Albert J. Beveridge - The Young Man and the World
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Albert J. Beveridge >> The Young Man and the World
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They do require, however, that their opinions shall be taken into
account as to appointments to office made from their county, and of
course they make their opinions felt in all nominating conventions.
Without these men our "American institutions" would look beautiful on
paper but they would work haltingly. They would move sluggishly. They
might even rust, and fall to pieces from decay.
This much space has been given to the political precinct committeeman
because, as I have said, he is a type. He is the man who sees that the
"citizen" does not forget his citizenship. This great body of men,
fresh from the people, of the people, living among the people, are
perpetually renewed from the ranks of the people.
All this occurs, as has been said, by a process of natural selection.
The same process selects from this great company of "workers" county,
district, and state committeemen--county, district, and state
chairmen. And the process continues until it culminates in our great
National committees, headed by masterful captains of popular
government, under whose generalship the enormous work of National and
state campaigns is conducted.
Very well. If you appreciate your Americanism, young man, show it by
being a part of American institutions. Be one of these precinct
committeemen, or a county committeeman, or a state committeeman, or a
worker of some kind. If _you_ do not, a bad man will; and that will
mean bad politics and bad government.
You see, this whole question of good government is right up to _you_.
_You_ are the remedy for bad government, young man--_you_ and not
somebody else, not some theory. So be a committeeman or some sort of a
"worker" in real politics. Help run our institutions _yourself_, or,
rather, be a part of our institutions yourself.
If you have neither the time nor aptitude for such active work, at
least be a citizen. That does not mean merely that you shall go to the
polls to vote. It does not even mean that you shall go to the
primaries only. It means a great deal more than that.
At the very least be a member of an active political club which is
working for your party's success. There are such clubs in most wards
of our cities.
They are the power-houses of our political system. Party sentiment
finds its first public expression there--often it has its beginnings
there in the free conversations which characterize such American
political societies. You will find the "leaders" gathering there, too;
and in the talks among these men those plans gradually take form by
which nominations are made and even platforms are formulated.
These "leaders" are men who, in the practical work of politics,
develop ability, activity, and effectiveness. There is a great deal of
sneering at the lesser political leaders in American politics. They
are called "politicians," and the word is used as a term of reproach,
and sometimes deservedly. But ordinarily these "leaders," especially
in the country districts of the Republic, are men who keep the
machinery of free institutions running.
The influence of no boss or political general can _retain_ a young man
in leadership. Favoritism may give you the place of "local leader";
but nothing but natural qualities can keep you in it. The more we have
of honest, high-grade "local leaders," the better.
Whether you, young man, become one or not, you ought at least to be a
part of the organization, and work with the other young men who are
leaders. But be sure to make one condition to your fealty--require
them to be honest.
"I have no time for politics," said a business man; "it takes all my
time and strength to attend to my business."
That means that he has no time for free institutions. It means that
this "blood-bought privilege" which we call "the priceless American
ballot" is not worth as much to him as the turning of a dollar, or
even as the loss of a single moment's personal comfort.
"Come down to the club to-night; we are going to talk over the coming
campaign," said one man to another in an American city of moderate
size and ideal conditions.
"Excuse me," was the answer; "we have a theater party on hand
to-night."
Yes; but while the elegant gentleman of society enjoys the witty
conversation of charming women, and while the business man is
attending to his personal affairs and nothing else, the other fellows
are determining nominations, and under the direction of able and
creative political captains shaping the policies of parties, and in
the end the fate of the Nation.
Of course that is all right if that is your conception of American
citizenship. But if this is going to be "a government of the people
and by the people," _you_, as one of the people, have got to take part
in it. That means you have got to take part in it _all the time_.
Occasional spasms of violent civic virtue amount to little in their
permanent results. They only scare bad men for a day or two. Their
very ardor soon burns them out. The citizen has got to do more than
that--he has got to take an every-day-and-every-week interest in our
civic life. If he does not, our brave and beautiful experiment in
self-government will surely fail and we shall be ruled not even by a
trained and skilful tyrant, but by a series of coarse and corrupt
oligarchies.
