“I’m with you there, Major,” said Father McCormack. “I’m with you there.”
“Are you prepared,” said Dr. O’Grady, “to go back on the whole theory of necessary expenses? Would you refuse to allow the unfortunate secretary of a charitable society to refund himself for the postage stamps he uses in sending out his appeals?”
“Secretaries have nothing to do with us,” said the Major. “This is a simple question of right and wrong.”
“You haven’t quite caught my point yet,” said Dr. O’Grady patiently. “What I’m trying to explain to you is this: we’re in exactly the same position as the charity that’s getting up a bazaar. In order to make the money we want for the good of the town—the good of the town, mind you, Major—that’s a worthy object.”
“A pier wouldn’t be any good if you had it,” said the Major.
“A lot of money would be spent building it,” said Dr. O’Grady, “and that would do us all good. But in order to get a pier we must incur some expense. We shan’t get the pier unless we succeed in enticing a Lord-Lieutenant down here.”
“You will not,” said Doyle. “It’s waste of time writing letters to those fellows, for they don’t read them.”
“And we can’t get the Lord-Lieutenant down unless we have a statue for him to unveil,” said Dr. O’Grady.
“He wouldn’t come without he had something of the sort,” said Father McCormack. “That’s sure.”
“Therefore,” said Dr. O’Grady, “the statue is a necessary part of our expenses in getting the pier. So is the illuminated address. So is the bouquet. And we’re just as well entitled to charge what they all cost us against the money we succeed in making, as the secretary of a charitable bazaar is to debit his gross earnings with the hire of the hall in which the show is held.”