. They rapidly grow to be like that which
they blindly worship. They harden like their money. They grow
metallic, yellow, calloused, unchanging, and soulless, like the coins
they heap up. There is the great danger to our country, Mr. President.
And it is against the human thought that produces such beings--thought
stamped with the dollar mark--that the Express opposes itself."

She hesitated, and looked in the direction of Ames. Then she added:

"Their features in time reveal to the world their metallic thought.
Their veins shrivel with the fiery lust of gold. Their arteries
harden. And then, at last, they crumble and sink into the dust of
which their god is made. And still their memories continue to poison
the very sources of our national existence. You see," she concluded,
"there is no fool so mired in his folly as the man who gives his soul
for great wealth."

"A very enjoyable little sermon, preached for my benefit, Miss
Carmen," interposed Ames, bowing to her. "And now if you have finished
excoriating my poor character," he continued dryly, "will you kindly
state by whose authority you publish to the world my affairs?"

"God's authority, Mr. Ames," returned the girl gently.

"Bah! The maudlin sentimentalism of such as you make us all suffer!"
he exclaimed with a gesture of disgust. "Hadn't we better sing a hymn
now? You're obsessed with your foolish religious notions! You're
running amuck! You'll be wiser in a few years, I hope."

The girl reflected. "And may I ask, Mr. Ames, by what right you own
mines, and forests, and lands? Divine right, I suppose."

"By the divine right of law, most assuredly," he retorted.

"And you make the law. Yes, divine right! I have learned," she
continued, turning to the President, "that a bare handful of men own
or control all the public utilities of this great country. It doesn't
seem possible! But," abruptly, "you believe in God, don't you?"

He nodded his head, although with some embarrassment. His religion
labored heavily under political bias.

She looked down at the floor, and sat silent for a while. "Divine
right," she began to murmur, "the fetish of the creatures made rich by
our man-made social system! 'The heavens are thine, the earth also is
thine: as for the world and the fullness thereof, thou hast founded
them.' But, oh, what must be the concept of God held by the rich, a
God who bestows these gifts upon a few, and with them the privilege
and divine consent to