thought look bigger than it really is, something like the stage
device for making an ordinary man seem ten feet tall.

Thus he will never try to move the mass of the people as his
predecessors have. He will not "go to the country." He will not
bring public opinion to bear as a disciplinary force in his
household. He will treat the whole United States as if it were a
Marion, consulting endless "best minds," composing differences,
seeking unity, with the aid of his exceptional tact.

This attitude has its disadvantages. If you have a passion for
ideas and an indifference for persons you can say "yes" or "no"
easily; you may end by being dictatorial and arrogant, as Mr.
Wilson was; but you will not be weak. If, on the contrary, you are
indifferent to ideas and considerate of persons you find it hard to
say "Decided" to any question. And somewhere there must be
authority, the passing of the final judgment and the giving of
orders.

But he compensates for his own defects. Almost as good as greatness
is a knowledge of your own limitations; and Mr. Harding knows his
thoroughly. Out of his modesty, his desire to reinforce himself,
has proceeded the strongest cabinet that Washington has seen in a
generation. He likes to have decisions rest upon the broad base of
more than one intelligence and he has surrounded himself for this
purpose with able associates. His policies will lack imagination,
which is not a composite product, but they will have practicality,
which is the greatest common denomination of several minds; and he,
moreover, is himself unimaginative and practical.