If you are not one of the ten million Americans who have already read the\u00a0article entitled “How a Democracy Died” in Life magazine for January 1, I recommend\u00a0that you read it at once — not just skim it, but read it thoroughly and\u00a0carefully. I will venture the guess that too many of Life’s readers, as soon as\u00a0they discovered that the article dealt with Greek states that went out of existence\u00a0more than 2,000 years ago, never read the article at all. But I assure you\u00a0it is not only worth reading; it should make every intelligent American sit up\u00a0and take notice. For what happened to Athens in the fifth century before Christ\u00a0can happen to the united States in <\/em>the twentieth century.<\/p>\n “We know”, says the author of the Life article, “that history does not consist\u00a0of a series of pat and perfect analogies.” Yet by merely telling the story\u00a0of the annihilating war between Athens and Sparta, he reveals all too clearly\u00a0that the conditions which underlay the destruction of the great Athenian state\u00a0are the very conditions which confront America today.<\/p>\n It has now become a very trite saying that the only lesson taught by history\u00a0is that it teaches no lesson. Men simply refuse to heed the warnings flashed by\u00a0previous events. Yet it is never too late to keep trying, and Life has done a\u00a0distinct, patriotic service in bringing to the attention of its huge reading public <\/em>this obvious warning from history. What is that warning?<\/p>\n Just as today all the world seems at the mercy of two great powers, seeming\u00a0with every passing day more and more likely to fight each other, so in the fifth\u00a0century B. C. the Mediterranean World was at the mercy of Athens and Sparta, two\u00a0states drawing nearer and nearer to war. Only a short time earlier the two Greek\u00a0states had been allies <\/em>to stop the Persian invasion, just as the two great contending\u00a0powers today were once allied to stop the Nazi <\/em>menace.\u00a0sparta was a dictatorial, military state, afraid of the spread of democratic\u00a0institutions, and determined to stop them by force. Athens was the world’s\u00a0first democracy, interested more in the expansion of trade than in military might.<\/p>\n She had no imperial ambitions; she wanted only to live and let live.\u00a0But the menace of militaristic Sparta grew greater and greater. The alliance\u00a0that had defeated the Persians broke up, and Sparta began to draw about her a\u00a0group of satellite and dependent states. To meet this threat Athens formed her\u00a0friendly states into the Delian League — a sort of fore-runner of the Atlantic\u00a0Pact. Now many of these Athenian friends did not want war even to ward off a\u00a0Spartan attack. They wanted to conduct their own affairs in peace. But the expansion\u00a0of Athenian interests had gone too far to retreat. The frontier was no\u00a0longer the Grecian shore-line, but far distant islands in the vast Mediterranean.\u00a0Her economic life and her democratic ideals had a stake in lands far away from\u00a0home. Doesn’t that sound familiar?<\/p>\n The war which was to destroy Athens did not begin between her and Sparta. It\u00a0too had its Korea. In the little distant colony of Spidamnus revolution broke\u00a0out, one side supported by Corinth, a satellite of Sparta, the other side aided by\u00a0Corcyra, an ally of Athens. The Athenian interests won, and were again victorious\u00a0in a similar revolution at Potidaea. Sparta was now determined to take things\u00a0out of the hands of its satellites and fight Athens to a finish.<\/p>\n Then Athens faced the problem that always faces a peaceful democracy of great\u00a0power. First, not being militaristic, she had no great army like Sparta’s, but\u00a0being a trading people, she did control the sea. Second, Athens had to pay the\u00a0price of power, and that price is the distrust of lesser, friendly states. Again\u00a0and again in history the smaller nations have stood in fear, sometimes turned to\u00a0hatred, of the big nation that befriends them. So proud was Athens of its own\u00a0justly renowned democratic institutions that it forgot that not all the different\u00a0peoples of the world might equally respect and revere those institutions. Third,\u00a0it sbnply could not conceive the possibility of defeat. Athenians had always\u00a0won; they always would.<\/p>\n In light of that kind of situation, fear building upon fear, but paradoxically\u00a0surmounted by unreasonable over-confidence, it should not surprise us that\u00a0Athens, not Sparta, made the first outright attack. She decided to destroy the\u00a0Spartan colony of Syracuse in Sicily, 400 miles away from Athens. The attempt\u00a0met with ignominious defeat. But there was still the great Athenian navy. It\u00a0could still lick the whole maritime world in the opinion of all good Athenians.