
were recorded resulting from mosquito bites, which gave grave concern
to the medical fraternity.
The outcome of this alarm was the calling of a general conference
of bacteriological experts. The mosquito, that had hitherto enjoyed
unbridled freedom since the creation of his race, was now looked upon
as the arch enemy of mankind. A noted philanthropist, interested in oil
wells and having on hand a great bulk of unmarketable crude petroleum,
donated a large sum for research in order to discover ways and means
of curbing the ravages of these nefarious pests which threatened the
annihilation of the human race.
It was decided by the savants, that the distribution of crude petroleum
in stagnant pools and humid marshes, was the only effective method
for the extermination of mosquito life. The distribution of greenbacks
for their valuable services, (notwithstanding the fact that under the
microscope they were found to contain two hundred and fifty-seven
diseases and thirty-eight million microbes to the square inch),
were grabbed with unprecedented avidity by these same specialists.
1913
Child Labor
The dwarfing and crippling of the mental, moral and physical
growth of tender children, by the avaricious employers, and its
baleful consequence of peopling the community with moral and bodily
degenerates, devoid of the desirable elements of good citizenship,
had become so appallingly flagrant that a general sentiment of the
people was aroused in a mighty protest to the Federal authorities.
Thanks to the aggressive and strenuous legislative warfare of Labor
Unions in every State, aided by the persistent moral agitation of
Women's Clubs all over the country, child labor was entirely abolished
in many channels of industries, such as mills, factories, collieries
and plantations. In more gentle occupations the employment of minors,
was placed on a healthier and more humane basis than had ever before
been the case.
1914
The Great Radium Swindle
The fabulously high price of this metal had awakened the cupidity of
a coterie of adroit schemers who, had palmed off on unsuspecting men
of science, a rank substitute which cost only a trifle to manufacture.
After securing an enormous sum of money, the schemers had decamped
to parts unknown.
It was discovered that the spurious metal thus disposed was nothing
more than a highly compressed form of phosphorous.
1915
Death of an Eminent Physician
Dr. Wisehardt, the brilliant young physician and surgeon who discovered
the electro-magnetic germ-cells of life, and invented methods to
prolong life itself by the cultivation of these cells, died in the
27th year of his age from premature senility.
1916
A Tidal Wave
The most memorable event of this year was a gigantic tidal wave of
tremendous height, which swept over the lower coast of Florida. In
a few minutes it inundated and destroyed a vast area of the coast,
doing incalculable damage to shipping. It was estimated that nearly
fifteen thousand persons lost their lives in this cataclysm.
1917
War Between United States and Columbia
The stubborn attitude of the Central American Republic, Columbia,
towards the United States, by her menacing antagonism to the
construction of the interoceanic canal, gradually created a breach
of the peace that led ultimately to a forcible demonstration by the
United States, and precipitated the invasion by the latter of the
Republic of Panama.
Peace was re-established after a crushing defeat of the Columbians. The
famous waterway, the Republic of Panama, then became United States
territory, by annexation.
1918
The Women's Clubs
The Women's Clubs which, during their first inception, were the subject
of much ridicule, and the proceedings of their meetings a theme for
ribald jokes in the secular press, gradually developed into such
gigantic proportions that their influence became a powerful factor in
every public question of the day, and in fact so continues unabated
unto this day.
The last Federal statistics show more than two thousand Institutions
in the form of sanitariums, refuges, technical schools of practical
utility, entirely under the auspices of Club Women. The constitutions
of these laudable organizations "invariably stand for something which
is ennobling" and their achievements are monumental tributes to the
upward trend of womanhood.
There was, however, a crucial period in their affairs worth
mentioning. Some of these noble but over-zealous women of that period,
in their exuberant enthusiasm for woman's rights, forgetting the
limitations of their sex,--considered by the greatest thinkers of
the past ages to be the sphere of Home,--agitated a propaganda of
political equality or suffrage and, from time to time, created a
stir among their organizations until at last, in 1918, the National
Federation of Women's Clubs decided to hold a conclave in order to
decide the following momentous question: "Should Women Enter Politics?"
More than four thousand five hundred delegates from all over
the Union assembled at Madison Square Garden, in New York
City. Sympathizers of the suffragists with their eloquence tried to
railroad through a measure in their behalf, but equally able leaders
of the opposition--benefitted by the warning of Sages--succeeded in
counterbalancing the efforts of their fair antagonists.
