New Britain herald., 1927-02-23

leaders, we are not interested so
| much in ideas, but in men who en-
body ideas so We have not to think
them through ourselves. There are
men like w. T. Calverton, the editor
of the Modern Quarterly" who very
courageously claims: Our American
idealism is myth and this theory
of individuals making history" is
an illusion. Illusion or no illusion
the fact is, we need leaders, path
! finders. inspirers, guides in all path
ways Of life, We need them as in
dividuals and as nation.
Father Of Our Country" surely
reveals a fine sentiment of the
people who call him thus. In one
of the latest books about him, in w.
E. Woodward's George Washington.
the Image and the Man" he is
called, THE American Common De-
nominator" with his good traits and
in his weak points. According to
Woodward the captain of industry
is the closest modern counterpart to
Washington. Greater ones than he
have been depicted to us lately as
born executives. But are the stand
ards of 1926 or 1927 inherently the
right standards in judging men?
Are we really doing the right thing
in bringing the great down to our
level Of thinking and doing things
instead Of going up to their level?
There are standards eternal which
are far above the values of the first
quarter of the Goth century. Ac-
cording to Woodward Washington
thought in material terms, his mind
was essentially a business mind, he
was a born executive and had
wonderful skill in selecting subor-
dlnates and co-workers and in get
ting results through them; he re-
spected ideas only when they had
the force of authority. He was ut
terly honest, but his honesty was
combined with shrewdness; tenacity, i
integrity, self-contidence, courage
were his; he was economic and at
the same time magnanimous-in all
this the man of American flesh and |
blood, the prototype of the Ameri-
Ntill, tilc common <tIlitlICdll bt-
nominator." His very make up in |
character and temper and not only |
what he did for the great cause en-
dear him to the people OF the land. |
However it will do all of US good |
to see the true American with all !
his faults-and he has maryland |
with all his fine trait5-and many |
there are-in a man like George |
Washington. We all have still far
to go until we reach him even as a
man for with all his faults thou
sands built on him and on his in
tcgrity. And as President Coolidge
pointed out yesterday in his wonder
full address about Washngton-if
those in our circle Of l;fe can build .
on our integrity and loyalty as
people could build on his in his tasks
we might fit better into the tasks
and privileges of American citizen
ship.
1t was Woodrow Wilson who
summed up the motives of George
in this striking sentence:
His passion for freedom was born /
of personal pride" This motive
may not fit entirely into moral
order of altruistic ideals. He
wanted to be free and therefore he
wanted to live in a community
which enjoyed elf-determination-
not an altruistic motive, to be sure.
But real man will have personal
pride and will do the right thing
out of self-respect. Call it pride.
call it self-respect, call it the spirit
of the Puritans, call it personality,
call it what you please-whatever
prompts you and me in our actions,
will reveal not only what we think
of others, but also what we think of
ourselves. And George Washington
certainly had right to consider
himself a real man.
Edward Box said in defense Of his
friend Theodore Roosevelt when he
was attacked as being led by selfish
motives: Roosevelt was not an
egotist. 1t is a long way from con-
lidence In ones self and ones ac-
lions to egotism. An cgotist al
ways digs his own grave. Theodore
Roosevelt reared a monument"
And the fact that the monument
stands today proves that the men
whom we call the founders Of our
republic and among them foremost
he, the american Common De-
lominator'-this fact proves that
hey were not cyclists. men of self
Sh motives but rather men wit n |
self-confdence and faith in a great
dea and what is much more, men
If loyalty and love for a great COM
non cause.
In observance Of Washington's .