546 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



university with the administration of public affairs, and in bringing the 

 services of experts to the aid of the state, the people of Wisconsin have 

 manifested excellent self-control and have conclusively demonstrated 

 their capacity for self-government. The steady growth in popular favor 

 of the state universities of the entire central west is a most reassuring 

 fact. Dependent upon taxation for support and administered by boards 

 elected directly by the people, they have successively raised their stand- 

 ards of admission, greatly increased their enrollments, developed gradu- 

 ate and professional schools, and toned up the secondary schools. In 

 their standards of scholarship, several of them have become the rivals 

 of the older institutions that rest upon private foundations in the east. 

 There has been uncertainty at times, but the open discussion by which 

 these institutions have won their way gives them a most promising fu- 

 ture. To what more exacting test could democracy be subjected ? 



A wide suffrage does not do away with the need of leadership. Only 

 the exceptional man can express the feelings and thoughts of the multi- 

 tude. Because one man counts as much as another at the ballot box, it 

 does not follow that this is true in the formation of public opinion. 

 There are individuals who contribute in a conspicuous way to the proc- 

 ess. The contributions of the masses, while enormous in the aggregate, 

 are small per man. 



One mind in the right, whether on statesmanship, science, morals, or what 

 not, may raise all other minds to its own point of view — because of the general 

 capacity for recognition and deference — just as through our aptitude for sudden 

 rage or fear one mind in the wrong may debase all the rest. 12 



On the other hand, the scrutinizing eye of the multitude lifts the 

 plane of leadership to a higher level. In the words of Ex-President 

 Eliot : 



. . . the collective judgment is informed and guided by the keener wits and 

 stronger wills, and the collective wisdom is higher and surer in guiding public 

 conduct than that of one mind or of several superior minds uninstructed by mil- 

 lion-eyed observation and million-tongued debate. 13 



A new type of political leader is coming to the front, one who 

 knows how to address himself directly to the people. The opportunity 

 for the man who does all his work behind the closed doors of a committee 

 room is passing. The call is for men who not only have constructive 

 minds, but who, in addition, have the capacity for leadership and effec- 

 tive utterance on the stump. We are consequently witnessing a revival 

 of public speaking. Never before have good health and a good presence 

 been so indispensable in public life. The change that is taking place is 

 not wholly for the better. As a result, a certain kind of quiet, unob- 

 trusive man may be lost to the public service. Tenure of office for a 



12 Cooley, op. cit., pp. 124-125. 



13 Op. cit., p. 77. 



