“To the casual observer, or to him who regards the torch-bearer as an innovator luring away his fetish, and to the wise-looking owl that sits on the cemetery gate hooting at the passing train of progress, these novel experiments seem mischievous and revolutionary; but in the early future, the long-eared politicians of many lands will have to face the inquiry, ‘What has made Zelania the industrial paradise of the world? Give us a smile from her canteen.’
“She is changing the ideal, she is blessing the brick and the mortar of which the Temple of State is built.
“If the State is made for woman and for man,
You should make the man and woman—best you can.
“The fact that for a dozen years, the industrial machine of Zelania has worked smoothly, and that, while in other lands there has been much confusion, she has enjoyed an era of unparalleled progress and prosperity, should be some answer to the fears of those who, because ‘of old’ they made much gains in furnishing Diana with her stage outfit, are now feeling weary.
“However, should these laws fail to satisfy the aspirations of an educated people,” Mr. Oseba argued, “the agents of the ultimate authority would be instructed to adjust them to the popular needs of society, and the new patents would be issued.
“As a fact, of all people the Zelanians alone receive as much from, as they contribute to, their Government.
“I am not sure my children, not very sure, that in all cases these liberal laws have quickened the employee’s stroke. I am not sure that all employees are endowed with sufficient grey matter to appreciate the fact that every security or privilege conferred by law imposes reciprocal obligations. To emancipate a man, should ennoble him.
“A free man should scorn to soil his palm with an unearned penny. The law that raised the eyes of labor did not intend to direct them to the face of the town clock, and the law that forbade an employer demanding twenty shillings worth of work for fourteen shillings in truck goods, never meant that labor should take from its employer a gold sovereign for fourteen shillings’ worth of work.
“Justice and security should elevate the soul, sharpen the sense of right, awaken the energies and quicken the pace of all who fall under these benign influences.