“Is it worse than politics?”
“Yes. Loyalty to one’s country is fed upon sentiment, or self-interest. Americans are a sentimental race—whether they know it or not—and Americans do not, as a general rule, want their country to pay them for loving her. Do you, Harry?”
“No, indeed, sir!”
“There are tens of thousands just as loyal as you are.”
“When women get the suffrage,” said Rose, “politics will be better and purer.”
“Oh, Rosie! are there not politicians enough in America, without women increasing the awful sum?”
“We feel compelled to increase it, papa. Noblesse oblige, if you will read sex for rank. I intend to be a Socialist.”
“Then you must become very rich, or very poor. Socialism is only permitted to the very great, or the very small.”
“What of Republicanism, sir?”
“It is highly respectable, Harry. Men who would be gentlemen cannot afford to be anything else; and I have noticed they are more Republican than Harrison himself.”