The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-06-18

HE.

the campus. and the country which we are so
fond OF declaring is the grandest that the sun
ever shone upon is thrilling responslvciy IN
every hamlet because a private citizen who has
elected to become peripatetic preacher and school
master to the world at large IS nearing home once
more,
It were redundant to recount the manifold
adventures. the signal %triumphs, and the UMPIRE
cedented honors which have fallen 10 the lot ct
this extraordinary parsonage. AS American
nress agent. as his own best advertisement, a
d liver tonic 10 mankind, the individual whose
name. for the sake OF novelty, will not here he
mentioned has proved a most unqualified sue
cess. He has in a sense justified the appeal
which be has made to his own countrvmen by
demorsfra.ing that they are universal and E1t
racisl heartstrings which he knows so we'll how
10 touch. In a time OF profound peace and worl'
slugeishnoss he has banished dry rot wherever
he has appeared. In countries where the tradl-
tion i of class be has won applause by the OK
hihition Of a democracy a little too much en-
phasized. perhaps. bur for all that effective and
enhancing. II courts where 1t Is almost high
treason 10 question the sovereign's act or to
~criticise governmental policy, he has mmitt
the breach Of etiquette of speaking his opinion
as frankly - though he were telling II to a bar
keeper. And throuc. ii all he has rolled up en-
thusiasm before him as a ship carries a bone
in her teeth, until now it is breaking with re-
sounding volume upon home shores.
To say why these things are true Is as impossi-
bic as ii Is to prophecy with any hope of accurate
statement what this man Of carefully calculated
impulses will do or say tomorrow, next week, or
nexi Fall. Like the big fish in the pool, he will
probably now lie still a while and let the cur
rent of public opinion bring TO his quick eye a
morsel worth the taking. just as in the African
Inngles he lost himself 10 the world, while HIM
self never losing sight Of il. Which way he will
dart next. or when, 81 10y, no man can say.
No more can the peol.. III The mass anticipate
their own movement than his. 1t is exactly be
cause. with the evesight III the muddy stream OF
politics that an eagle evidences IN the clear hight
of open space, this master diagnostician of events
knows the direction of the people before they
know ii themselves, that he attains a real leader
1Ehip through following the crowd so adroitly as
to seem to head it. 1t is this discovery of things
within the heart of the average man that the
man himself does not suspect and would repudi-
ate, that constitutes the wonder and the charm of
a truly wonderful man.
If the people of Americana. in justice let us
say, if the people of the world-were accustomed
to use the logic OF which they arc capable; if il
were true that all this riot and enthusiasm and
seryile bending Of the knee to notoriety followed
upon thoughtful analysis, then this great hunter
resonnding receptions would spell a humiliatine
condition Of world morals or world intelligence.
IT is forever the truth that this man who has been
in control Of the government of a great people,
who again aspires to set himself at the head of
the law-making system Of the Nation, is him
self the spirit of lawlessness incarnate. 1t is
true that his ambition Is as ruthless as that of
any Of The Caesars. 1t is true that his chicane
can be on occasion as cynical IN quality as that
Of a Machiavelli. 1t IS true that he is not only
not above driving his hands is dubious bar
gains. but capable afterwards of brazen denial of
the established fact. 1t is true that he will de-
sert a friend as quickly as he will make a friend
of an enemy. 1t is true that no such braggart
ever trod The Earth. 1t is true that no man ever
did as little to claim So much, knew SO little 10
pretend SO greatly, advanced with greater hubbub
or retired With equal stealth. He has preached
decency only 10 depart from ii at will. He has
won a Peace prize and never forgotten to glorify
war with himself as its chiefest product and eX-
ponent. He denounced mslefactors of great
wealth in public only to truckle to them in secret.
He has talked of the square DEAF al nauseam-
and gone about distributing lemons. He poses
as a statesman, who never put a policy into
practice. He makes "a fad of conservation
whose one achievement was a panic,
This is the man we honor to-day, as everyone
viii agree who will put back upon his head the
hat he has been throwing in the air and honest
~ think upon what the man has been, what he
has said and what he has done. But the world,
like a woman, does not bring reason to bear
upon its loves-and this man who has fattered
and cajoied il, who has violated It's ethics and
shaken its opinions, who has time after time
struck II, SO to speak, b%rutally between the eyes,
this man the world loves. The critical attitude
is not possible in his presence, and his faults dis
solve IN the infinitely sunny hypocrisy of his
smile! What he wants, that has he always OBJ
tanned. Luck guides his feet and throws across
hg shouldcra hor manila &c clo+h-oE noll IL