personally popular, to seek social influence and private "pulls"; and
his whole life becomes that of a man who is selling his personality
instead of fulfilling it. His relations with his clients suffer from the
same general condition. They have come to him, not because they are
particularly attracted by his work and believe in it, but, as a rule,
because of some accidental and arbitrary reason. His position,
consequently, is lacking in independence and authority. He has not
enough personal prestige as a designer to insist upon having his own way
in all essential matters. He tends to become too much of an agent,
employed for the purpose of carrying out another man's wishes, instead
of a professional expert, whose employer trusts his judgment and leans
loyally on his advice.

Take, on the other hand, the case of the exceptional architect who
insists upon doing his very best. Assuming sufficient ability and
training, the work of the man who does his very best is much more likely
to possess some quality of individual merit, which more or less sharply
distinguishes it from that of other architects. He has a monopoly of his
own peculiar qualities. Such merit may not be noticed by many people;
but it will probably be noticed by a few. The few who are attracted will
receive a more than usually vivid impression. They will talk, and begin
to create a little current of public opinion favorable to the designer.
The new clients who come to him will be influenced either by their
appreciation of the actual merit of the work or by this approving body
of opinion. They will come, that is, because they want _him_ and believe
in his work. His own personal position, consequently, becomes much more
independent and authoritative than is usually the case. He is much less
likely to be embarrassed by ignorant and irrelevant interference. He can
continue to turn out designs genuinely expressive of his own individual
purpose. If he be an intelligent as well as a sincere and gifted
designer, his work will, up to a certain point, grow in distinction and
individuality; and as good or better examples of it become more
numerous, it will attract and hold an increasing body of approving
opinion. The designer will in this way have gradually created his own
special public. He will be molding and informing the architectural taste
and preference of his admirers. Without in any way compromising his own
standards, he will have brought himself into a constructi