GEORGE W. GOETHALS 221 superior, or to his country, is disloyal to himself and to all that is hest in him. He believes profoundly in action, in taking responsibility.
- The world today/' he says, *48 above all else a practical
world and it demands results. What it is looking for is men who can and will do things. It is recorded of Lord Kitchener that, when during the South African Campaign a subordinate officer reported to him a failure to obey orders and gave rea- sons therefor, he said to him: ^Your reasons for not doing it are the best I ever heard, now go and do it I' That is what the world demands to-day." Above all, in his relationships with his fellow men, he has the true spirit of democracy. He beUeves in men and he be- lieves in the Nation. He believes, as he says, in being * * con- siderate, just and fair" with his associates, ** treating them as fellow members of the great Brotherhood of Humanity." And finally he beUeves that the incentive to achievement should be the sense of duty to one's self and one's country, not the hope of reward either in profit or in fame. His is almost the stem view of the old Stoics. "We are inclined," he says, **to expect praise or reward for doing nothing more than our duty, when as a matter of fact we are entitled to neither, since we have done only what is required of us." Such a man is not easily stirred from his purpose, nor de- ceived by popular commendation, nor shaken by popular dis- approval. "The plaudits of our fellows," he says, "may be flattering to our vanity, but they are not lasting; by the next turn of the wheel they may be changed into abuse and condemna- tion." Such, in short, is the man chosen for this great new task of national leadership. We may be proud in America of our broad acres and rich mines and wonderful forests and busy factories, but we are truly rich only as we can produce such men as Colonel Goethals, and give them the environment fav- orable to the exerdse of their largest powers.
