HAGEN. I thank you. [Sits at ease in chair.]
PLIM. My point is, it's as Lord Alderdyce says... we have no hereditary aristocracy in this country, no traditions of authority.. . nothing to hold the mob in check.
IS. There is the constitution.
PLIM. They may over-ride it.
IS. There are the courts.
PLIM. They may defy the courts.
RUTH. Oh, Plimpton, that's absurd!
PLIM. Nothing of the kind, Rutherford! Suppose they were to elect to office some wild and reckless demagog... take, for instance, that ruffian you were telling us about... down there on the Bowery... [HAGEN starts, and listens] and he were to defy the law and the courts? He is preaching just that to the mob... striving to rouse the elemental wild beast in them! And some day they will pour out into this avenue...
RUTH. [Vehemently.] Very well, Plimpton! Let them come! Have we not the militia and the regulars? We could sweep the avenue with one machine gun...
PLIM. But suppose the troops would not fire?