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


tic, but 1t can not be stable. Those
were nv errors. But my leadership
you cannot question. dominated
France as surely as the leader dom
mates his orchestra How, then, did
1 lead? By suggesting ideals? By
developing the philosophy OF Rous
seau? No Ideals are for peace. They
are to be taught in schools, 10 be
nourished in the hearts 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 idealism
a vital part Of its corporate character
can that nation be said to be led by
idealism.
ROYCE: must confess that find
that explanation wholly inadequate
How do you intend to accommodate
that restless and progressive deter.
mination OF men to overcome error
and to recttfy intellectual injustice?
Do you leave 1t altogether TO an OBJ
scure impulse toward the light? Do
you imagine that nation evolves
with the unprecedented fatality Of
utter chance? Are achievements moth
ing but the toreordained bits Of drift
wood which we must find as we
blindly stumble up the stream Of ex-
pertence? Can you deny the reality
OF a vigorous and personal guidance
Of men through the tntricacies Of
manifold possibilities toward a goal,
sometimes indistinct, perhaps, but
continually reappearing in the vision
OF the leaders? If you reduce human
effort to the radiating urge Of the
amoeba, you destroy the negative evt
dence Of all history.
NAPoLEoN: No. no, you misun-
derstand me. do not deny the exist
ence of idealism or its value. l deny
it's practicability. You say that it is
the working tool of civilized life; /
say that 1t is like food Of no value un-
til it has been consumed. / say that
idealism pushes men rather than that
it leads them. l 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 in
tie work of his day, counsel the ideal
course? Will you accept that as the
issue?
NAPOLEON: Yes; and I 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 1t wants its children to
be taught by him and 1t wants his
teachings eventually to be applicable,
but it will not and it cannot entrust
to him the solution OF its present
problems. To these 1t brings the wis
dom of yesterday.
ROYCE: do not like that picture
Of society. l cannot believe that it is
a photograph. l cannot believe that
men have eyes only in the backs OF
their heads. No, l reject that ex'
PLANTATION. l see the fire of idealism
every page Of human
records. 1 see the struggle, to be
sure, the struggle Of fear in its vain
grasp ping for safety. But the fingers
of fear are relentlessly torn time and
again from the throat of reason, and
man launches without trepidation
upon uncharted freedom. Was not
Saint Benedict an idealist. and Saint
Francis and Martin Luther and Twin
gil and Lincoln and Wilson?
NAPOLEON: You mention Wilson
He illustrates the limitations Of ideal
ism. In his craftsmanship Of the in
terror he shows some remarkable
achievements; but was not everyone
Of them the necessary outcropping 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 l say is condition
almost universal. It is a Difference
to opinion that every successful lead
err 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 misfortunes Of history, that the
eaders of men have been constantly
rue to one type-fearful Of untried
methods. But a new type Of leader
ship must be evolved; leadership
which will not falter at the choice
If idealism, Of international justice,
If world humanity; a leadership IN
afraid Of peace. That must be the
contribution of democracy; an insist |
,nce, not upon state rights, but upon |
IN intelligent adjudication Of the
common good of all mankind.