Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-08-15
THE DILEMMA OF DEALISM

Judge Such . position may be roma.
tic, but Il can not be stable. Those
were my errors. But my leadership
you cannot question. i dominated
France, as surely as the leader DOM
mates his orchestra. How then, did
/ lead? BY suggesting ideals? By
developing the philosophy Of Rous.
seauf No. Ideals are for peace. They
are to be taught In schools, TO be
nourished in the heartsSo Of men. They
are to be assimilated slowly, quietly,
gradually. They are for absorption,
not for adoption. - and only insofar
as q nation has thus made ideAiism
a vital part Of ita corporate character
can that nation be said to be led by
ideaHsm.
ROYCE: I must confess that find
that explanation wholly Inadequate
How do you intend to accommodate
that restless and progressive deter.
mtnation Of men to overcome error
and to rectffy intellectual injustice?
Do you leave It altogether to an Oh
scure impulse toward the Hight? Do
you imagine that nation evolves
with the unpremeditated fatality Of
utter chance? Are achievements moth.
ing but the foreordafned bits Of drift.
wood which we must find as we
blindly stumble up the stream Of ex.
perience? Can you deny the reality
Of a vigorous and personal guidance
OF men through the fntricacies Of
manifold possibilities toward a goal,
sometimes indisttnct, perhaps, but
continually reappearfng in the vision
Of the leaders? II you reduce human
effort to the radiating urge OF the
amoeba, you destroy the negative evi'
dence Of all history.
NAPoLEoN: No, no, you misun'
derstand me. do not deny the exist
ence Of idealism or its value. deny
it's practicability. You say that it is
the working tool Of civilized life; I
say that it is like food Of no value u1-
til it has been consumed. l say that
idealism pushes men rather than that
it leads them. / say that its value is
in its implication rather than In its
patency.
ROYCE: Here, then, we have the
crux; should the wise man, active ip
tie work Of his day counsel the ideal
course? Will you accept that as the
issue?
NAPOLEON: Yes; and say that
he should not. The day Of action is
too late for the ideal decision. for
unless you have ideal conditions, how
are you to demand ideal deeds? This
world is far from being a tribunal
of justice. Look around and what do
you see; you see two opposing forces,
one pointing backwards and the other
forwards; history versus tomorrow.
The world cannot afford to listen to
the idealist. It wants its children to
be taught by him, and 1t wants his
teachings eventually to be applicable,
but it will not and 1t cannot entrust
to him the solution Of its present
problems. To these it brings the wis
dom Of yesterday.
ROYCE: do not like that picture
of society. l cannot believe that It Is
a. photograph. cannot believe that
men have eyes only in the backs Of
their heads. No, I reject that ex.
/ see the fire Of idealisn
illuminating every page Of human
records / see the struggle; to be
sure, the struggle of fear in its vain
grasping for safety. But the fingers
Of fear are relentlessiy torn time and
again from the throat OF reason, ana
man launches without trepidation
upon Iincharted freedom. Was not
Saint Benedict an idealIst ana Saint
Francis and Martin Luther and Twin.
eli and Lincoln and Wilson?
NAPoLEoNa You mention Wilson.
He Illustrates the limitations Of IDEAL
ism. In his statesmanship OF the IN
terror he shows some remarkable
achievements; but was not everyone
of them the necessary outcroppfng OF
seeds long before planted? That part
of his work has required no idealism;
the requisites were decision, power
over opposition, steadfastness. In his |
foreign craftsmanship, again, behold
the limitations Of idealism: he recog- |
nizes the ideal paths, but he dares
not insist on them In the face OF a |
world. not yet ready, He must abide
his time. This / say Is q condition
almost universal It. is 3 Difference
to opinion that every successful lead
er knows he. must make. Show ME q
single leader who has been able to
drag his people toward idealism at /
gait faster than the evolution OF the |
ethical conscience of the masses,
ROYCE: That may be one. Of the /
great rnisfortunes Of history, that the /
leaders of men have been constantly I
true to one type-fearful OF u1tried I
.axL.I. nat Z nauv ftvno NJ foadors II