e
implications of any kind of socialization? It would mean that inside
of five years, the Literates would control the whole government. They
control the courts, now--only a Literate can become a lawyer, and only
a lawyer can become a judge. They control the armed forces--only a
Literate can enter West Point or Fort MacKenzie or Chapultepec or
White Sands or Annapolis. And, if Chester Pelton's socialization
scheme goes into effect, there will be no branch of the government
which will not be completely under the control of the Associated
Fraternities of Literates!"

The screen went suddenly dark. Her father turned, to catch her with
her hand still on the switch.

"Put it back on; I want to hear what that lying pimp of a Slade
Gardner's saying about me!"

"Phooy; you'd have shot it out, yourself, if you'd had your gun on. I
saw you reaching for it. Now be quiet, and take it easy," she ordered.

He reached toward the Readilit for a cigarette, then his hand stopped.
His face was contorted with pain; he gave a gasp of suffocation.

Claire cried in dismay: "You're not going to have another of those
attacks? Where are the nitrocaine bulbs?"

"Don't ... have any ... here. Some at the office, but--"

"I told you to get more," she accused.

"Oh, I don't need them, really." His voice was steadier, now; the
spasm of pain had passed. He filled his coffee cup and sipped from it.
"Turn on the video again, Claire. I want to hear what that Gardner's
saying."

"I will not! Don't you have people at party headquarters monitoring
this stuff? Well, then. Somebody'll prepare an answer, if he needs
answering."

"I think he does. A lot of these dumbos'll hear that and believe it.
I'll talk to Frank. He'll know what to do."

Frank again. She frowned.

"Look, Senator; you think Frank Cardon's your friend, but I don't
trust him. I never could," she said. "I think he's utterly and
entirely unscrupulous. Amoral, I believe, is the word. Like a savage,
or a pirate, or one of the old-time Nazis or Communists."

"Oh, Claire!" her father protested. "Frank's in a tough business--you
have no idea the lengths competition goes to in the beer business--and
he's been in politics, and dealing with racketeers and labor unions,
all his life. But he's a good sound Illiterate--family Illiterate for
four generations, like ours--and I'd trust him with anything. You
heard this fellow Mongery--I always have to pause to keep from
calling him Mongrel--sa