In ancient Israel a certain proportion of the year's produce was given
to the Temple. In like manner, if popular government means anything to
you, you have got to give up a certain portion of your time and money
to _being a part_ of this popular government.
Just this is the most important matter in our whole National life.
Recently there died the greatest master of practical politics America
has produced. Firmly he had kept his steel hand upon his state for
thirty years. A dozen times were mighty efforts made to break his
over-lordship. Each time his resourcefulness, audacity, and genius
confounded his enemies. But finally that undefeated conqueror, Death,
took this old veteran captive.
He left an able successor in his seat of power, but a man without that
prestige of invulnerability which a lifetime of political combat and
victory had given the deceased leader. "Here," said every one, "is an
opportunity to overthrow the machine." Within a few months an election
occurred--not a National election, but one in which the "machine"
might have been crippled.
But, _mirabile dictu_, the "good people," the "reformers," the
"society" and "business" classes, _did not come out to vote_. They not
only formed no plans to set up a new order of things, _they did not
even go to the polls_. Yet these were the descendants of the men who
founded the Nation and who set free institutions in practical
operation.
This shows how American institutions, like everything else, have in
themselves the seeds of death if they are not properly exercised. When
the great body of our citizens become afflicted with civic paralysis,
it is the easiest thing in the world for the strong and resourceful
"boss," by careful selection of his precinct committeemen and other
local workers all over his state, to seize power--legislative,
executive, and even judicial. It has been done more than once in
certain places in this country.
Where it is successful, _the Republic no longer endures_. The people
no longer rule; an oligarchy rules in the name of the people. And
where this is true, the people deserve their fate. And so, young man,
if you do not expect this fate to overtake the entire country, _you_
have got to get right into "the mix of things."
_You_, I say, not some other man, but _you_, _you_, _you_. _You_--you
yourself--YOU are the one who is responsible. Quit your
aloofness. Get out of any clubs and desert all associations which
sneer at active work in ward and precinct. Do not get political
locomotor ataxia.
It was a fine thing that was said by a political leader to a
singularly brilliant young man from college who, with letters of
unlimited indorsement from the presidents of our three greatest
universities, asked for a humble place in the diplomatic service. He
wanted to make that service his career.
"I like your style," said the man whose favor the young fellow was
soliciting. "Your ability is excellent, your recommendations perfect,
your character above reproach, your family a guarantee of your moral
and mental worth. But you have done nothing yet among real men.
"Go back to your home; get out of the exclusive atmosphere of your
perfumed surroundings; join the hardest working political club of
your party in your city; report to the local leader for active work;
mingle with those who toil and sweat.
"Do this until you 'get a standing' among other young men who are
doing things. Thus you will get close to the people whom, after all,
you are going to represent. Also this contact with the sharp, keen
minds of the most forceful fellows in your town will be the best
training you can get for the beginning of your diplomatic career."
"Now let me tell you this," said President Roosevelt to this same
young man: "You may have a small under-secretaryship; but let me tell
you this," said he; "do not take it just yet. You are only out of
college. Take a postgraduate course with the people. Get down to
earth. See what kind of beings these Americans are. Find out from
personal contact.
"If you belong to exclusive clubs, quit them, and spend the time you
would otherwise spend in their cold and unprofitable atmosphere in
mingling with the people, the common people, merchants and street-car
drivers, bankers and working men.
"Finally, when you get your post, do as John Hay did--resign in a
year, or a couple of years, and come home to your own country, and
again for a year or two get down among your fellow Americans. In
short," said he, "be an American, and never stop being an American."
That is it, young man--that is the whole law and the gospel of this
subject. Be an American. And do not be an American of imagination. You
cannot be an American by seeing visions and dreaming dreams. You
cannot be an American by reading about them. Professor Munsterberg's
volume will not make you an American any more than a study of tactics
out of a book will make you a soldier.
