He led the way back along the deck and opened a door.
"This is my room," he said. "Come in. You should feel more at home here than I do, for it is an imperial suite."
The Prince assented gravely, entered, and the inventor, his eyes dancing, closed the door.
"Sit down," he said. "You may smoke," and he proceeded to roll himself a cigarette. "This is your first visit to America? Yes? The first thing you will notice is that not many Americans smoke cigarettes. Until quite recently, the cigarette was believed to be in some mysterious way debauching; no one but degenerates were supposed to use them. Even yet that is the prevailing opinion outside a few of the large cities."
"Most curious," commented the Prince, and blew a smoke-ring toward the ceiling.
"Outside of New York, which is fairly cosmopolitan, there is the same prejudice against wine or beer, or any fermented or distilled spirit. No public man, no teacher in a public school or university, no physician, no professional man—no man, in a word, who depends upon public opinion, public approval, for a livelihood—would dare sit at a table on the sidewalk and drink a glass of beer or a liqueur. He might do it once, and escape with the reputation of an eccentric; but to do it twice would be to brand himself as not trustworthy."
"Astonishing!" said the Prince. "Do you speak seriously?"
"Very seriously. Some of the states have even enacted laws that no alcoholic beverage of any kind may be sold within their borders."
"But," stammered the Prince, staring, "do you call that liberty? No country of Europe would dare enact such a law!"
"No; it is not liberty; it is government by the majority. The wonderful thing, the astonishing thing, the inspiring thing about it is that in this, and in all other questions, the minority accepts its defeat without grumbling and makes the best of it. That is the great lesson which the United States has for the remainder of the world. And, to preserve itself, it need keep no class in subjection, need draft no man for service in its armies—for it is a government founded on the consent of the governed."