Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1916-01-19
THE DOMINANCE or GREAT
MIN.

/
get away from It. we invariably com,
back 70 things connected immediate.
~ or remotely. with the great wal
being waFed in more than three
fourths Of the world today. Count
Tolstoi's War and Peace is not on.
" national epic and wonderful dra-
mn OF Russian life, but II also Ia q
polemic. Its polcmical thesis Is de-
NAL OF the fact of genius and ques-
tioning whether leadership Is fac.
tor In events.
Tolstoi is NO absurd as to deny 10
Napoleon any genius at all Genius
according to Tolstol, doesn't exist
AS II he himself were not the refu-
tation Of his argument. as II war
and Peace were not itself a work
Of talent so great as TO be entitled to
be called super-talentl
Tho theory OF great men, at the
been much emphasized no doubt, by
Carlyle in England, by Theirs in
France. by Mommscn In Germany
And the theory was used In Russia
to rolster up the autocracy which
Tolstoi perceived TO be hurtful to his
people. But his proposition that
great men are an Illusion, that they
merely decorate movements and ex-
hibit no really creative power. Is RI
diculous Bismarck. just across the
Russian border, alone sufficed to re-
flute the great writer's theory. Our
own Edison refutes It today What
one man can do cannot be done By
all other men. Genius is not merely
a difference in degree OF effort.
Tolstol really had no science. Ills
criticism. like that OF Bernard Shaw.
while often Illuminating, IN unsound,
because II is engaged primarily In
using facts to support theory instead
of educing from many facts Il theory
His mental processes are the same as
those OF william jennings Bryan.
TolHtoi, marvellous psychologist OF
human nature. had no acquaintance
with scientific psychology, Indeed.
in 1888, when he was writing "War
and Peace" he couldn't have had.
since true experimental psychology
was al that time scarcely commenced.
We mention psychology because
there IL principle recognized by il
which Toistoi marvelousiy illustrates
and cunningly evades. That princi-
pie is suggestion. as applied to tn,
mass. unconsciously Tolstoi /.
one OF the finest illustrations of the
power OF suggestion 70 be found in
literature, as witness his description
OF the evolution OF the mob in Mos
COW In 1915. Yet he misses the truth
entirely that Napoleon was Il master
OF the art OF suggestion to the mass.
All great leaders have been such mas
ters 49, Napoleon. Bismarck Glad
stone, and We may mention Theodore
Roosevelt and Woodrow wilson--.not
consciously perhaps but nevertheless
consummately
In other words. not every move
ment originates from below. as Tolls
tot maintains Some come from
above, are imposed UPON the crowd
by individuals o. by groups. Napol-
con. TO be sure. WAS the heir of the
French revolution. but he was more
he nodded his inheritance. So, I'M
der Tolstoi's own nose Bismarck sug-
gcsted TO the German people new
aims, new ideals, and even induced
them TO new nature
What Is education but the imposl-
ton of higher notions from above
upon the many. There are mass move.
ments which originate from the
mass. and these probably are the de.
termining movements OF human his
tory. as rule But the reformation
the rcmaking. the undertaking OF
Japan, all came from above over IA,
opposition of the masses below