It is the field that makes you a soldier. It is marching shoulder to
shoulder with other soldiers that makes you a soldier. It is mingling
with other Americans that makes you an American. Our eighty millions
will make you American. Keep close to them. The soil will make you
American. Keep close to it.
Utilize your enthusiasms. Do not neutralize them by permitting them to
be vague and impersonal. Be for men and against men. Be for policies
and against policies. And remember always that it is far more
important to be for somebody and something than to be against.
There is an excellent though fortunately a small class of citizens in
this and every other country who are never for anybody but always
against somebody. Frequently these men are right in their opposition;
but their force is dissipated because they are habitually negative.
I know of nothing better for a young man's character than that he
should become the admirer and follower of some noted public man. Let
your discipleship have fervor. Permit your youth to be natural. But be
sure that the political leader to whom you attach yourself is worthy
of your devotion.
Usually this will settle itself. Public men will impress you not only
by their deeds, words, and general attitude; but also through a sort
of psychic sense within you which illumines and interprets all they
say and do, and makes you understand them even better than their
spoken words.
This subconscious intelligence which the people come to have of a
public man is seldom wrong.
Somehow or other the people know instinctively those who really are
unselfishly devoted to the Nation's interest. _In the end_ they never
fail to know the man who is honest.
This instinctive estimate of the qualities of mind and soul of public
men will probably select for you the captain to whom you are to give
your allegiance. Be faithful and earnest in your championship of him.
In this way you make your political life personal and human.
You give to the policies in which you believe the warmth and vitality
of flesh and blood. And, best of all, you increase within yourself
human sympathies and devotions, and thus make yourself more and more
one of the people who in due time, in your turn, it may be your duty
to lead, if the qualities of leadership are in you.
This matter of leadership among public men is becoming more and more
important, because personality in politics is meaning more every day.
Obeying generally, then, your instinct as to the public men whom you
intend to follow, subject your choice to the corrective of cold and
careful analysis.
It is probably true that the greatest danger of our future is the
peril of classes, and inseparably connected with classes the menace of
demagogy. The last decade has revealed signs that the demagogue, in
the modern meaning of that word, is making his appearance in American
civic life.
Such men always seize the most attractive "cause" as argument to the
people for their support. They are quite as willing to pose as the
especial apostles of righteousness and purity as they are to enact the
character of the divinely appointed tribunes of patriotism. Whatever
the political fashion of the day may be, your demagogue will appeal to
it. It makes no difference what methods he finds necessary to use, so
that he can achieve the power and consequence which is his only
purpose.
If the ruling tendency be for honesty, these men will make that serve
their purpose, or commercialism, or expansion, or war, or peace, or
what not. There is no conviction about them. Sometimes such a man will
represent himself as a great conservative. He does this not because he
is conservative (sometimes he does not even know what that word really
means), but because he thinks by associating his name with this word
he can capture the "solid" elements among the people, business men and
the like.
These illustrations can be multiplied without limit. They are as
numerous as the "issues" which can be used to influence the people.
Beware of the demagogue in whatever guise he presents himself. Look
out for the play-actor in politics. Whether he wear the cloth of the
pulpit, the uniform of the soldier, the garment of the reformer, he is
always the same at heart, never for the people, always for himself;
never for the Nation and the future, always for power and the present.
Make sure, then, that the captain whom you elect to follow is above
all other things sincere. Insist upon his being genuine. See to it
that he is intellectually honest. I do not mean that he should be
honest in money matters alone, or in telling the truth merely. I mean
that he should be square with himself, as well as with you and the
world. When a public man is honest and in earnest, you know it--know
it without knowing why.
