“What yer think of this ‘closed door’ business?” asked Flack.
“Goin’ a bit too far, in my opinion,” returned Gosling judicially.
Flack’s natural incredulity had inclined him in the same direction, but his colleague’s certainty swung him round at once.
“I ain’t so sure o’ that,” he said. “Looks to me as things is going pretty bad.”
“Bad enough, I grant you,” returned Gosling. “But there isn’t no need for us to lose our ’eads over it. Take it all round, you know, it’s pretty certain as things isn’t as bad as is made out, whereas, on the other ’and, the ‘closed door’ policy’d mean ruin and starvation for ’undreds of thousands—there’s no gettin’ round that.”
“Better a few ’undred thousands than the ’ole male population,” said Flack.
“If it come to that, but it won’t; no fear, not by a long chalk, it won’t,” replied Gosling. “What’s got to be done is to get the Local Government Board to work. We’ve got to ’ave a regular system o’ quarantine established, that’s what we’ve got to ’ave.”
It did, indeed, appear the most practical form of prevention at the moment; it is hard to see what other measures could have been adopted. The supporters of the “closed door” policy soon began to lose adherents. The scheme was obviously alarmist, far-fetched and utterly impracticable....