By
tacit agreement among human beings there is an unwritten law
against the exposing of this real reason, whose naked and ugly
face would put in sorry countenance professions of patriotism or
philanthropy or altruism or virtue of whatever kind. Stillwater,
the Attorney-General and Craig's chief, had a dozen reasons for
letting him appear alone for the Administration--that is, for the
people--in that important case. Each of these reasons--except one
--shed a pure, white light upon Stillwater's public spirit and
private generosity. That one was the reason supposed by Mrs.
Stillwater to be real. "Since you don't seem able to get rid of
Josh Craig, Pa," said she, in the seclusion of the marital couch,
"we might as well marry him to Jessie"--Jessie being their
homeliest daughter.
"Very well," said "Pa" Stillwater. "I'll give him a chance."
Still, we have not got the real reason for Josh's getting what
Stillwater had publicly called "the opportunity of a lifetime."
The really real reason was that Stillwater wished, and calculated,
to kill a whole flock of birds with one stone.
Whenever the people begin to clamor for justice upon their
exploiters, the politicians, who make themselves valuable to the
exploiters by cozening the people into giving them office, begin
by denying that the people want anything; when the clamor grows so
loud that this pretense is no longer tenable, they hasten to say,
"The people are right, and something must be done.
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