It is safe to follow such a man as this even when you do not agree
with all of his public views. You know that he is honest about them;
and a man who is honest _within himself_ will change his views, no
matter how dear they may be to him, when he finds that he is mistaken
about them. The first and last essential of the men who are to voice
the opinion and enact the purposes of the American people is an
honesty so perfect that it is unconscious of itself.
"He does not deserve the least credit for being square," said Dr.
Albert Shaw, the eminent editor, scholar, and publicist, concerning a
public man; "he was born that way. His mind is so upright that he
cannot help saying what he thinks. It would be impossible for him to
tell you or the people a falsehood. He is truth personified. His
honesty works as naturally as his heart beats, quite free from the
influences of his will."
That is the kind of a political leader you ought to attach yourself
to, while your young days last and your political and civic character
is forming. But follow no man who is striving merely to advance his
personal interests. What are they to you? Be sure that the man you
choose for your chief is trying to do something for the Nation rather
than for himself.
Of course you will belong to some political party. That is all right.
Be a partizan. And be a hearty partizan while you are about it. But do
not be a narrow one. Never forget that parties are only modes of
political action. They are not sacred, therefore. So never mistake
partizanship for patriotism. Remember always that your only reason for
belonging to any particular party is because you find that the best
method of being an American.
When your party is fundamentally wrong on some absolutely vital
question of _principle_ which affects the fate of the Republic, do not
hesitate to leave it. It has ceased to be of any use to you. Because
your political association has been with certain men is no reason at
all for continuing it. Or, rather, it is purely a sentimental reason,
like that which makes the companionship of friends so dear, or the
comradeship of soldiers so lasting.
But do not break away from your party merely because you think it
wrong on minor questions. _If you think its general tendency right,
stay loyally with it through its common mistakes._ Try to prevent
those mistakes within the party. Fight like a man to make your party
take the right course on every question, big or little, as you see it.
But when you are unable to convince the majority of your party
associates that they are wrong; when they think that you are the
person who is wrong, fall in line with them and march in the ranks,
battling even more vigorously than you would had you prevailed. If the
majority were right and you were wrong, you ought to help execute
their views. If the majority were wrong and you were right, the
earlier that fact is demonstrated the better for you and everybody.
So keep step with your rank and file, whether your party does what you
think it ought to do or not on matters of passing moment. But I
repeat, on large issues which come to your conscience--_on questions
which you think affect the destiny of the Nation_, you are a traitor
to the Republic if, in spite of your convictions, you stand by your
party and against your country.
But to break with your party on minor issues is foolish. A certain
class is coming to regard leaving one's party as a smart thing. But it
is not a smart thing. Quitting your party does not necessarily mean
independence. It may mean that, and then again it may mean stupidity;
and still again it may only mean a "sore head," as the political
phrase has it.
In a country as old as ours there finally comes to be in politics a
fundamental division. There is the constructive and progressive on the
one side, and the destructive and reactionary on the other side. These
are merely the centripetal and centrifugal forces of nature at work in
human society. Usually it is found that one of these parties is
naturally the Governing Party, and the other one is naturally the
Party of Opposition.
Not only your judgment but your instincts will tell you, young man, to
which one of these forces you belong. Each has its uses. You can well
serve your country in either organization. It is merely a question as
to whether you are in character and temperament a builder, a doer of
things, or a critic of things done and the doing of them. Each is
necessary.
I have no quarrel with your partizan creed, no matter what it is. That
is your business. But whatever you are, be National. Be broad. Do not
be deceived by catchwords. Remember that this is a Nation in the
making. When the first railroad was built across the boundaries of
states it modified old-time interpretations of our Constitution.
Telegraph and telephone wires, steam and electric railways, all the
means of instantaneous communication which this wizard-like age of
ours is weaving from ocean to ocean, are consolidating the American
people into a single family.
Natural conditions and the ordinary progress of industry and invention
are making old methods inadequate and unjust. So keep abreast of the
growing Nation in your political thinking. Solve all American
problems from the view-point of the Nation, and not from the
view-point of state or section. Consider the American people _as_ a
People, and not as a lot of separate and hostile communities. Be
National. Be an American. Know but one flag.
