“Prophecies which you want to fulfil?”
“By no means. Sudden and sweeping changes are exactly what I deprecate; but when a form of government has once taken root, I don’t see any objection to its bearing leaf, flower, and fruit. I hope we shall always have a United States and a President thereof; though I might wish for a few more amendments to the Constitution.”
“All right,” said the evangelist. “Which am I to preach about first?”
“Whichever you most strongly believe to be right and just. For instance, take the trusts and syndicates; do you believe they are pleasing to your King and mine?”
“Well, you know, trusts—why, you can’t have progress without the freedom of the individual; and the freedom of the individual sometimes leads to some other individual being robbed and murdered.”
“That’s all the answer I want,” said Mr. Clare, laughing. “Well, then, our railroads and telegraph lines,—are they managed as they would be by a company of angels?”
“There are angels and angels,” said the evangelist.
“Are the profits arising from manufactures, etc., equitably divided between labor and capital?”
“That depends on your notion of equity, and who does the dividing.”
“Then it seems to me,” said Mr. Clare, “that you have a very fair collection of subjects for sermons on hand, in all of which our Lord Jesus, both as a man and as King of the whole earth, takes a deep and practical interest.”