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Croly, Herbert David, 1869-1930

"The Promise of American Life"

And just because a leader cannot wholly trust himself to
his following, so the followers must always keep a sharp lookout lest
their leaders be leading them astray. For the kind of leadership which
we have postulated above is by its very definition and nature liable to
become perverse and distracting.
But just in so far as the work of social and individual amelioration
advances, the condition will be gradually created necessary to completer
mutual confidence between the few exceptional leaders and the many
"plain people." At present the burden of establishing any genuine means
of communication rests very heavily upon the exceptionally able
individual. But after a number of exceptionally able individuals have
imposed their own purposes and standards and created a following, they
will have made the task of their successors easier. Higher technical
standards and more adequate forms of expression will have become better
established. The "public" will have learned to expect and to appreciate
more simple and appropriate architectural forms, more sincere and
better-formed translations of life in books and on the stage, and more
independent and better equipped political leadership.


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