Whatever party you belong to, and whatever your views on public
questions, you will never make a profound mistake as long as you keep
your civic ideals high and pure. Believe in the mission of the
American people. Have faith in our destiny. Never question that this
Republic is God's handiwork, and that it will surely do His will
throughout the earth.
Understand that we are not living for to-day alone. Keep in mind the
future--the tasks, opportunities, and rewards of which for the
American people will make our large performances of to-day seem like
mere suggestions. Strive to make yourself worthy of this Nation of
your ideals.
And of all your ideals, let the Nation itself be the noblest. Fear not
lest you pitch your thought too high for American realities and
possibilities. No single mind can scale the heights the American
people will finally conquer. No single imagination can compass the
American people's combined activity, power, and righteousness even at
this present moment.
We have defects and deficiencies; fear not, they will be remedied and
supplied. We have perplexities and problems; fear not, they will be
untangled and solved. We have burdens, foreign and domestic; fear not,
we will bear them to the place appointed, and, at the hands of the
Master who gave us those burdens to carry, receive the reward for the
well-doing of our work, and, strengthened by our labor, go on to
heavier and nobler tasks which He will have ready and waiting for us.
For this Nation of ours is here for a purpose. He did not give us our
liberty for nothing, or our location or our physical resources, or any
element of our material, intellectual, or spiritual power. No, the
Father of Lights has thus highly endowed us that we may do the very
things which are at our hands to-day, and those other and greater
things which will follow. It is for us Americans to solve the problems
that confront us now, and the still harder and deeper ones that we do
not yet behold; and we will solve them, never doubt. Live up to this
ideal of your Nation's place and purpose in the world, young man. Be
an American.
CHAPTER XI
THE WORLD AND THE YOUNG MAN
There has been much counseling of the young man respecting the world.
But what of counseling the world respecting the young man? Do not men
and women riper in years and richer in experience need to have their
attention called to the young man and the potentialities of him. He
faces the world with vigor, courage, and faith--this stout-hearted,
hopeful young fellow with To-morrow and all its possibilities coiled
up in his brain and heart.
The young man is the future incarnate. His soul is the abiding-place
of uplifting ideals, and the world--that vast collective individuality
to which you and I belong--too often dispels those sensitive
enthusiasms by its neglect or disapproval. Do we not find in our daily
speech a certain cynicism toward youth? Does not our skeptic wisdom
paste the label "illusions" over the word "ideals" written on the
young man's brow? Is there not a refusal to recognize young manhood's
force until it compels recognition by sheer mastery?
If so, it is a fault that the world should remedy. Not that the young
man should not prove himself before the world accepts him; not that he
should not win his spurs before he is knighted. No one insists that he
shall "make good" more than I do. But in the testing of him, let us
give him the help of our kindly attention. Let us lend him the
encouragement of our applause as he rides into the lists.
Countless young men have been needlessly discouraged by the
indifference of the occupied and the sneers of the calloused. Let us
not be so chary of our sympathy. Faith in most young men is a much
safer hazard than infidelity. For all things strong and pure and
helpful to the world _may_ be possible of those young fellows who
must, in any event, very soon possess the earth.
So let not the frost of the world's unconcern fall upon young
manhood's unfolding powers. Let us beware how we extinguish the
feeblest of youth's idealisms. Let us check not the onset of his
knight-errantry. And the world does these things--not purposely, not
even knowingly, but thoughtlessly. Many a young man has had his
life's work kept back and the ardor of it chilled by rebuff at the
beginning.
Many another has had his faith in God and humanity and the
effectiveness of the eternal verities in the world's work enfeebled
and even shattered by what he felt was the world's disbelief in them.
No statistician can collect and classify the instances of young lives
impaired by the heedlessness and insensibility of the mature to the
beatitudes which glorify all youth.
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