Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-18

a real part-his or her own inner wealth
or poverty of intelligence and charac-
ter. The inspiring thing is that de-
generacy and folly kept mostly to them
selves; and they rarely touched the
truly noble and great. And when we
think Of the bright side, what record
it makes! Among these more than 800
interrelated persons were at least Is
men and 19 women whom unbiased his
torians rank among the splendid in
tellectS and admirable characters Of the
modern world. Most Of these more than
40 persons will go down in history
among the truly great Of all time.
You can scarcely appreciate what
this means until you reflect that only
about one out of million mature per-
sons IS considered worthy of America S
Hall of Fame, and only about one out
of four thousand Of the general popu-
lation Is selected for who's Who in
America" Sir Francis Cation, founder
of eugenics, by careful methods, found
only one in four thousand persons
could be called eminent" and only
one in a million "illustrious." Granted
we double or quadruple the number
really worthy to be admitted into who's
Who" and make it one in thousand.
Yet among these more than 800 royal
persons there were 40 persons, that Is,
OA4C III SUs WIN "ONlQ 1lCdI4y OH 1dl1h
far above the average of our American
Who's Who" and the majority of
whom will always rank as deserving a
high place in history
In order to dramatize this, let us go
to some great gathering of all sorts OF
people, such as a State fair. Suppose
you count the first 300 persons you
meet. Can you even imagine finding
among them 25 men and 19 women
who could possibly create a place for
themselves in history even If they were
clothed with regal power and set upon
throne? Or some holiday just watch
a parade Of 800 men and women-400
each-and imagine finding among
them, not 25 but such men as VIII
liam the Silent; Gustavus Adolphus
SWeden's hero King; Henry ", idol Of
French chivalry; THE Great Turenne, "
whom Napoleon Bonaparte said was
the greatest master of military science
that ever lived" and Charles THE
Bold" of Sweden, who Voltaire said
was "the most extraordinary human
being that ever walked the earth"
Women Hard to Duplicate.
Imagine among the 400 women find
ing even three such women as Isabella
Of CASTLE, Maria Theresa Of Austria
and Margaret of Navarro, the gifted
grandmother of Henry w of France
and then imagine finding a dozen other
women capable Of conducting govern
ments and commanding armies!
1t staggers the imagination as 10
the power Of heredity to build up great
and noble families, and it inspires us
with a vision and hope of what hu-
mainly could do were we willing to
follow the benefcent guidance Of ma
| ture And after all it Is not a new
thing in history. 1t has taken place
time and again. 1t took place In the
great families that ruled Babylon; in
/ the families that made "the glory that
was Greece and the grandeur that was
Rome; in the Ptolemies and Pharaoh.
| of Egypt and in the IncaS of South
| America who were the real creators OF
that miraculous and mysterious civili-
/ eaton. And 1t seems to me idle to i'm
/ agine it will not go on to the end OF
/ time. The building up of these great
/ cones" as Woods calls them, Of man
/ agerial genius is plainly taking place
| through economic, scientific and politi.
| cal forces in Europe and America to-
! day and this will, in my judgment, be
an immense factor in the rulership oil
| the world for centuries to come.
| But, after all, as I have said, the
! chief lesson of this vast drama Is fol-
our OWN personal uVeS, ana touches
! the grounds Of true, intelligent patriot
| ism. For this great lesson is that BY
/ unWise marriages and disobedience tc
! the laws Of heredity we can fill America
| with weakness and degeneracy, lust as
the Bourbons filled the royal families
/ Of Southern Europe; or by wise mar
r1ages in our own families we can peo-
pie America with healthy, intelligent
| virtuous people, which Is the only thint
that makes a nation truly great, Oh
| guarantees its perpetuity.