Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1905-03-10


Every organism oup,'.,scs II hierarchy
of powers: we shall never escape froln
that law. Eut fear that if the love
OF power is 50 widespread the spirit of
power is almost impossible To find.
From wrong understanding and mis-
use of 1t those who keep even Il frac-
ton Of authority almost everywhere
succeed in compromising it.
Power exercises Il great influence
over him who holds ii. y head must
be very we'll balanced not to be dis
turbcd by it. The sort of dementia
which took possession of the Roman
emperors IN the time of their world
wide rule Is universal malady whose
symptoms belong to all times. In ev-
cry man there sleeps tyrant, await
ing only a favorable occasion for walk
ing Now. the tyrant is the worst en-
envy of authority. because he furnishes
us its intOlerable caricature, whence
come a multitude of social compiled
lions, collisions and hatreds. Every
man who says to those dependent on
him, do this because it is my will and
pleasure" does Ill. There Is within
each one of us something that invites
us to resist personal power. and this
something IS very respectable, for ut
bottom we are equal. and there is no
one who has the right to exact obedi-
am l. If he does so his command de-
grades me, and l have no right to suf-
fer myself to be degraded.
One must have lived in schools. In
workshops, in the army. in government
offices, he must have closely followed
the relations between masters and
servants, have observed little every
where where the supremacy of man
exercises itself over man, to form any
idea Of the injury done by those who
use power arrogantly. OF every free
soul they make slave soul, which Is
to say the soul Of q rebel. And it ap-
pears that this result, with its social
disaster Is most certain when he who
commands is least removed from the
station Of him who ObeyS. The most
implacable tyrant is the tyrant himself
under authority. Foremen and over
seers put more violence into their deal
ings than superintendent and employ
ers. The corporal is generally harsher
than the colonel. In certain families
where madam has not much more ed
ucation than her maid the relations be-
tween them are those Of the convict
and his warder. And woe everywhere
to him who falls into the hands Of a
subaltern drunk with his authority!
We forget that the first duty Of him
who exercises power is humility.
Haughtiness is not authority. 1t is not
we who are the law; the law is over
our heads. We only interpret 1t, but to
make it valid In the eyes Of others we
must first lie subject to 1t ourselves.
To command and to obey In the society
of men are. after all. but two forms Of
the same virtue-voluntary servitude
If you are not obeyed, it Is generally
because you have not yourself obeyed
first
The secret Of moral ascendency rests
with those who rule with simplicity.
They soften by the spirit the harshness
Of the fact. Their authority is not in
shoulder straps, titles or disciplinary
measures. They make use Of neither
ferule nor threats. yet they achieve ev-
erything. Why? Because we feel that
they are themselves ready for every
thing. That which confers upon a man
the right to demand Of another the sac
rifice Of his time, his money, his pas
sions, even his life, is not only that he
is resolved upon all these sacrifices
himself. but that he has made them in
advance. In the command Of a man
animated by this spirit of Remuneration
there Is mysterious force which COM
municates itself to him who is to obey
and helps him do his duty.
In all the provinces Of human activi-
ty there are chiefs who inspire,
strengthen, magnetic their soldiers;
under their direction the troops do
prodigies. With them one feels himself
capable Of any effort, ready to 60
through fire, as the saying has 1t, and
II he goes 1t is with enthusiasm.
But the pride Of the exalted Is not the
only pride; there is also the pride OF
the humble-this arrogance Of under
lings, fit pendant to that Of the great.
The root of these two prides is the
same. 1t is not alone that lofty and
imperious being. the man who says,
Il am the law" that provokes insur-
rection by his very attitude; 1t is also
that pigheaded subaltern who will not
admit that there is anything beyond
his knowledge.
There are really many people who
find all superiority irritating. For them
every piece of advice is an offense, ev-
cry criticism an imposition, every order
an outrage on their liberty. They would
not know how to submit to rule. To
respect anything or anybody would
seem to them a mental alteration.
They say to people after their fashion,
Beyond us there is nothing"
To the family of the proud belong also
those difficult and supersensitive peo-
pie who in humble life find that their
superiors never do them fitting honor,
whom the best and most kindly do not
succeed in satisfying and who 90 about
their duties with the air Of a martyr
At bottom these disaffected minds have
too much misplaced self respect. They
do not know how to ill their place SIM
ply, but complicate their life and that
Of others by unreasonable demands
and morbid suspicious.
When one takes the trouble to study
men at short range he is surprised to
find that pride has so many lurking
places among those who are by COM
mon consent called the humble. So
powerful is this vice that it arrives at
forming round those who live in the
most modest circumstances q wall
which is0lates them from their neigh
bors. There they are, intrenched. bar
ricaded with their ambitions and their
contempts, as inaccessible as the pow
erful Of earth behind their aristocratic
prejudices. Obscure or tllustrious,
pride wraps itself in its dark royalty
Of enmity to the human race. 1t is the