The peculiar kind of individual self-assertion which has been outlined
in the foregoing sections of this chapter has been adapted, not to
perfect, but to actual moral, social, and intellectual conditions. For
the present Americans must cultivate competent individual independence
somewhat unscrupulously, because their peculiar democratic tradition has
hitherto discouraged and under-valued a genuinely individualistic
practice and ideal. In order to restore the balance, the individual must
emancipate himself at a considerable sacrifice and by somewhat forcible
means; and to a certain extent he must continue those sacrifices
throughout the whole of his career. He must proclaim and, if able, he
must assert his own leadership, but he must be always somewhat on his
guard against his followers. He must always keep in mind that the very
leadership which is the fruit of his mastery and the condition of his
independence is also, considering the nature and disposition of his
average follower, a dangerous temptation; and while he must not for that
reason scorn popular success, he must always conscientiously reckon its
actual cost.
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