The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1915-11-14
FIRST lMSTALLMENT
CHAPTER !.
Dear Barclay:

Dear Barclay:
Every individual voter feels that he
could run the nation better than those
appointed to do so by himself and thou
sands of others just like him. one voter
would put the tariff higher than 1t ever
was before; the next would abolish IT, But,
whichever type of thinker gets his candl-
dates into power, there remain always In
these United States millions of people who
have to be poor, dirty and discontented.
From this even a child would conclude
either that a vast majority of people are
doomed to unhappiness by the God who
made them or that vast majority OF pol
iticians are incapable governors AS TO
the first conclusion, we know nothing;
but as to the second we are certain be-
yond peradventure. With mighty few eN-
ceptions, those whom we put over us to
govern us are the most incompetent lot
of legislators and administrators in his
tory. For the most part they are men
vaguely trained to the law. they tax
better and oftener on n greater variety or
topics than the average man who is max
ing or trying to make an honest living
They make it their business to be con-
spCuous instead of the opposite, and so
get themselves elected. As body of men
they know practically nothing about any
thing useful or important, and their small
minds are so tangled with the little law
they know that they are unable to see
through the tangle into the heart of law,
which is justice. If lawyers could be
counted on to do right the pawnbroker
down the street and the shoemaker round
the corner would not have to be called
away from affairs, important to them, to
sit on jures and do Justice.
But the thing goes deeper. What In each
voters judgment is the one chiet thlnS
that is wrong with these United States?
There would be almost as many answers
as there are voters. I've asked lots or
men, and no two agreed, but l liked one
mans answer a lot. He said: "The chief
trouble with the country is that its citi-
zens have to pay taxes when they cnght
to be receiving dividends. And this he
said would be the case If from the start
we had been governed by our best minds
instead of by our worst; If as nation we
had been run from the beginning the way
Standard Oil, for instance, has been run
a trust"
am not standing up for the rapacious-
ness of trusts only for their efficiency.
AS nation we have been more rapacious
and dishonest than any trust that ever
lived This being so, and a blot upon us
that can never be wiped out, wrong OF
our own doing that can never be righted,
it is ten thousand pities that we haven't
been efficient, too.
country worth, as land, coal. OIL. forest,
gold, silver, iron, etc, etc? Only astron-
omers think in big enough figures to an
swer that. Anyhow, as nation we
grabbed, stole and cheated 1t all away from
the people who owned 1t. And then we
began to play ducks and brakes with 1t.
If from the start our resources could have
been handled by Rockefeller he-well he
might be a thousand times richer than
he is, but we've would none of us be
poor And our house would be clean and
efficient from garret to cellar. and not
gutted and creaky and full of vermin and
half the ceilings down.
Think of a whole country run as trust,
with employment at more than a fair re-
turn for every able bodied man, and fat
dividends for everybody in good years!
In such a state by force of public opin-
ion even a Bryan might be made useful
Even in Utopia there are offices which
have to be swept out.
If there is salvation ahead of us, in
stead of ruin, something of this sort will
have to be worked out from what is left
to us of our natural resources
Failing this those of us who are rich
enough and contented enough as lndivid-
uals will be pulled down from our high
places and trampled by an unreasonins
mob until there is no longer anything
stable nor anyone contented. The air of
this great city which we breathe is 10
per cent air and 30 per cent revolution. In
other parts of the country the percentage
of revolution is greater.
The only man with sufficient mind and
power to effect anything good is yourself.
But If you personally were to preach the
gospel of efficiency people would think
you were working, to put it bluntly, for
your own pocket This gospel then os-
tensbly must not come from you 1t must
-. Il, H1nsaHNn
then? From the poor, you answer. But
alas, my friend, even the champions of
the poor are open to suspicion.
This gospel then must come from
where7 Why, from heaven, of course,
whence all good gospels have come, or are
generally believed to have come And
seeing that we are in America, where
the women are given the best of every
thing, our heaven-sent messenger must
be a woman.
I see your gesture of horror. But she
shall not be as you see her. She shall be
young and beautiful and good and sim
cere. She shall not speak her own
thoughts but ours The masses will be
leve in her The classes may. and If
they don't they will have sense enough to
pretend to.
With you to help, l believe upon my
word of honor that can make this thing
happen. Will you help? What do you
think?
Yours as ever,
MILES STILLITER.
To this letter Professor Stilliter re-
ceived the following answer by return
messenger:
Dear Stilliter:
I'll help II you can answer one thing sat
isfactorily. To be a successful gospelist
the woman, as you intimate, must be sin
cere. She must believe what she breaches.
II she is sincere, how can she tell people
that she comes from heaven? You say
she must come from heaven in order TO
believe. 1t is quite a rigmarole l know
that you have been thinking and expert
menting for years toward some such end
as this But I am a business man, and
have to be shown
Yours with sincere interest p
Professor Stilliter answered to this:
Dear Barclay:
She only has TO believe that she comes
from heaven. II she can be made TO be-
leve that. are you satisfied? S.
That night the two men met by ap-
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