ACT I
SCENE 2*: PRESCOTT'S office has an air of magnificence. Seems high above the street. In an anteroom can be seen the BISHOP, waiting, LUCILLE, PRESCOTT'S secretary, a smartly-dressed young woman, is in the office, reading a newspaper. After a moment, BISHOP HOLDEN comes to the door.]
* This scene can be omitted.
BISHOP. I beg your pardon, [LUCILLE looks up.] Are you sure Mr. Prescott will be back?
LUCILLE. Yes sir.
BISHOP. You think I ought to wait?
LUCILLE. Saturday's a bad day. Why don't you come back on Monday?
BISHOP. I must see him today. If I can't see him here I shall try to see him at his home.
LUCILLE. [Quickly.] Then you had better wait.
BISHOP. Very well. [He goes out, sits down, LUCILLE begins to type; the telephone rings. Before answering, she closes door, shutting out the BISHOP.]
LUCILLE. Hello? Yes, Mrs. Prescott. Not yet, but he took the eleven-thirty train out of Washington and should be here any moment. [Listens.] At the Colony? I'll tell him the minute he comes in. [Hangs up.]
[In a moment the door opens, PRESCOTT stands in the doorway, with his back turned, speaking to the BISHOP.]
PRESCOTT. I'll be with you in a minute, James. [Enters and shuts the door.]
LUCILLE. Oh, Mr. Prescott! You had a good trip, I hope?
PRESCOTT. No. It wasn't very good.
LUCILLE. Oh, I'm sorry! And it spoiled your weekend, too.
PRESCOTT. Spoiled everything. Well, it can't be helped. Anything need my attention here?
LUCILLE. It's been very quiet. Your wife telephoned. She said she'd be at the Colony Club, and would you 'phone her there.
PRESCOTT. All right. Is that all?
LUCILLE. That's about all.
PRESCOTT. How long has Bishop Holden been waiting?
LUCILLE. About an hour.
PRESCOTT. What does he want?
LUCILLE. He didn't say.
PRESCOTT. Why didn't you tell him I couldn't see him today?
LUCILLE. He said he'd go to your house if he couldn't see you here, so I ...
PRESCOTT. Can't I get any protection around here? You could have said I was out of town for the weekend.
LUCILLE. I didn't think of that.
PRESCOTT. You never think of anything.--Send him in.
[LUCILLE goes out; BISHOP enters.]
BISHOP. Seeing you brings back old times.
PRESCOTT. I'm glad to see you, James. Although [Looks at watch.] If you'd let me know I might have kept myself free....
BISHOP. I won't keep you long.
PRESCOTT. Sit down.
BISHOP. Stanley, I'm in trouble. I've come to you for help.
PRESCOTT. [Wary.] I needn't tell you that anything in my power ...
BISHOP. You're a business man.
PRESCOTT. When there is business.
BISHOP. You believe in our American system of government.
PRESCOTT. Certainly, certainly. The system we did have.
BISHOP. So do I. Sincerely. I have the deepest, profoundest faith in our democracy.
PRESCOTT. [Impatient with the other's irrelevancy.] The world has not yet found anything better.
BISHOP. But unless we do something it won't last beyond our generation.
PRESCOTT. Nonsense.
BISHOP. Social unrest is growing. Young people, in their enforced idleness, are turning away from all that we have taught them.
PRESCOTT. [Annoyed.] Come, James. That isn't what you came to see me about.
BISHOP. It is.
PRESCOTT. You have been reading sensational papers. Of course a depression gives the radicals a chance to spread their doctrines. But there isn't any cause for worry. Prosperity is always a sure cure for radicalism. And things are picking up.
BISHOP. You are probably under the common delusion that all radicals are wild-eyed foreigners.
PRESCOTT. [Bitter in his thoughts.] If it wasn't for this foolery at Washington ...
BISHOP. So was I. But I find they are not.
PRESCOTT. We should all have been out of the slump long ago.
BISHOP. Many of them--the young ones--are good American stock.
PRESCOTT. The Administration proclaims its adherence to the profit system....
BISHOP. They have education, in some cases, background, but unfortunately no experience.
PRESCOTT.... and at the same time it insists on unfair competition with private enterprise.
BISHOP. As long as such men remain idle ...
PRESCOTT. So how can private capital be expected to make commitments?
BISHOP. I don't know.
PRESCOTT. But don't you agree?
BISHOP. Perfectly.
PRESCOTT. Surely, James, the depression did not hit you personally?
BISHOP. In unexpected ways, Stanley--in most unexpected ways.
PRESCOTT. On the contrary, the Church should have benefited. People in misfortune turn to religion.
BISHOP. But with empty pockets. However, I am not complaining for the Church. It is my son I am worried about.
PRESCOTT. Ah, yes. Kenneth. An agreeable fellow, Kenneth.
BISHOP. Of the six years he's been out of college he has worked only four months. Think of it.
PRESCOTT. Is he married?
BISHOP. No.
PRESCOTT. That's fortunate.
BISHOP. Perhaps. If he were married and had a dependent wife and children he might get architectural work in a government slum clearance project.
PRESCOTT. Exactly what I was talking about. The sooner the government turns the building industry back to private enterprise the better.
