ABSTRACT
Symbols are often so useful and so mysteriously powerful that the word itself exhales a magical glamor. The limit of direct action is for all practical purposes the power to say Yes or No on an issue presented to the mass. The museums and the books of folklore are full of dead emblems and incantations, since there is no power in the symbol, except that which it acquires by association in the human mind. Distance alone lends enchantment to the view that masses of human beings ever cooperate in any complex affair without a central machine managed by a very few people. The words must be spoken by people who are strategically placed, and they must be spoken at the opportune moment. The people of the United States realize that it is our duty pledged on the fields of France, to join the League of Nations.
