THE LEGISLATURE MEETS
At the first meeting of the Assembly--for the Legislature now sat no
longer at Albany but at New York--Masters arose as soon as the opening
formalities were over and read a bill of amnesty for all concerned in
the so-called riot of the preceding month. He stated that an identical
bill was being at that moment offered in the Senate, and moved a joint
session of both houses to consider it.
Peleas, the leader of the government, consented to the joint session,
but asked that the matter be referred to a committee. He pointed out
that the facts were not clearly before the house, and that it was
essential that a committee should investigate the facts and present them
in a report to the joint session.
Masters opposed reference to an investigating committee. He contended
that the very object of the bill was to prevent the issues, that had
caused their streets to be stained by blood, from remaining confounded
by personal animosities. A great institution had been attacked; that
institution was, in the opinion of many, of the highest social value. It
was possible that in some respects it had a lesson to learn; it was
important that the lesson be learned free from the heat of such bitter
hatred as must result from an attempt to punish those who had been
driven by misguided zeal to acts of violence. Already the investigation
had shown how far the desperate effort of those implicated to shield
themselves might distort facts; it had even been alleged--and his
strong, honest countenance glowed for a moment with indignation as he
spoke--it had even been alleged that the whole responsibility for the
attack rested not upon Balbus and his followers but upon a woman! He
would not waste the time of the house now by pointing out the diverse
reasons why an investigation was to be avoided. Obviously, what the
country needed, and he thought he could say asked for, was oblivion.
Why, then, an investigating committee?
Arkles next arose--and as he was known to be the spokesman of the cult
he was listened to with breathless attention. He altogether appreciated
the weight of the argument against an investigating committee just made,
but as had also been justly said, it was possible that the cult had a
lesson to learn. In order to learn that lesson it had to know the facts,
and the facts had not yet been properly determined. Moreover, something
was due to law and order. It might, in the end, be considered the better
course to allow the punishment which those involved in the riot had
already suffered, to suffice, and to allow oblivion to obliterate, to
the utmost possible, the whole matter from their annals. But the state
would not do its duty if it did not thoroughly investigate the crime it
was condoning; and though he regretted to oppose a man who had always
been regarded as a pillar not only of the government but of the cult, he
nevertheless felt it to be his duty to support the government in asking
for the appointment of an investigating committee.
Masters, who in his heart, though he could not admit it to himself,
feared the consequences to Neaera of an investigating committee,
maintained his opposition; Chairo, also, who desired to avoid, at all
hazards, the necessity of Lydia's appearing before such a committee, was
opposed to the investigation. Both were also influenced by the desire to
carry the bill promptly by a _coup de main_, if this were at all
possible.
The motion of Peleas was carried by a large majority, and the result
produced much discouragement in Chairo's ranks. Masters, however,
immediately arose and moved that in view of the importance of the
question and the impossibility of calmly discussing any other matter
until the fate of the amnesty bill was settled, the house adjourn, and
not sit again until after the elections and after the joint session of
both houses had completed its mission.
Peleas and Arkles both approved of this motion, and the passage of it,
with only a few scattering votes in the negative, to a certain extent
restored the confidence of the opposition. For if the government to this
extent recognized the importance of the issue raised by the amnesty
bill, it was possible that in the end some compromise would be agreed
upon that would give substantial satisfaction.
Ariston took no part in this preliminary skirmish. As we walked home
together he expressed to me his satisfaction at what had occurred.
Peleas had not displayed all the narrowness of which he was capable, and
the judiciousness of both Masters and Arkles indicated a willingness on
the part of both to bring the matter to a fair adjustment. I was myself,
however, concerned by the probability that I should now have to appear
before the investigating committee. My regard for Masters, as well as a
liking for Neaera, of which, in spite of her duplicity, I could not
altogether rid myself, made me unwilling to state all that had occurred
when I conveyed Chairo's message to Balbus. I had hoped that the passage
of the amnesty bill would have made the hearing of testimony
unnecessary; so I asked Ariston whether I would be compelled to testify.
To my great relief Ariston assured me that my peculiar position as a
guest of the community, made it quite possible for me to ask and obtain
a dispensation; he promised to arrange it for me.
On reaching our quarters we betook ourselves as usual to the bath,
which, at this season of the year, was warmed to a suitable temperature,
and after our plunge, as we lay upon our couches smoking cigarettes, I
asked Ariston whether he had seen Anna of Ann since our return to New
York.
"No," answered he, "it is difficult to see her; she is working all day
at the factory, in order to earn a full month's holiday later; she is
eager to complete the sculpture on which she is engaged; and that father
of hers never invites any one to his house!"
"I have never met her father," said I. "Her mother I have seen at the
Lydia's, but her father--what kind of a man is he?"
"He is a miser!"
"A miser!" exclaimed I. "In a Collectivist state! How is that possible?"
"It could not be possible in a purely Collectivist state; but as soon as
individual industry took an important development it became possible."
I was not clear about this, and Ariston, seeing the confusion in my
face, explained.
"Take this case of Campbell's, for example"--Campbell was the name of
Anna's father--"as soon as Masters got at the head of several industrial
enterprises and had obtained a valuable credit in the community,
Campbell saw that there was here a credit to exploit and a real service
to be rendered to the public, so he induced Masters to start a bank, and
the bank of Masters & Campbell is known all over the United States. But
Campbell can explain all this better than I can; and although Campbell
never asks any one to his house, we can ask him to ours; or, better
still, we can ask the whole family to dine at Theodore's--you must see
Theodore's; his restaurant is one of our institutions. Come," he added,
"let us go at once to their building; we may catch Anna of Ann in the
tea-room, and agree upon a day."
