lass readers and for their advertisers
too. They've run some radical stuff this year, and they're booming you
now to balance off, to show how 'safe and sane' they can be in the way
they look at life, at big business and at industry--as you do here in
the harbor. You're making gods out of the men at the top, you've seen
'em as they see themselves, and you've only seen what they see here.
You've missed all the millions of people here who depend on the place
for their jobs and their lives. They don't count for you----"

"That's not true at all!" I interrupted hotly. "It's just for them and
their children that fellows like Dillon are on the job--to make a better
harbor!"

"_For_ them, _for_ the people!" said Joe. "That's what I'm kicking at in
you, Bill--you treat us all like a mass of dubs that need gods above to
do everything _for_ us because we can't do it all by ourselves!"

"I don't believe the people can," I retorted. "From what I've seen I
honestly don't believe they count. The fellows that count in a job like
this are the fellows with punch and grit enough to fight their way up
out of the ranks----"

"I know, and be lieutenants and captains in a regular army of peace,
with your friend Dillon in command and Wall Street in command of him!
Isn't that your view?"

"All right, it is! I don't see any harm in that. It's the only safe way
that I can see out of this mess of a harbor we've got. These men are the
efficient ones--they're the fellows that have the brains and that know
how to work--to use science, money, everything--to get a decent world
ahead. What's the matter with efficiency?"

"Your latest god," sneered J. K.

"Suppose it is! What's wrong with it? What's the matter with Dillon? Is
he a crook?"

"No," said Joe, "that's just the worst of him. He's so damned honest,
he's such a hard worker. I've met men like him all over the country,
and they're the most dangerous men we've got. Because they're the real
strength of Wall Street--just as thousands of clean hard working priests
are the strength of the Catholic church! They keep their church going
and Dillon keeps his--he's a regular priest of big business! And he
takes hold of kids like you and molds your views like his for life. Look
at what he has done with you here. Does he say a word to you about
Graft? Does he talk of the North Atlantic Pool or any one of the other
pools and schemes by which they keep up rates? Does he make you think
about low wages