第151章

Yes,he had mentioned me.That gave me a queer sensation.How is one to handle an opponent who praises one with a delightful irony?.We,the Dickinsons,Griersons,Parets,Jasons,etc.,had this virtue at least,and it was by no means the least of the virtues,--that we did think.We had a plan,a theory of government,and we carried it out.He was inclined to believe that morality consisted largely,if not wholly,in clear thinking,and not in the precepts of the Sunday-school.That was the trouble with the so-called "reform"campaigns,they were conducted on lines of Sunday-school morality;the people worked themselves up into a sort of revivalist frenzy,an emotional state which,if the truth were told,was thoroughly immoral,unreasonable and hypocritical:like all frenzies,as a matter of course it died down after the campaign was over.

Moreover,the American people had shown that they were unwilling to make any sacrifices for the permanent betterment of conditions,and as soon as their incomes began to fall off they turned again to the bosses and capitalists like an abject flock of sheep.

He went on to explain that he wasn't referring now to that part of the electorate known as the labour element,the men who worked with their hands in mills,factories,etc.They had their faults,yet they possessed at least the virtue of solidarity,a willingness to undergo sacrifices in order to advance the standard of conditions;they too had a tenacity of purpose and a plan,such as it was,which the small business men,the clerks lacked....

We must wake up to the fact that we shouldn't get Utopia by turning out Mr.Jason and the highly efficient gentlemen who hired and financed him.

It wasn't so simple as that.Utopia was not an achievement after all,but an undertaking,a state of mind,the continued overcoming of resistance by a progressive education and effort.And all this talk of political and financial "wickedness"was rubbish;the wickedness they complained of did not reside merely in individuals it was a social disorder,or rather an order that no longer suited social conditions.If the so-called good citizens would take the trouble to educate themselves,to think instead of allowing their thinking to be done for them they would see that the "evils"which had been published broadcast were merely the symptoms of that disease which had come upon the social body through their collective neglect and indifference.They held up their hands in horror at the spectacle of a commercial,licensed prostitution,they shunned the prostitute and the criminal;but there was none of us,if honest,who would not exclaim when he saw them,"there,but for the Grace of God,go I!"What we still called "sin"was largely the result of lack of opportunity,and the active principle of society as at present organized tended more and more to restrict opportunity.Lack of opportunity,lack of proper nutrition,--these made sinners by the wholesale;made,too,nine-tenths of the inefficient of whom we self-righteously complained.We had a national philosophy that measured prosperity in dollars and cents,included in this measurement the profits of liquor dealers who were responsible for most of our idiots.So long as we set our hearts on that kind of prosperity,so long as we failed to grasp the simple and practical fact that the greatest assets of a nation are healthy and sane and educated,clear-thinking human beings,just so long was prostitution logical,Riverside Franchises,traction deals,Judd Jasons,and the respectable gentlemen who continued to fill their coffers out of the public purse inevitable.

The speaker turned his attention to the "respectable gentlemen"with the full coffers,amongst whom I was by implication included.We had simply succeeded under the rules to which society tacitly agreed.That was our sin.He ventured to say that there were few men in the hall who at the bottom of their hearts did not envy and even honour our success.He,for one,did not deem these "respectable gentlemen"utterly reprehensible;he was sufficiently emancipated to be sorry for us.He suspected that we were not wholly happy in being winners in such a game,--he even believed that we could wish as much as any others to change the game and the prizes.What we represented was valuable energy misdirected and misplaced,and in a reorganized community he would not abolish us,but transform us:transform,at least,the individuals of our type,who were the builders gone wrong under the influence of an outworn philosophy.We might be made to serve the city and the state with the same effectiveness that we had served ourselves.

If the best among the scientists,among the university professors and physicians were willing to labour--and they were--for the advancement of humanity,for the very love of the work and service without disproportionate emoluments,without the accumulation of a wealth difficult to spend,why surely these big business men had been moulded in infancy from no different clay!All were Americans.Instance after instance might be cited of business men and lawyers of ability making sacrifices,giving up their personal affairs in order to take places of honour in the government in which the salary was comparatively small,proving that even these were open to inducements other than merely mercenary ones.