from his
seat at the keyboard of a calculating machine.

"Yes. Here they are."

"Thanks."

"Minister Philamon," the Faros announced.

"As I see it--as any intelligent man should be able to see it--the
principal contribution of atomic energy to this worldwide chaos was the
complete demoralization of labor," the gray-haired Minister of Trade
stated, flatly. "Output per man-hour should have gone up at least twenty
percent, in which case prices would automatically have come down.
Instead, short-sighted guilds imposed drastic curbs on production, and
now seem to be surprised that as production falls and hourly wages rise,
prices also rise and real income drops. Only one course is possible,
gentlemen; labor _must_ be made to listen to reason. This
feather-bedding, this protected loafing, this...."

"I protest!" Marxes, Minister of Work, leaped to his feet. "The blame
lies squarely with the capitalists. Their greed, their rapacity, their
exploitation of...."

"One moment, please!" Ariponides rapped the table sharply. "It is highly
significant of the deplorable condition of the times that two Ministers
of State should speak as you two have just spoken. I take it that
neither of you has anything new to contribute to this symposium?"

Both claimed the floor, but both were refused it by vote.

"Hand your tabulated data to Talmonides," the Faros directed. "Officer
Artomenes?"

"You, our Faros, have more than intimated that our defense program, for
which I am primarily responsible, has been largely to blame for what has
happened," the grizzled warrior began. "In part, perhaps it was--one
must be blind indeed not to see the connection, and biased indeed not to
admit it. But what should I have done, knowing that there is no
practical defense against the atomic bomb? Every nation has them, and is
manufacturing more and more. Every nation is infested with the agents of
every other. Should I have tried to keep Atlantis toothless in a world
bristling with fangs? And could I--or anyone else--have succeeded in
doing so?"

"Probably not. No criticism was intended; we must deal with the
situation as it actually exists. Your recommendations, please?"

"I have thought this thing over day and night, and can see no solution
which can be made acceptable to our--or to any real--democracy.
Nevertheless, I have one recommendation to make. We all know that
Norheim and Uighar are the sore spots--particularly Norheim. We have
more bombs