NINETEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III 183 



Now we come to my age, the age in which I was born. I was born just 

 between two great periods. My youth was amidst the echoes of the 

 Civil War; and in my middle age 1 have heard the reverberations of this 

 mightiest conflict. I belong to this middle generation, that generation 

 born since the civil war and yet too old to take a fighting part in the 

 world war. Following the close of the Civil War there were here in the 

 North the free men who had cemented the unity of America, and there 

 was a continent to be exploited. Thirty-five million acres in Iowa, with 

 very little of it farmed at that time — wonderful, fertile Iowa, almost 

 primeval lands, and so the soldiers came out of the armies to spread over 

 the prairie. That was the significant event that followed the Civil War 

 period. 



Then came the scientific era. Think- what has happened in my life- 

 time! In 1869 the first transcontinental railway wended its way from 

 coast to coast; in 1871, I believe it was, the first ocean cable was laid, 

 bringing the news of the world to the breakfast table; in 1875, thru the 

 genius of an Edison, humanity emerged from the gloom of the candle and 

 touching a button this unseen energy illuminated your home from cellar to 

 garret and stood poised the instant servant of humanity. In 1877 came 

 Holland's submarine, the puny but unquestioned parent of the wonderful 

 U-boat, with a cruising radius of ten thousand miles. That was in '77. 

 And then followed the internal combustion engine, with its tremendous 

 possibilities. It made possible the automobile, and taught humanity to 

 hitch its wagon to a star, to launch it in the path of the storm. Then came 

 Marooni and his wireless, and the cries of those in peril on the deep 

 could be heard across the expanse of the seas. And then came the dread- 

 naughts, frowning .citadels of Mars, grim floating fortresses, built to ex- 

 press the will of a nation in the thunder of their mighty guns. Again, 

 take as an illustration the power-plant at Keokuk, where they have gath- 

 ered and harnessed for the use of humanity the power of 250,000 horses, 

 the thunder of their hoofs transformed into the crash and roar of giant 

 turbine engines, their silken sides become the thousand glistening shafts, 

 their neigh changed to singing the song of contented industry. Walk up 

 the canyon of Broadway in New York City and see those sky-scrapers! 

 To me they are not just stone and metal, they are an expression and sym- 

 l)ol of the spirit of America, searching into the skies for an expression of 

 its v/ill. This is the great thing that has come about — the scientific era, 

 and with it have come the captains of industry, men who but yesterday 

 were workmen, and today are leaders of giant forces and personality. 



There came the development of our railways, until we have today 300,- 

 000 miles of these steel ribbons serving the needs of the people. I tell 

 you, gentlemen, the spirit of America was expressed in these things, and 

 we took great pride in them, but we became intoxicated with seeing the 

 wheels go round, and that intoxication was eating into the heart of our 

 people. Now, why do I say tha:t? For this reason, that when the war be- 

 gan in 1914, we were willing to see the invasion of Belgium going on over 

 there without a protest; we were willing, most of us, to answer Yes to 

 the statement that we had no interest in the sources of that great con- 

 flict; we said we were "too proud to fight". The nation as a whole re- 



