Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 84.djvu/550

546 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 standards of admission, greatly increased their enrollments, developed graduate 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 future. 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 multitude. 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 process. The contributions of the masses, while enormous in the aggregate, are small per man.

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:

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 effective 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, unobtrusive man may be lost to the public service. Tenure of office for a