<\/p>\n Then, one terrible day, in the Hellespont, not far from Istanbul in modern Turkey,\u00a0the Spartans by superior stratagem wiped out the whole Athenian fleet.\u00a0Blockaded now by land and sea, Athens was slowly reduced to starvation. She\u00a0could do nothing but yield. The Athenian democracy was over; it was the beginning\u00a0of the death of Greece.<\/p>\n Now, I beg you, read the whole article in Life magazine for yourself. And\u00a0after you have read it, think about it.<\/p>\n Let us turn now to some thoughts not quite so sober and alaDming. Let us\u00a0take a look at a few more of those items scattered through the 309 issues of the\u00a0first volume of the Waterville Evening Mail in 1896. The first issue of the Mail,\u00a0as a daily, appeared on January 29 of that year. Its first editorial said: “The\u00a0waterville Evening Mail hereby puts out its hand in greeting to the public, in the\u00a0hope that it may speedily become the public’s good friend, esteemed and valued for\u00a0its sterling quality. The purpose is to give Waterville and the other prosperous\u00a0towns of central Maine an evening paper interesting to its readers and servicable\u00a0to the c01lDll\\lni ties it represents.”<\/p>\n One of waterville’s leading merchants, David Gallert, lined himself up with\u00a0the new paper in this movement of progress. His ad on page one said: “Progress\u00a0in the front rank. The old Mail tells now the news eve:r:y day. And every day from\u00a0now on the oldest Dry Goods House in Waterville, that of David Gallert, noted\u00a0for its fair dealings, will tell Kennebec and Somerset customers something reliable.”\u00a0If anyone thinks college students are destructive in their pranks today, he\u00a0ought to read the Mail of half a century ago. On February 3, 1896 the Mail carried\u00a0this i tam:<\/p>\n “Saturday night, when the juniors and freshmen returned from their banquet\u00a0at Hager’s, they found the north end of South College — that, by the way, is the\u00a0section in which I lived for three years as a student, but some years later than\u00a01896 securely barricaded and a wily soph at every window with a pail of water.\u00a0Some of the more daring members of the Class of ’99 procured a pickaxe and a crowbar,\u00a0and with their pockets loaded with coal, proceeded to attempt an entrance.\u00a0Finally amid showers of coal and broken glass the door was battered down and the\u00a0freshmen, followed by nearly every one in college, poured into the hall.”<\/p>\n At that very time a prominent evangelist was holding meetings in Waterville.\u00a0The very day after the South College riot, he held a most successful meeting at\u00a0the college chapel, warning a large number of student converts. Whether any of\u00a0the rioters were among them, the record saith not.<\/p>\n That particular evangelist, like most of his kind, was a bitter foe of dancing.\u00a0Along with card playing, it was one of the Devil’ s chief inventions. The\u00a0mail devoted a whole column to one of the evangelist’s attacks on dancing in one\u00a0issue, took him to task as too extreme in the next issue, and in the third issue\u00a0gave a detailed account of a very successful masked ball held at City Hall. It\u00a0was attended not only by Waterville’s elite, but also by many guests from Augusta.<\/p>\n Some of the characters represented in fancy dress and masks were a Maine farmer,\u00a0a Spanish prince, Richard III, Uncle Sam, a Chinese mandarin, an Indian chief,\u00a0a gypsy, an Irish colleen, and the inevitable Topsy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.\u00a0That the evangelist’s extreme views about card playing were not shared by\u00a0the waterville SChool Board or by the citizenry as a whole, whose overwhelming\u00a0views any school board must alertly heed, is evidenced by the fact that a week\u00a0after the evangelist left town a Waterville teaCher, Miss Sarah Lang, won first\u00a0prize at a big whist party given by Mrs. Lewis Burleigh at Augusta.<\/p>\n Many of our older listeners remember Colby’s popular Negro janitor, Sam Osborne.\u00a0It was in 1896 that Sam got his uniform. On January 29 the Mail announced:\u00a0“Sam Osborne, the well known janitor of Colby University, will appear in a few\u00a0days attired in a regular uniform. This move, while it is a source of pleasure\u00a0to all interested in the college, is only in keeping with the example set by other\u00a0institutions. Nearly all have their janitors in uniform. Sam’s will be made of\u00a0blue cloth, adorned with buttons of the college gray. He has been measured for\u00a0the suit and is anxiously awaiting the tailor’s finishing touChes.”