BISHOP. Kenneth's situation is tragic. He is a mature man, long overdue to take a man's full place in the world.
PRESCOTT. [Impatient.] Yes, I know--I know.
BISHOP. Yet he is classed as a dependent child.
PRESCOTT. Well, aren't you able to take care of him?
BISHOP. I have kept him from starving.
PRESCOTT. You realize, of course, that he is better off than many.
BISHOP. Keeping him alive is not the point. It is not enough. His spirit is crushed, his education unused, his manhood wasted. He is ambitious, wants to work, to establish a home of his own. He is strong, and he is capable.
PRESCOTT. Yes, yes, I understand. I deplore the waste. It is shameful. But in any event, these conditions won't last much longer.
BISHOP. They have lasted a long time.
PRESCOTT. Yes, longer than they should.--I wish I could help you, James, but I cannot.
BISHOP. I want you to give Kenneth a job, Stanley.
PRESCOTT. If I could, I assure you.
BISHOP. Any job. Anything that will make him feel useful and keep him occupied.--Surely in an organization like yours ...
PRESCOTT. At the moment we are doing no building whatever. One or two small projects; and a mere skeleton staff to keep my organization.
BISHOP. I saw in the papers ...
PRESCOTT. That I am interested in the mass production of fabricated houses. Yes!--And men associated with me are ready to launch large-scale production as soon as we are assured of freedom from competition with cheap government money and cheap government labor.
BISHOP. Then, surely ...
PRESCOTT. I have just returned empty-handed from a bunch of half-baked theorists who are heading us into socialism and calling it democracy!
BISHOP. With a view to your project going through, could you not take Kenneth on?
PRESCOTT. Impossible. My small staff has already done all the preparation that needs to be done. My hands are tied till these socialists in Washington are out.
BISHOP. But has not business been given a breathing spell?
PRESCOTT. I don't sell hot dogs. I build houses. People don't consume houses during a breathing spell.--I tell you I could put a capital of twenty millions at work tomorrow if we were guaranteed that in ten years, or even twenty years, we could get our money back.
BISHOP. But what do you fear? You just said you did not fear a revolution.
PRESCOTT. I don't. I fear the continuance of what we already have. Stagnation and semi-socialism.
BISHOP. When could you give my boy a job?
PRESCOTT. When a sound administration goes into power at Washington.
BISHOP. I don't dare to make him wait.
PRESCOTT. Then you must continue to take care of him.
BISHOP. It is not the cost of his living. He needs work. I can't provide that. You could, if you would.
PRESCOTT. Believe me, I would if I could.
BISHOP. You understand that the salary ...
PRESCOTT. James, I know that your son is a capable young man and I would like to have him here with me. But I can't make a job for a man when I have nothing for him to do.
BISHOP. You, must, Stanley. I can afford to support him, but he refuses to accept support from me any longer.
PRESCOTT. Well?
BISHOP. If you will give him a job, I will recompense you for his salary.
PRESCOTT. [Shocked.] You can't mean that.
BISHOP. I do mean it.
PRESCOTT. I am surprised, James--that a man of your principles and profession ...
BISHOP. I am in a very grievous dilemma.
PRESCOTT. I am sorry, but I can't do it. It is neither ethical nor wise.
BISHOP. I don't know whether it is wise or not. But I know my son is desperate. I know I have got to do something. I can't see that fine boy going about lost and unwanted, with no place in the world. I can't see my son turning to Communism--and helping to pull down not only your temples of money, but my House of God.
PRESCOTT. I am very sorry. I can't do what you ask.
BISHOP. If your plans go through, you would have a place for him?
PRESCOTT. [Impatiently.] Yes, yes.
BISHOP. Then until they do--for my sake, Stanley. For old times' sake. Because we were classmates.
PRESCOTT. But it's damned unethical! Do you realize ... [Telephone rings.] Hello!--Oh, hello, dear ... Yes, I am just leaving. I'll be there in a few minutes. [BISHOP takes out checkbook and writes.] I don't like this.
BISHOP. The ethical sin will be wholly mine. You don't know what it'll mean to my boy to be associated with your firm; you don't know what it'll mean to the girl. He's been engaged to her for three years.
PRESCOTT. I don't like it.
BISHOP. It means new life for two young people, life for them in our way of life. This check, Stanley, is for twelve hundred dollars. Pay Kenneth twenty-five dollars a week. When your plans go through, pay him whatever he's worth to you.
PRESCOTT. It's damned unethical.
BISHOP. There is a greater righteousness than business ethics. [Protesting still, PRESCOTT takes the check.] Good-bye, Stanley--God bless you. [BISHOP goes.]
[PRESCOTT stands regarding check a moment, then rings, LUCILLE enters.]
PRESCOTT. Take a letter. Mr. Kenneth Holden. You have his address on file. Dear Kenneth: Sometime ago you came in to inquire if I could find a place for you. I am glad to tell you that there is a vacancy here now, and if you are still looking for something the place is yours. The work will be ... [Pause.] to develop the interesting plans you spoke to me about, pending possible use of them in the future.... [Pause.] The salary will be small to start with, twenty-five dollars a week. Paragraph. You can begin work at any time....