Evening star., 1923-04-15
Present Period Seen to Lack
sn Real Political Leadership
Great Outstanding Personality
Capable of S,Oaying Opinions of
the Millions, 1t Is Declared.

Of God. and is not to be found by
painful seeking. When he comes 1t
is silently and without advertise
ment, and his own people commonly
know him not
See "IIOse Approach"
And yet as to some of the figures
in the current politics Of both parties
one is able to see, If not clear great
ness. yet so close an approach to
adequate bigness that you keep wish
ing. almost with pain. that they had
that little more that makes. such
leagues of difference" You keep
wishing you could combine pairs of
them into one, or certain parts of
some with parts Of others. II only
you could combine some of the per-
sonalities in the field. you might get
results that would move the world.
figures that would measure UP to
those personalities that cross the
world once in go often and affect It's
destinies profoundly. If you could
take Borah's capacity for clear
thought and ringing expression of IT.
! his facility in the world OF abstract
! ideas. and IL you could add to that
Harding's capacity for getting men
, to march in step; If to La Follette's
evangelical zeal you could add Hard
: ing's patience and tolerance; II to
i McAdoo's impetuous energy the
qualities that make him an engaging
"go-getter"-if to that you could add
Underwood's surefooted steadiness; II
to Cox's rare efficiency and plugging
tenacity in pursuit OF his purposes
you could add Justice John H.
| Clarke's education and elevation Of
| taste,
Ford CIassed As "Genius.r
Among all the mer mentioned for
the presidency. probably the one who
! comes closest to having a title to the
| term genius is Henry Ford. But 1t
| is restricted kind of genius. and a
kind which is not only not political
! and not statesmanllke, but is prob
| ably the opposite of political or
| statesmanlike. Ford is a mechanical
! genius. But is a mechanical genius
! what the world longs for and needs? =?
Ford is a genius of organization.
| but maybe the thing that makes the
| world restless and rebellious is pre-
! cisely the restraints of too much or
ganization. Ford probably without
! knowing it or meaning 1t. Is largely
! the German superman type. 1t is a
| type that has entirely benevolent in
! tentions toward the world. but inten-
! tions that flow from a self-assumed
! position on high. Those German
! supermen always intended to organ
ize the world thoroughly for the
worlds good. but they always
thought of the worlds good as identi-
cal with their own notions. They
fancied themselves as directing things
from above. They pictured the world
organized into compact marching
| regiments. but they never pictured
themselves among the marchers. AL
! ways they thought Of themselves as
officers at the top bawling out orders
| to the marching puppets. Ford might
| readily organize America as the Ford
| factory is organized. with each of US
| getting good wages. good housing
! and plenty to eat and wear. but
always with the sense OF doing what
! we were told-a sense Of submerged
! individuality. The ideal of Ford S
genius might make America a bee
! hive, a compact industrial organism
( which looks like a democracy. but is
| really rather rigid kind of autoc-
I racy. Ford's conception of things
! might leave no room for the common
mans impulse to lay off and go fish
| ing once In while.
| sWOrld Of Difference
| And yet. unhappily. it is just Ford 5
! sort of thing that America seems Ia
think it wants \ person of deep un
| derstanding might say it is not really
! this that the world needs. Between
what the country. in It's deeper heart
actually wants and needs and, on the
| other hand. what il thinks It wants
| and what it clamors for-between
/ those two three may be world OF
/ difference. But any survey of tile
actual things that groups and fac
I tions are fighting for would reveal
! them as the kind. of economic ad-
| yantages, of material objects. that
| Eords genius for business organfza-
| tion and factory production seems to
promise.
A political philosopher who the
! other day. undertook to set down a
! list of the factions. b1ocs and what