New Conditions Through Rapid Transportation
CONDITIONS are met in the world now, not only in war but in other directions as well, that are new to this generation. The fleetest means of transportation in the generations that have gone before have been the horse on land and the sailboat on sea; but the railroad, the telegraph, and the steamship have brought the world together in such a way that new problems are presenting themselves. The history of the past is not therefore a criterion by which we may judge the outcome of conditions now confronting us. As an illustration of this, we may refer to an article from a war correspondent who tells us of conditions brought about through the rapid mobilization of Russian troops, which made it necessary for overwhelming forces to be brought quickly against them. Therefore, the order was given for men to be removed from the battle line in Belgium and France to the eastern scene of war; and inside of two weeks' time 1,200,000 soldiers, with all their war equipment, were taken the whole distance of that one thousand miles, and were ready to engage their enemy on the eastern battle-field. It would have taken Napoleon, with all of his military genius, months and months to make such a change in his battle lines; but here it is done in just two short weeks. In fact, the largest army that Napoleon ever raised consisted of about 375,000 men. This rapid communication of course was made possible in part by the telegraph, which could send messages in a moment of time from general to general, and could order equipment as well as men and transportation facilities to be concentrated at given points. These means of rapid transportation not only afford the facilities for moving men from place to place, but in like manner, seditions, discontents, and causes for strife and unrest may be spread broadcast. Thus things that ordinarily should be a great blessing to humanity, enter as mighty factors into the problems that confront us. There is no denying the fact that the world is filled with unrest and turmoil. It is so in every nation. The masses of the people are dissatisfied. They are demanding changes, and are threatening revolutions, and there is no quiet place on any corner of the globe to which we may flee as a haven of rest or safety. The causes of strife and discontent in one nation are communicated in a few hours to the other nations of the earth, and the contagion spreads like smallpox or any other physical disease. We may close our eyes to the indubitable evidence, and try to make ourselves feel secure and safe; but we are obliged to acknowledge that the facts and the conditions and the problems of this time, while they are in principle the same with which men have grappled all through the centuries, are no longer neighborhood affairs, but are international perils. Heretofore one neighborhood might have some special trouble, and other neighborhoods not only be free from it but oblivious to it. But now whatever breaks out in one locality is liable to spread everywhere; and while facilities are so admirable for spreading the good things of this age, they nevertheless are used with mighty power by his satanic majesty in spreading the evil.