13

income in the hope of being able to provide his wife
a carriage, (a motor-car wou’d be a more appropriate
example to-day, were the use of a carriage the sole
consideration? It is because of the eclat which the
carriage will give, that he enters on these additional
anxieties To be dist'nguished from the common
herd—to be somebody—to make a name, a position—-
this is the universal ambition. ...
We do not mean
to say that men act on the consciously reasoned-out
conclusions thus indicated; but we mean that the
conclusions are the unconsc'ously-formed products
of their daily experience.” According to Spencer,
then, men struggle to gain deference and respect
rather than the direct use of luxuries. Such a con-
dition opposes the theories of the socialists, who
would have us all enjoying an equal share of the
good thing; of life.
One of the best analyses of the motives actuating
gregarious man is contained in Carlyle’s extraordi-
nary
book “Sartor Restarus.” The Scottish author
has an eccentric German professor, Teufelsdrockh,
summarize the ambitions of his fellow townsman as
he looks by night from lr's attic window. Says the
professor: “Upwards of five-hundred-thousand two-
legged animals without feathers lie around us, in
horizontal
position's; their heads in nightcaps, and
full of the foolbhest dreams All these heaped
and huddled together, with nothing but a little
carp-
entry between them;—crammed in, like salted fish,
in their barrel, or weltering, shall I say, like an
Egyptian pitcher of tamed Vipers, each struggling
to get its head above others.”
Such was this cranky Scot’s idea of modern civili-
zation : “a pitcher of tamed vipers each trying to
get its head above the others.’’ Yet Carlyle toiled
more than most men to get his head above the crowd,
and no one emphasized more than he .the wor’d’s
need for leaders with their bead above the mass.
Carly
1
e would
say
that for all men to have their
heads on the same level brings that peril of democ-
racy—short-sighted mediocrity, lacking inspiratb
and ideals. Spencer would say
that to remove the
possibility of the hard working or exceptionally- gift-
ed man getting his head above others destroy the
incentive for work except of a mechanical and in-
different kind.
Proper respect and encouragement
should be given deserving individuals, least they
cease to strive. This applies to the underpaid engi-
neer.
Individuals as a philosophy lias been criticised
so severely since standardization and organization
became popular that its true meaning should be ex-
plained. Tt meansnot only oddity and self-importance.
nor refusal to co-operate merely for the sake of
being different; but it means the self-development ol
individuals able to think for themselves and requir-
ing little regulation and interference to
keep in order.
Spencer pointed out that placing men under re-
straints anti mechanical patterns develops molly-
coddles. He
meant, of course, mental mollycoddles.
—individual's of poor judgment and flabby initiative.
Another effect has been the wide discontent which
followed recent efforts to standardize human nature.
To ally this unrest, the men in power
in industry in-
creased wages and added luxuries to the factories’
welfare department, only to find that these brought
but
temporary benefit.
Charles S.
Myers in a recent paper
before the
British Ceramic Society recommended “psychologi-
cal management” rather than “scientific manage-
ment,” as a better method of suiting each worker to
his job and keeping him satisfied, since scientific
management tends to treat men as cogs in a ma-
chine, while psychological management recognizes in-
dividual talents and eccentricities. Likewise, an edi-
torial in the British magazine “Engineering,” argu-
ing for individualism, said : “The creative mind, in
short, to which
every great increment of wealth can
he traced, fits in badly with a communistic or a co-
operative scheme of society. The man of genius is
ever and necessarily an individualist.”
The point of all these arguments is that man will
always strve to get ahead, no matter what socialistic
or co-operative rules are laid
upon him, and that
this innate wish to Use above the herd is desirable,
and beneficial to society. The goavernmenr which
recognizes most clearly that exceptional individuals
must be rewarded suitably, and shown due respect,
will develop the greatest leaders, not only in politics
and statesmanship but in science and invention. The
industrial corporation which reward's most appropri-
ately workers of unusual ability will attract such
men, and the reward of higher wages or welfare
conveniences is by no means the chief incentive that
keep men satisfied. Working under an inspiring
leader, being encouraged to
express ideas about the
work, and being treated in a sincere and honest
manner, are considerations that move employees as
much as anything ehe. But these advantages should
not be flaunted in a way that antagonizes by its
very obviousness. Appealing to the individual, es-
pecially to the unusual, means leaving something to
his imagination; he does not like to be hu'stled into
admiration of the company, any more than he likes
to be catalogued as a cog
in a machine. After all.
men are human which makes them
appear otherwise.
13
THE CONCRETE AGE
October, 1920.