We dressed rapidly, and on the way I expressed my disgust at Anna's
having to work in a factory when all her time might, under other
circumstances, be given to her art.
"Are you quite sure," asked Ariston, "that the enforced rest from her
artistic work is such a bad thing? How much of Michael Angelo's time was
spent in the purely mechanical part of his art? Then, too, there is no
reason why she should be compelled to work in the factory at all. Men
are all obliged to give the required quota of work to the state, but
women have always been granted dispensations, provided somebody
undertook either to do their work for them or to relieve the state of
their support. Now if Campbell were not a miser Anna need never do state
work. And if Anna were to marry an industrious and capable man she need
never do state work."
I looked at Ariston significantly, and he caught my eye.
"I saw Irene yesterday," he said, "and we spoke of it. She is a noble
woman, and the eagerness and delight with which she heard me speak of
Anna made my eyes fill. She is altogether devoted now to her work in the
cloister; she is absorbed in her boy, who seems to combine all the vigor
of Chairo with her own gentleness; she teaches not only him but a class
of boys of his age, and is doing a splendid work there. I have quite
given up the idea that she will ever marry again."
It was pretty clear that, although Ariston was willing to admit he had
given up the idea of marrying Irene, he was not willing to admit that he
was seriously entertaining the idea of marrying any one else. So I
returned to our original subject:
"But how can Campbell hoard?" asked I. "Isn't your money valueless two
years after its issue?"
"Yes, but Campbell has made a money of his own; besides, before he did
this, he hoarded gold."
"But I thought all the gold was owned by the state and used exclusively
for foreign exchanges?"
"So it is--as currency; but the state could not refuse to allow skillful
workers in the precious metals to exercise their skill in ornaments, and
so there comes into the market not only state manufacture of gold and
silver, but also for some years past the products of individual
enterprise. Don't you remember the beautiful necklace Neaera wears?
Lydia, too; even Irene wears a heavy bracelet of solid gold.
"And do you mean to say that Campbell hoards ornaments?"
"My dear fellow, there is nothing unusual in hoarding ornaments; most of
the wealth of the Rajahs at the time of the conquest of India consisted
of ornaments and precious stones; and later, the hoarding of ornaments
by the natives constituted one of the financial difficulties with which
the English Government had to contend. Then, too, a miser is not
actuated by intelligence; he is the slave of an instinct--the hoarding
instinct. He must hoard something, and as there is no gold coin to
hoard, Campbell hoards gold ornaments."
We found that both Ann and Anna had left the tea-room, so we ventured to
the inhospitable door of their apartment. Anna opened it to us and
ushered us into a room where her father was sitting. He was a small man
with an intelligent face, but the hair grew on his head in a manner that
was characteristic; some people would have called him bald, but he was
not bald; the hair was extremely thin, so thin that it gave his scalp
the appearance of not being perfectly clean. He greeted us courteously
and inquiringly, as though we could not have called upon him except for
some definite purpose. So Ariston at once suggested that he and his
family should join us that evening at Theodore's.
"We should be delighted," said he. "But we are expecting our boy this
evening--Harmes."
Harmes was the young man who had been convicted of using violence with
Neaera and had been sent to the Penal Colony.
"You will want to spend your first evening with Harmes _en famille_,"
said Ariston, "so let us say to-morrow."
Campbell consulted his wife, and accepted.
"When does Harmes arrive?" asked Ariston.
"We are expecting him every moment," answered Campbell.
"To-morrow, then, at Theodore's at seven," said Ariston, and we left.
The absence of all shame as to the imprisonment of Harmes struck me as
remarkable, but Ariston soon set me straight.
"You are possessed by the notions that prevailed in your day--notions
that resulted in great part from the fact that most of your criminals
were poor and dirty. Your system created a residuum--a criminal
class--as surely as the thresher by sifting out the wheat leaves behind
the residuum we call chaff. And the residuum of your competitive system,
which recognized practically only one prize (that is to say, money),
necessarily consisted of those who being unable to earn this prize
became destitute; of these the most enterprising were criminals, the
least enterprising, paupers. This is the state of things to which
Collectivism puts an end. Because all work for the state all are
entitled to an equal share in the national income; there are no
destitute, no paupers, no criminal _class_. Indeed, it may be said that
the criminal, such as you were accustomed to see him in your police
courts, does not exist among us at all. Occasionally a man is tempted
beyond endurance, as in the case of Harmes, or in the case of Chairo and
his confederates. But if Chairo were convicted and sent to a penal
colony, he would on his release recover the social position to which he
was by his conduct entitled without regard to the fact that he had
served a term. No one would think of applying the Word 'criminal' to
either Chairo or Harmes. Of course there are men born among us, as among
you, with what may be termed truly criminal instinct--moral perverts who
take pleasure in causing pain. Such are rarely curable. They seldom
return to social life. They are treated like lepers. We try to make
their lot as little wretched as we can. But we recognize that the
happiness of the entire community must be preferred to that of these
exceptions; they are kept in confinement, and above all, they are not
allowed to perpetuate the type."
There was nothing new in all this. We were as familiar in my day with
this reasoning as Ariston. But we were dominated by our institutions,
our penal codes, our criminal lawyers, our prisons, and, above all, our
amazing doctrines of individual liberty, which vindicated it for the
criminal and disregarded it for the workingman. So that the industrious
were bound to as enforced labor as the convict all the time, whereas the
convict was periodically let loose on the community to idle and to
steal.