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LK/VDKKS AND I.KADKKSIIIP.
There is no inoro interesting and im
portant question facing a people assum
ing themselves free and independent ,
than that of leadership , especially in
things political and in the business
world. True leadership is a very dif
ferent thing than the nominal head of a
party or a faction. Thpre are many
people whoso minds are of that anti
quated variety that thejT always look
backwards for light. The only beacon
light that can be safely trusted is within
self. The "golden days of old" never
were. The only cloth of gold is an
> . * active intellect , clad in the raiment of
pure reason. Nevertheless , there is
truth in the "looking backward" idea ,
, or better method. The truth in it is
* s
that truth is always the truth. Truth
never ages. Truth never wns born.
Truth is never young. Truth is not
and never was new. Truth is eternal.
Truth is the same today as it was yester
day. Error alone ages. Intelligence
alone is born. The intelligence of today
may not be that of yesterday. The
* force it manifests changes not. It is
the eternal energy. It is a truth that
in looking backward to primitive conditions -
* tions wo may discover the eternal in a
simplicity -that escapes our attention in
the complex social conditions of modern
life. That wo do not see the same truth
today is because of our ignorance of
self. We cannot look within and read
* ourselves. Could wo do 'this things
looking mysterious from their surround
ing complexity would bo found simple ;
"clear as the light of day. " No matter
how complex existing social institutions
may be they have the same fundamental
principle or truth at their bottom as
existed in the primitive and simple con
ditions of socialism. Prom the begin
ning to the end ill social institutions
have been , are and will ever be inspired
by the individual necessity to live and be
maintained by those having the might
to live for their personal preservation.
This is the fundamental truth under
lying all human endeavor , individual or
social. It is axiomatic with the biologist
that social life is but a larger and more
complex manifestation of individual
life , as individual life is but a multiple
complexity of Monad-cell-lifo. The
ontogenesis is but the conipeudial rep
resentation of the phytogenesis. The
individual is the personal representation
of the family tree.
The same is true of leadership.
To understand leadership we must
intelligently comprehend that all human
institutions , that socialism itself , is but
the result of the individual necessity to
live ; that they are of , by and for man ;
that they have been inaugurated by indi
viduals having self-maintaining ability
for their individual preservation and
, nothing else. Truly speaking , those not
having self-maintaining ability never
took any part in inaugurating and main
taining social institutions and hence
have no claim to rights in or under
them.
Self-preservation being the incentive
to and basis of all social institutions it
should bo self-evident that the true
leader should be , and is , he who repre
sents in himself more than any one else
in the community , state or nation , the
S"lf maintaining abilities of the people
In the primitive clan the blood relation
ship commune ; this was and is in
variably the case. In the coaiplex
modern state this fundamental truth
has become buried. Politically wo are
a nation of unethical , immoral perverts.
The truth of fundamental primitive
leadership is illustrated in our boyish
games before we have become intellect
ually and morally perverted through
traditionalism and machine corruption.
The "follow the leader" in our games
is an example of true leadership as it
existed in its primitive simplicity. It is
leadership based on national selection by
intelligent election and survival of the
fittest. Any other form of leadership is
usurpation of and treason to the funda
mental principle. The true leader rep
resents the self-protective necessities of
the people better than any one else. In
a certain sense he represents them bet
ter than all .the people combined. His
election is the result of the combined
necessities and intelligence of the pee
ple. Hence the faith of the people in
such a leader. Such a combination is a
social trust. Such a government is a
national trust. The much maligned
trusts are a true representation of this
principle. The watered trust is a usur
pation of the principle as machine
government is treason to it. Primitive
kingship or chieftainship was founded
on the "follow the leader" principle.
Hereditary monarchy and machine des
potism is usurpation of it. The true
leader is one who never puts himself
forward. Ho is the leader by natural
selection and not personal ambition.
He is the leader because born
to lead. The people discover it and
make him such. The United States
never had but one lender by natural
selection. The people confirmed it by
election.
Washington a True Lender.
None other approached to it. Wash
ington was the natural imperator of the
American people. Even Lincoln did not
attain to it. Ho was indeed president ,
do jure , but never do facto. Grover
Cleveland attempted it , but was not so
in fact. No other president has even
touched the garments of leadership by
natural selection. Jefferson was fac
tional president , a leader of the masses ,
but not of the peoplo. Lincoln was a
sectional president. All others have
been even less. They have been party
presidents , pushed into prominence by
bosses who are not true leaders and con
firmed by the demoralizing methods of
machine politics. It is to the fact that
Washington , like some clan chieftain ,
represented , beyond any other man , the
individual necessity of self-preservation
iu national solidarity , that he holds now ,
as he did iu life , "tho first place in the
hearts of his countryinnu. " Washing
ton was a leader who did not lead , in a
certain sense. He came to the front by
natural selection and the people main-
rained him there by popular election.
FTo never aspired to it. Ho had nothing
to lead , because the self-preserving in
telligence of the people put him at the
head of the nation as their incorporated
representative. He represented the in
dividual necessity to self-preservation of
every intelligent citizen. Henca he was
a true leader. This is why ho stands as
a unique personality in the history of
civilization. None other compares with
him except the great leaders in science ,
such as Newton , Darwin , Virchow or
Koch. They too represent the self-
preserving necessity of man universal.
Prom Caesar to McKinley no political
leader approaches Washington. Cicsars
and Napoleons never represented the
fundamental principles. The greatest
of monarchs have been usurpers of it
and traitors to it through personal
ambition. Not one has been like unto
Washington. Great as Lincoln was ,
broad as Jefferson was in his sympa
thies , they were not Washingtons , nor
were the circumstances such that they
could have been had they had his
idiosyncratic characteristics. Jeffersonian -
sonian simplicity never arose to the
dignity of Washington's single-minded
nationalism. While Jefferson was not
the father of factionalism in our politi
cal life that was innate in the people ,
he was the first to nurse it into organic
life. No man but Washington ever
the individuality
represented self-preserving
uality of a nation. Cromwell was
factional and ambitious as well. He
was a Puriton leader but not a leader of
Briton. Alexander , Crcsar , Napoleon ,
Grant were leaders of armies , but not of
men. Jackson was a leader of armies
and a demagogic leader of the masses
against the true welfare of the nation.
The apotheosis of Washington is a par
donable , that of any other leader dam
nable idolatry. The machine-raised
president is a false God , before whom
only the weak and depraved fall down
iu beggarly adoratiou. They are politi
cal dogs who snarl and bite at each
other while they fight for the crumbs
that fall from the machine-carved table.
FRANK S. BILLINGS ,
Graf ton , Mass.
Mrs. George O. Crocker of San Fran-
oisco has presented the Hopkins Art
Institute in that city with the Benzoni
marble group of statuary known as
"Tho Fall of Pompeii , " for which the
late Mr. Crocker paid $20,000.
