The times., 1898-12-12
LEADER WANTED.
The Death of Men of Commanding
Talent I'm the Active Wcrld.
from the Tondon SpectatorN

The dearth of commanding intellect in
nearly every sphere of human activity
which undoubtedly piarks the close of our
century has suggested to some minds the
doubt as to whether the age of great men
has not entirely passed away. and wheth-
er We shall not be compelled in the fu-
ture otrust to the common sense of
most rather than to the guiding genius
of individuals of more than
the ordinary mental or moral
stature. Indeed, whole philos-
ophy of politics has been founded on the
doctrine of a kind of average human abii-
ty as being all that is needed in making
all public decisions. Collectivism, which
proposes to carry extreme democracy and
common ownership into all the wider av-
enues of life, must of necessity base itself
on this notion of the opinion or services
of one man being as useful and impor-
tant as those of another Hero-worship.
1t is said, represents past order of So
ciety: We have no use for the great man
now, but in his place We put number of
little men, and we find that the outcome
Is quite as good.
We hold no brief for the gospel of hero.
worship. which was undoubtedly carried
by a Carlyle to an extreme which cannot
be accepted. We do not believe that any
immeasurable gulf separates those whom
we call great men from those who are
not, FOR all share the same nature, and
the work of Shakespeare or a Molere
would have no value whatever did il not
appeal to all of us, thereby revealing the
essential community of ideas between
these great men and humber mortals
But there is a medium ground between
that of exaggerated hero-worship and
that of fat, unreieved collectivism.
which places all human services on the
same dead level. Napoleon seems to us
to have OWNED the real nature and tend
ency of democracy much more clearly
than many OF the -ideologists" he despis-
ed when he said that Ii meant "ia car
riere ouverte aux talents"
Instead of conceiving the new Demo-
cratic age heralded by the French revolu-
ton as involving anything like a dead
level, he supposed that II meant rather
an intenser competition. but competition
on fairer terms. in which each man would
be able to show the stun he was made of
and to prove what he could do Democ-
racy can no more dispense with guides,
leaders, powerful agents, than any pre-
vious order OF society; and democracy
finds that she must pay for them in some
way or other. Moreover. instead of any
resentment being felt by more or less
democratic community against the great
man who towers over the heads of the
crowd. democracy acclaims such man.
eagerly expects him. is profoundly defect
ed II he does not appear. Is ready to heap
honors and rewards upon him. and gen.
orally allows him sometimes to a dan
gerous degree) TO think and act for ii on
his own responsibility. At the pre- sent mo-
ment it is as plain as can be that the
French democracy is on the lookout for
a leader. a Man. The squabbles over the
Dreyfus case might almost in the last
analysis, be resolved into the one for
mula, accepted by millions of French peo-
pie, Give US a leader who can think
clearly and act with decision" Almost
everything would be pardoned in a man OF
strong character and vigorous brain who
could pilot the. French vessel of state
through the stormy seas.
A glance over the world during this
democratic epoch will convince any care
full observer that the talk about the indi-
vidual whitening" is superficial We ara
deceived by a few material phenomena.
the outcome of scientific invention. Be-
cause We are ticketed and conveyed In
trains or steamers, instead of depending
on our own energy, as in former days; be-
cause shoes are turned out by machines by
the million and cotton cloth by the hun
dred million yards; because the machine
seems to dominate life, we think Ii is all
mere machinery. Because We do not live
in fortified castles. but in city streets
watched and tended by armies of public
servants, we are apt to think of a vague
collective authority dominating all and
directed by none. But the train is driven
by a skilled man, the wheel of the steamer
is held by an expert, the cotton Is spun
and woven. the shoes are made, because
4 directing brain stands behind.
Even in the great American democra-
cy, where the despotism of the mass is
Gro CT inf 10 rNc hnr
strong has been the tendency to look for
a guiding from the. President all through
the recent war. And in Mexico and the
whole of South America we find that so
far as democracy exists, 1t is all based on
the idea (practically. If not Theoretically,
that some one individual governs the
country, initiates its policy, stimulates its
to action. In Europe the two great GEN.
trail empires are definitely governed by
the wills and intellects of two men: and
though democracy is restless and discon-
tented. there is no protest against this
system of sufficient strength to secure its
overthrow. In short, look where we will
among the democratic or quasi-demo-
cratic nations. of the wold we see no
sign whatever of the lessening value of
the individual. On the contrary, the need
of individual initiative and guidance Is
everywhere recognized, and the services
Va tic ihuiNiuusti sit. III onc way OF lIl-
other rewarded.
This tendency will continue. because it
is in accordance with the constitution of
human nature. The masses are quite ca
pable of appreciating the accomplished
fact but some one person must have con-
ceived and accomplished it. They are
quite capable Of cooperating with the
work of some leader of men, whether po-
litical. religious. or In any other sphere
of life: but the Washington. the Luther.
must be there to show the way. No
doubt democracy is as certain a fact for
a long epoch TO come as any OF its warm
est devotees have believed. But 1t will
be democracy tempered by the need of
the individual who can do the one thing
that no other individual can do. who can
direct great affairs and persuade vast
human aggregates to carry them into ex-
ecution. The man who can navigate is in
valuable, even in a pirate ship.
Misplaced Consideration.