After a heated symposium the question was put to a vote, which resulted
decisively in a victory for those who opposed the movement. It
was further voted, that they should confine all their energies to
civic, educational and humanitarian channels and things pertaining
to Home. This was a most happy and wise decision, for the world at
large needs mothers who will beget and nurse a Florence Nightingale,
a Clara Barton, a Washington or a Lincoln, rather than mothers who
would become a Jezebel, a Delilah or a Cleopatra.
1919
The Tornado
A cyclonic tornado of intense velocity and destructive force struck New
York City, demolishing in its path, in the shape of a semi-circle from
the Battery to Twenty-third Street, West, two hundred and seventy-five
buildings. Fortunately, the day being a holiday, the loss of life
was comparatively small.
1920
The Power of the Press
Through emancipation from its shackles of monarchic censorship and
subserviency to despotic masters, the upward rise of the Press to
usefulness and power was without a parallel--a power to which even
Napoleon Bonaparte was sensible when he said, "I fear three newspapers
more than a hundred thousand bayonets." But like everything else
in the universe, the Press also had its dual potentiality. Like a
two-edged sword, it could be wielded for good or evil. In the bands
of an unscrupulous politician it was a treacherous weapon, while in
the control of the righteous citizen a tremendous power for good.
Thus the Press for many decades, subsidized by the traitorous
capitalist and under the guise of a pious mask, catered to the evil
designs of the plutocracy until the gradual awakening of the people
through the independent press at last understood their hypocrisy.
The independent press, however, attained its highest degree of
efficiency by the establishment of the College of Journalism. Its
foundation slogan, publicity on all political and economic questions,
had created a force of trained journalists--a force "mightier than the
sword" and in a manner far more penetrating than the X-ray--pledged
to defend the rights of the citizens. By an educational propaganda it
taught the masses how to eradicate existing evils by the mere exercise
of their unalienable right, the ballot box. Indeed in a government
"of the people, for the people and by the people," resort to force or
revolution was absolutely unnecessary, while these two most effectual
weapons the world had ever seen, the voting power and the free press,
were at their command.
1921
Balloons and Airships
Strange to say, from the time of Archytas of Tarantum to Otto
Lilienthal, and from Montgolfier Bros. to Santos Dumont, Bell, Maxim
and Langley, very little or no progress had been made in practical
and safe aerial navigation.
Though all these inventors, whether cranks with a smattering of
mechanical knowledge, or veritable savants and scientists, efficient
in physics according to their own accounts, had studied the subject
of aerial flight from the fowls of the air, the failure of their
experiments showed that they were far from grasping the mysteries of
that subtle sagacity and subconsciousness of the birds, by which they
balanced themselves against the currents and velocity of the winds,
and by their intuitive sensitiveness, utilized to the fullest extent
their vast number of muscles and feathers with such marvelous subtlety.
Like the Italian alchemist in the middle ages, who had constructed the
wings of his flying machine with feathers gathered from a dunghill,
and who, when attempting to fly, had found himself dumped, by a strange
sympathetic affinity, on the very dunghill from which he had gathered
the feathers, the efforts likewise, of these illustrious experimenters
were crowned by successful failures, by a similar force of attraction,
their apparatus either alighting on the branches of trees, or diving
into the waters like ducks.
At the beginning of the 20th Century, the consensus of scientific
opinion had reached the conclusion, that the successful flying
machine of the future would be one, which would be heavier than air
and with either a very small balloon or none at all. The various forms
of balloons and flying craft, exhibited at the St. Louis exposition
became an incentive for renewed efforts by scientists to solve the
problem of aerial flight and continued with unremitting zest for
nearly a quarter of a century.
It was in the early part of 1919 that the science of aeronautics
was radically improved by the discovery of a process for hardening
and soldering of Aluminum, by which comparatively light but strong
framework and machinery were constructed, and thus gradually the
elimination of inflated balloons had become possible.
1922
The Flood in Mississippi Valley
In the spring of this year the Mississippi Valley was flooded and
submerged by terrible cloudbursts which, combined with melting of
snows on the mountains, and subsequent bursting of dams and levees,
devastated a vast area. According to records the lives lost in the
inundated districts reached the total of sixty thousand.
1923
Uniform Divorce Laws
The unprecedented increase of divorces all over the United States
and the attendant scandalous proceedings at the courts had reached
such a maximum, and its baneful influence on the public morals had
developed into such a point of danger that, a great awakening among
the clergy and lawmakers of the nation was the result. At a conclave of
representatives of the legal profession from every State in the Union,
was promulgated a uniform divorce law for the United States of America.
1924
The Zionist Movement or The Bursting of the Zion Bubble
The Zionist movement which for thirty years past gained more than
two million converts and within that period had collected more than
fifteen million dollars, was declared impracticable and illusionary!
