“I was watching the procession,” spoke he. “I have seen the religious feelings of a large number of citizens publicly ridiculed and grossly insulted. Was that moral? Was it just? You are determined to oust God and religion from the schools; yet there are thousands in the country who desire and endeavor to secure a religious education for their children. Is it moral and just to utterly disregard the wishes of these thousands? Does it accord with a profession of humanity and freedom to put constraint on the consciences of fellow-citizens?”
“The persons of whom you speak are a minority in the state, and the minority is obliged to yield to the [pg 677] will of the majority,” answered Seicht.
“It follows, then, that the basis of morality and justice is superior numbers?”
“Yes, it is! In a state, it appertains to the majority to determine and regulate everything.”
“Gentlemen,” spoke Gerlach with great seriousness, “as I was a moment ago strolling over this place, I overheard language at several tables, which was unmistakably communistic. Laborers and factorymen were maintaining that wealth is unequally distributed; that, whilst a small number are immensely rich, a much greater number are poor and destitute; that progress will have to advance to a point when an equal division of property must be made. Now, the poor and the laboring population are in the majority. Should they vote for a partition, should they demand from us what hitherto we have regarded as exclusively our own, we, gentlemen, will in consistency be forced to accept the decree of the majority as perfectly moral and just—will we not?”
There was profound silence.
“I, for my part, should most emphatically protest against such a ruling of the majority,” declared Greifmann.
“Your protest would be contrary to morals and equity; for, according to Mr. Seicht, only what the majority wills is moral and just,” returned the landowner. “And, in mentioning partition of property, I hinted at a red monster which is not any longer a mere goblin, but a thing of real flesh and bone. We are on the verge of a fearful social revolution which threatens to break up society. If there is no holy and just God; if he has not revealed himself, and man is not obliged to submit to his will; if the only basis of right and of morals is the wish of the majority, this terrible social revolution must be moral and just, for the majority wills it and carries it out.”
“Of course, there must be a limit,” said the official feebly.
“The demands of the majority must be reasonable.”