<\/p>\n Two weeks later, on February 10, the Mail heralded the grand result. It said:\u00a0“Janitor Sam Osborne of Colby University appeared this morning in his new uniform,\u00a0and he never looked happier and more contented. The uniform is of dark blue cloth,\u00a0trimmed with silver buttons. The coat is a straight front sack, similar in style\u00a0to the Pullman car porter’s coat. The head-gear is square topped, low cap with\u00a0straight visor, over which are the words ‘Janitor Colby Univ.’ in silver letters.\u00a0Altogether it is a neat uniform and is admired by faculty and students as much as\u00a0by Sam himself.”<\/p>\n On February 20, 1896 Redington and Company carried in the Mail a huge twopage\u00a0ad, one page headed by a cut of the Redington block on Silver street, followed\u00a0by these words:\u00a0“We have been in business since 1869. The style and title of Redington and\u00a0Company was adopted in 1882. The Silver Street block was built in 1893. It is\u00a0classed by commercial travelers as the best store of its kind in the state, with\u00a0one exception. We do not claim this, but others do for us. What we do claim is\u00a0that we do as much for the public in a business way as any firm, and put an honest\u00a0dollar in our own pocket at the same time.”<\/p>\n Some of the commodities mentioned in that big ad are indeed interesting.\u00a0There were baby carriages with, so said the ad, “colors to please the eye and\u00a0stop the children’s cry”. Bed springs were offered at a price range from 75\u00a0cents to $6.00. Chairs were from 25\u00a2 to $50. Oak and cherry clothes poles\u00a0(another name for hat racks) went for $1.17. Straw matting and Chinese goat rugs\u00a0were in demand. Cradles of beautiful design were ready for the new population.\u00a0Willow rockers were favorites in every home. But the Redington pride was its\u00a0newly acquired carpet sewing machine, which permitted the firm proudly to proclaim:\u00a0“Carpets sewed while you wait”.<\/p>\n There were other memorable ads back there in 1896. More than a year ago\u00a0you heard me lament the passing of the good old Mocha and Java coffee for the\u00a0modern exotic blends. So I like the ad of C. E. Mathews in the Mails of 1896:\u00a0“Boston Java coffee mixed with Arabian Mocha makes the finest cup of coffee obtainable.\u00a0This coffee is used at nearly every banquet and public supper in Waterville.”\u00a0As for the Redington firm, it became justly disturbed at the claim made by\u00a0some prospective customers that they could purchase goods so much more cheaply in\u00a0Boston. Redingtons ran an especially effective ad on February 27: “Our prices\u00a0are always as low as the lowest. We publish in this connection a letter from the\u00a0largest carpet house in Boston. This letter was sent us in reply to an inquiry by\u00a0one of our customers, who, on being told our price was $1.25 a yard for a certain\u00a0grade of carpet, stated he could get the same thing for 87t cents in Boston. This\u00a0is the letter:<\/p>\n “‘Messrs. Redington and Company, Waterville, Maine. Gentlemen: In regard to\u00a0the Lowell Brussels, would say that, while at different times we have advertised\u00a0these goods at 77\u00a2, 87t\u00a2 and other low prices, at retail, in every case they have\u00a0been undesirable pat~erns and goods we have been glad-to get rid of at those prices.\u00a0On the new patterns our price is $1.35. Yours truly, T. O. Callaghan and Company.’\u00a0“The above”, said the Redington ad, “speaks for itself. We can and do make\u00a0prices as low as any firm in the U. S.”<\/p>\n A fitting close to our program tonight is to quote what the Mail had to say\u00a0about a man who is now one of our most respected elder citizens and one whose\u00a0personal friendship I have long cherished. This is what the Mail said on January\u00a02, 1897: “Mr. Frank B. Hubbard, the new agent of the Maine Central R.R., has got mhis office harness well strapped on and it fits him so nicely that he appears like\u00a0an old timer in the job. Mr. Hubbard is a man eminently fitted for the position to\u00a0which he was recently promoted, as he began at the bottom round of the ladder in\u00a0R.R. business, and has by his own energy and faithfulness made his way up to his\u00a0present responsible position.”<\/p>\n It is good to know that Mr. Hubbard was appreciated by the Maine Central and\u00a0its waterville citizens half a century ago, just as he was appreciated by Colby\u00a0College a quarter of a century later and by all of his many friends in this year of\u00a01951, 54 years after he became head of the Maine Central’s waterville office.<\/p>\n Year: 1951<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #92, broadcast on January 14, 1951<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[786,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7194"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7194\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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