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 244 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

his own. Moreover, if this experiment of exaggerating the com- mon man's sense of his own worth ends, not in a proud loyalty to ideals of duty, but in an overweening conceit, unleashing a baleful egotism, the parent of misrule and lawlessness, we shall, no doubt, get the Man-on-Horseback. But not until society finds control by means of its impersonal institutions its laws, faiths, disciplines, ideals, dogmas, and values no longer ade- quate will it fall back upon personal ascendencies and strive to patch together a social order out of the order every strong per- sonality creates about him.

IV.

How now is society able to avail itself of the control enjoyed by persons?

It is, of course, possible that such a control may in no wise comport with the ends or welfare of society. There is nothing to hinder an Alcibiades, a Napoleon, or a Burr from exploiting his fascination wholly for his private benefit, and not at all on behalf of his followers or of the group. In fact, to say nothing of the historical instances of hecatombs of victims, self-immo- lated to the greed or ambition of one man, we have but to look about us to see men worldly clerics, bosses, demagogues, and adventurers assisting themselves to the top by their magnetic power, coolly using their charm to disarm rivals or win allies as their interest may require. It is only because society soon inter- venes to check the growing ascendency of such dangerous ego- tists that the leaders who are permitted to attain historical dimensions usually possess some social aim and significance.

There is, nevertheless, a guarantee furnished by the very nature of the born captain. The qualities will, imagination, courage, preeminence which give him lasting ascendency imply largeness of caliber. They go with wide horizons, far- ranging vision, soaring ambition, and a passion for large objects, great causes, and enterprises of pith and moment. Quite apart from any love of others or devotion to the group, a great man is liable to a noble enthusiasm for labors which do not issue and