The estimable originators of this sentimental movement, Herzl, Nordau,
Zangwill and others, although beyond the shadow of a doubt sincere and
well-meaning, through the intensity of their zeal for the amelioration
of their less fortunate brethren, were entirely blindfolded to the
intricacies of politics and the eventful history of the Jewish race,
from an ethnological and psychological point of view.
Some of these true yet misguided philanthropists had passed away
and other leaders, less impressed with the object of the society,
had taken their places. As the Jews are not a pioneer race, the
magnanimous scheme of the British government to place them upon a
tract of virgin soil at Uganda, in Central Africa, for the purpose of
colonization proved chaotic failure, on account of both sociological
and economic reasons.
The idea also of establishing a Jewish principality in Palestine,
under an absolutely despotic and semi-barbarous government--which
butchered her subjects ad libitum--was so ridiculous in the extreme,
that the questions had become the laughing stock at the political
sanctus sanctorums of various governments.
In 1923 a tremendous agitation was brought about by the leaders of
the opposition, and those in power of the movement were challenged to
public debate. The question grew to such proportions that it became
a subject for discussion in every orthodox and gentile pulpit In the
press, sociologists, ethnologists and anthropologists took part in
the ephemeral arena and analyzed every phase of the subject, relating
to the Hebrew race and the Zionist movement, laying bare every fact
without reserve.
It was stated by the opposition that though a stream of money had
been pouring in from every quarter of the globe year after year, for
the cause, no result as yet had been obtained, that great sums had
been spent in salaries of the officials and at the dilly-dallying,
corrupt courts of the Turkish Sultan.
A learned sociologist likened the Hebrews to a parasitic plant,
which derived its existence from the living sap of another. "An
Israelite" he declared, "can only exist favorably amongst civilized
centres of Christian and gentile communities; that whenever a colony
of Hebrews were isolated by themselves, they would inevitably and
gradually retrograde, impoverish and at last form a ghetto of misery
and squalor."
Another ethnologist of repute expounded the fact, that the Jews
were the life and essence of commercial activity and consequently
formed an integral part of a prosperous commonwealth. Sublimely
industrious, instinctively provident and economical by nature, the
Jews were persecuted because of their inherent virtues. He proved
by clever historical documents, that their expulsion from Babylon,
Egypt, Spain, Russia or wherever their rights were abrogated, were
the fundamental causes of the decadence of these countries from which
they were expelled.
Others accused the Hebrews of perverting the Golden Rule, of taking
advantage of others by their inborn instinct of commercial sagacity,
which well nigh approached unscrupulousness and that, being a mere
commercial people, their patriotism could well be challenged. Many
others advised, however, a propaganda of judicious assimilation of
the Israelite with the Christians, contending that the sum total
of their virtues and faults was the same as that of their Christian
brethren. Meanwhile they advised the Jews that "wherever they lived
they ought to make there, their Zions and temples."
After much heated argument and discussion which occupied several days,
they at last arrived at the conclusion that the Zionist movement
was chimerical! The balance of the funds amounting to many million
dollars were voted for the establishment of technical and commercial
schools for Israelites and for a fund to aid the judicious emigration
of the Jews from ill-favored and congested districts to more favorable
localities.
1925-26
The Anglo-American Alliance
The Anglo-American Alliance, by which these two foremost nations of
the earth were brought into a happy, fraternal union, and for the
achievement of which for nearly a quarter of a century there had been
a great effort, in this year had become an accomplished fact!
It was celebrated in a manner unprecedented in the annals of the
World's history. Having a profound and far reaching effect, it became
an ultimatum for other nations to keep the peace, and goaded them
toward the adoption of similar laws, in order to secure the same
reciprocal blessings of universal brotherhood.
Much credit was due to that eminent English statesman, now Lord
Cunningham, through whose tactful diplomacy this long-sought
commercial, social, offensive and defensive alliance became a
reality. "I am restrained," said the Professor, looking in the
direction of Aurora Cunningham, "to avoid eulogizing him as he justly
deserves, for obvious reasons."
At this sentence the students, under the impulse of a sudden
admiration, arose to their feet en masse, and, glancing smilingly at
Aurora, began rapturously to clap their hands.
This interruption of sympathetic appreciation was brought to a close,
by a ringing cry of the Seminary yell: "Dee, Dee, Ya, Ya, Na, Na,
Diana. Hurrah! Hurrah!! Hurrah!!!"
Aurora, blushing deeply, gracefully bowed her acknowledgement and in
due form the class was dismissed for the day.