The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-28
Theodore Roosevelt in the outlook.


 @ oUNT TOLsToI is a man of gen.
 V jus, a great novelist. War and 0 Peace" Anna Karenina," ''The Cossacks." "Sebastopol' are great books. As novelist he has added materially to the sum of production of his generation As professional philosopher and moralist l doubt if his influence has really been very extensive among men of action; of course 1t has a certain weight among men who live only in the closet, in the library; and among the high minded men of this type, who. because of their sheltered lives, nat urally reject what is immoral, and do not have to deal with what is fantastic. In Tolstoi's teachings, it is probable that the really lofty side of these teachings gives them certain sense of spiritual exalta- tion. But I have no question that what ever little influence Tolstoi has exerted among men of action has told, on the whole for evil. I do not think his infiu- ence over men of action has been great. for I think he has swayed or dominated only the feeble folk and the fantastic folk. No man who possesses both TO- bust common sense and high ideals, and who strives to apply both in actual liv- ing, is affected by Tolstoi's teachings, save as he Is affected by the teachings of hundreds of other men in whose writings there are occasional truths mixed with masses of what is commonplace or erron- eous Strong men may gain something from Tolstois moral teachings, but only on condition that they are strong enough and sane enough to be repelled by those parts of his teachings which are foolish or immoral. Weak persons are hurt by the teachings. Still, think that the mere fact that these weak persons are inf1u- enced sufficiently to be marred means that there was not in them very great quantity of potential usefulness to mar. In the United States we suffer from grave moral dangers; but they are for the most part dangers which Tolstoi would neither perceive nor know how to combat. More over, the real and dreadful evils which do in fact share in his denunciation or and attack upon both good and evil are usually not evils which are of much mo- ment among us. On the other hand we are not liable to certain kinds of wicked ness which there is real danger of his writings inculcating; for it is a lament NN--'O with certain type of mystical zealot, there Is in him a dark streak which tells of moral perversion. That side of his teachings which is partially manifested in the revolting "Kreutzer Sonata" can do exceedingly little damage in America, for it would appeal only to decadents ex- actly as it could have come only from 4 man who, however, high he may stand in certain respects has in him certain dreadful qualities of the moral pervert.
 The usual effect of prolonged and ex- cessive indulgence in Tolstoism on American disciples is comic rather than serious One of these disciples, for in stance not long ago wrote a book on American municipal problems, which as- cribed our ethical and social shortcom- l ings in municipal matters in part to the 1 sin of "militarism." Now the mind of | this particular writer in making such a | statement was influenced not in the least by what had actually occurred or was | occurring in our cities, but by one of l Tolstois theories which has no possible bearing upon American life. Militarisn | is a real factor for good or for evil in most European countries. In America | 1t has not the smallest effect one way or ] the other; 1t is a negligible quantity. | There are undoubtedly states of society 1 where militarism is grave evil, and there are plenty of circumstances in
 which the prime duty of man may be to
 strive against it. But 1t is not righteous
 war, nor even war itself, which is the ab- solute evil, the evil which is evil always 1 and under all circumstances. Militarisn l which takes the form of a police force