Then the manager said, earnestly, "Charlie, what was it that drew over
four million American citizens of almost every known parentage from
every walk of life, and made them an army with one purpose? And what
was it that inspired one hundred million more to back them?
"I'll tell you what it was," he continued, when his companion did not
answer, "it was the Big Idea.
"Oh, yes, I know there were all kinds of graft and incompetency and
jealousy and mutiny and outrages. And there were traitors and
profiteers and slackers of every sort. But the Big Idea that focused
the strength of the nation as a whole, Charlie, was so much bigger than
any individual or group that it absorbed all. It took possession of us
all--inspired us all--dominated and drove us all, into every
conceivable effort and sacrifice, until it made heroism a common thing.
And this Big Idea was so big that it not only absorbed disloyalty and
selfishness as a great living river takes in a few drops of poison, but
it assimilated, as well, every brand of class and caste. It made no
distinction between officer and private, it ruled General Pershing and
Private Jones alike. It recognized no difference between educated and
uneducated and sent university professors and bootblacks over the top
side by side.
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