Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-12-19
mo KNOWN CURE FOR A
DAMN FOOL"

ne following editorial. which we reprint
1Rom the Saturday Evening Post:
There are no supermen In war--or in
Deace-only fallible men and women that
run good. average and poor. The super
a nan with his titles. his orders, his 'shin-
Nc armor" and all the rest of his cheap
cAmouhage is made after the event-about
hundred pears after-by snobbish his
torians and descendants who find the super
man stun exceedingly useful to them in
The king business.
All good supermen are dead-the deader
UAe better. though we had self-made super
men like the Kaiser--for this king business
- Just business like the movies or the
oircus--until the war forced them to prove
lup IN the open. Then all the me und
4ctt" firms went out of business.
The so-called superman is and always
Aas been plural. He is n small. tight
oollection Of able men, headed by an abler
nan, who is the boss. And he is the boss
bscause he is shrewd enough to understand
that, no matter how much there is to
nan. he spreads out TOO thin over large
a6airs. So he let's out his strength at
ueury by Joining strong men to his for
tunes. They in turn mako sure that their
unbordinates and the rink and file are the
best men available. So we get Steel
trust, or Napoleon. or a Sante Fe Rail-
Rad. These men make mistakes-plenty
OF them-but they don't repeat. They do
not travel the vicious circle Of their old
Numbers. They understand that no man
can win with old General Fuddy buddy
- execute his orders and that no enthu-
nonSm or ability can produce results in an
e(lce where red tape, politics and favorit-
INN have desks. These are the subordinates
~ failure.
The nrst principles Of winning in war
and In business are the same. They call
i1yxx ptxot nj ba ton
with every man selected because he can
Ncl his weight In wildcat ideas. They call
H tust one question about every one who
~ 10 be placed. either In Congress or out
.uR 4. and that is not Is he a good Demo-
1hIokf or Is he a stanch Republican? but
- h the best man for the job? That Is
~ only test that will ruthlessly eliminate
'osd General F'uddy buddy and partisan
|1o1itics There can be no real teamwork
vhsre they are on the Job. They are the
true alien enemies that work ceaselessly.
q unwittingly, for Germany, even though
1hoy protest their patriotism and sincerely
Nean It. But there is no known cure for
q damn fool. Throw them out
( We have an able President, and the
strongest men in America have unsef1shly
mt themselves at his call. Much has been
lone by them more will be done in pro-
portion as the weak men sink to their
lyPober level and the strong men rise to
(he top Once we get Steel Trust organi-
mfion, with our business methods raised
q the nth power by unselfish patriotism.
1othing can stop us. In a republic the
true superman is q united and devoted
people. with, determined and consecrated
1sadsrship.
Our contemporary hits the nail on the
hsad. There is no known cure for a damn
Ieol and there never will be. He is the
know who is always throwing monkey
pssnches into the machinery and then ex.
|uiniug the wrenches to sec II they have
loun disabled. Put gold lace on him and
- : couple Of decorations to his shirt and
~ have the finest known example Of the
hclkass in action. II the Bolsheviki could
IenA. IN that would be needed to cause a
nnpede to Timbuctoo would be an elo-
Int article declaring that sausage grew
80 on trees and was automatically
c1ned By the sun. Let some effervescent
nshull from Podunk get to Congress
~ what he can't tell the chiefs Of the
my or navy about running their estab-
lrhments could be put on the point of a
! We are going to win the war by the same
NJ Of tactics we are going to employ
Ihsn We win back control Of Philadelphia
-osganization. As nation we boast that
~ have a genius for that very thing.
Hvbs We have. but the public policy of
nation has been set against organiza-
= for twenty years. The slovenly little
Dor Of an antiquated store objected to
ofition from a live business. 1t was
~. he said. but what he meant was
- did not want to do the work neces-
70 compete with such an organiza.
What aid Charlie schwab care about
- Trust when he wanted some Of the
49, for himself7 Nothing. The
IA stun did not mean anything 10
- had never noticed that plutocrats
nonopoly on brains. Neither have
Nd that the Kaiser has a monopoly
Ssry. akin and war efficiency. Ask
HS1lans about it They know.
naehins Of ours Il not hitting ON
elght eyiindsrs yet; but the damn
~ we1paliy being rslesated to the
y1alon and the real genius Of
slovly but surely taking com.
RIrA One OF the objects Of the
(hia myth Of the su,,..,....