Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-25
Many Disagree With Butler,
Who Sees Lack of Great Men

"A statement by DR.. Nicholas MUIR.
ray Butler that the world in 1000
years has not had such a shortage of
truly great figures as at present is
not accepted by the American press.
Many observers hold the president of
Columbia University to be wrong in
assuming that great persons of his.
tory We're so recognized until their
work had stood the test of time.
Furthermore, it is suggested that
under present-day conditions success
IS much less spectacular than in the
Gays or great heroes of the past,
LET us all be patient, doctor" ad.
vises the New York Times, which
speaks of the group works of genius u
ant predicts that "a couple of gener.
atoms hence certain names will emerge
to command these groups, and then
they will take rank as the dwarfers
or our fellows. AS contemporary con.
fusion recedes." adds the Times, ''the
mountain peaks rise above the fogs,
and posterity can plainly see the
heights obscured BEFORE" The Kala.
mazoo Gazette also declares that
'grea' scientists, like great philoso-
piers. great poets and great mu.
slcians. usually must forego the pleas
ures of personal praise and depend
upon the fame with which history will
crown them. We cannot fix the value
or scientific and artistic endeavors
until they have stood the test of time. -
THE acclaim of his contemporaries,
however worthily earned" says the
Dallas Journal, has made no man
great in his lifetime. It is only when
he h" passed from the stage of ac-
ton, and long afterward as a rule,
th--t appraisement of the service he
RI hfC =
tn classification of greatness. AS the
perspective has heightened, men have
been abe to see in clearer outline the
man who was" An added factor in
the failure to concede greatness in
tho present, as observed by the Pasa.
dena Star-News, Is that the qualities
of greatness do not stand out in such
bold relief as formerly, when men in
the mass were not so broadly intel!i.
gent and when the leader was both
the brains and the spirit Of the cause
he led"
eve doubt that there is a poverty
OF leadership, the world considered,
which wiN be conspicuous in other
generations" says the Chicago Trib.
une. 'T- may be quite the contrary
Possibly we cannot completely see. fig.
ures for the smoke. Mussolini may
lack durability of idea, just as we are
certain Lenin did, but for effectiveness
of personality in what they set them.
selves to do, with whole peoples as
material, their phenomena are not
dwarfed in the hall of their predeces-
sors. We also think that Hindenburg
will grow in stature for future gener-
ations. as a leader produced by war.
He was great in the time his nation
was victorious and greater when it
YVES in defeat"
what, after all, Is really great
MANI" asks the Christian Science
Monitor. which refers to those from
the days of Herod the Great 'to
whom this resounding title has been
applied" and asserts that "facile as.
sumption Of greatness in a man as
being necessarily an adjunct to
power, however obtained, has been
abandoned" The Monitor concludes:
Nowhere in the catalogue (of the
worlds great is there the name Of
one who has contributed as much to
human comfort or to the moral ad-
vancement Of mankind as Edison,
Marconi, Wilbur Wright, or perhaps
even Henry Ford. The fact of the
matter is that nowadays mankind has
come to look for greatness in fields Of
human endeavor, which in the past
were either non.existent or but little