“But now something has been brought forth amongst us which certainly is as splendid as the conquest of the air: this which is to be announced now by me—this is the secret concealed in my hand like a costly present, with which I shall give you a great surprise.”
He took a step nearer to the edge of the platform and held out his right hand tightly closed toward the audience. All eyes and all glasses were directed to him, as if they expected to see some kind of a wonder-bird fly from his fist. His face looked also so promising,—there was a victorious smile hovering over his lips. It was a typical American face: smooth-shaven, with firmly chiseled features of Napoleonic cast, clear eyes, and glistening teeth. He opened his hand with a gesture of giving:—
“I bring you the news that we are able to increase and enlarge our common fund—increase it infinitely beyond all our needs, beyond all our powers of imagination. Rejoice, all ye who are here present, and all ye whom in the outside world my words may reach, among whom surely there are many poor and heavy-laden! Rejoice—we are all winners of the great prize! Some time will, indeed, elapse before the prize is paid over, but, all the same, the lucky numbers are drawn!
“Let me explain: Wealth consists not only in sufficient quantities of victuals,—although it would be a fine result if abundance of that should prevail in all places,—but it also consists in a thousand other products of human labor. On the whole, wealth is the product only of labor, not of money. Money is merely a conventional medium of exchange, nothing more. Its value is regulated by the abundance or the scarcity of what is on hand. Where there is no production, and therefore nothing on hand, then even the heaviest gold-piece has no value. Without labor nothing is produced; even the planting and the harvesting and the use of the spineless cactus demand the power of labor; and how much more of it is needed for the creation of a thousand things which beautify and alleviate the lives of the rich—buildings, works of art, means of intercourse, materials, implements, machinery. To have an abundance of all these things, what quantities of work—hence of working power—is needed! Do we possess a sufficiency of that?
“Now, then,”—again he extended his arm and opened his hand as if he were flinging something into the hall,—“now, then, here is another gift: the message of an increase of the universal treasure of working power—an increase beyond all necessities, beyond all our flights of imagination. What we need is a pitcher full, and what will be at our disposal is an ocean!
“This is not the place or the hour to make physical demonstrations in order to prove what I say. You must take my word for it. In a pamphlet, prepared for the occasion and containing all the practical details, you will find the clear technical and mathematical proofs. A copy of this pamphlet will be handed to each one present. Here and now I will only bring the fact to your knowledge that of late a new series of discoveries and inventions have been made. I will tell you of these and of the results which are expected to flow from them. Of some of them I myself have been the fortunate originator, others proceed from others. I shall mention no names, but merely explain the things themselves:—no, not explain,—bring them before you.”
The speaker made a long pause during which the pamphlet, printed in three languages, was distributed. A loud buzz of remarks exchanged, mingled with the rustle of turning leaves, arose. The excitement had been growing more intense from the beginning; there was a general expectation of something solemn, revolutionary, joy-conferring.
This word “general” can scarcely be said to include the dyed-in-the-wool conservatives, who were present in no small numbers; to such people new inventions are a torment—they antagonize and belittle them as much as possible; they are filled with distrust and depreciation in the presence of innovations—the new jolts; the new is dangerous. Not as yet perished from the face of the earth is the race of those who opposed the introduction of the railway on the ground that the trade between Grossmeseritsch and Jungbunzlau might suffer!
“Now what is he going to bring us—you probably know, Herr Helmer.”
Chlodwig stared up as from a dream. “What? who?” He had not taken the drift of Baron Malhof’s question; moreover, he had barely heard that man yonder on the platform, so deeply had he been absorbed all the time in studying Franka’s face and his own feelings. He, who had before been so passionately interested in the events of the world, he who in other circumstances would have listened with the keenest interest to the stimulating words of the young American, was now so completely under the spell of the two passions—jealousy and love—that everything else sank into a dim mist. Franka also was only partially attentive to what was going on. To be sure, she had listened to the conclusions of the lecturer, but in the background of her thoughts she was ceaselessly engaged with the questions of her destiny now so imperatively facing her, and the more the man on the platform spoke of the treasures of happiness beckoning to human society, the more insistent within her grew the demand that she herself should drain happiness in long draughts, and bestow happiness in lavish generosity, united to the man she loved....