things so plain and so trivial.

SOCRATES - And when men own property they may do with it as they please,
and property which men own jointly they may visit and remain upon, the
one as much as the other.

PHAEDO - Unquestionably that is so, and we should do better to go to
sleep in the shade somewhere, than to spend time in repeating things so
simple.

SOCRATES - Be patient, Phaedo, and in time we may find somewhat wherein
we do not so perfectly agree. But, whatever property men have the right
to visit and remain upon, they are always free to use in common with
their fellow owners.

PHAEDO - Certainly. Will you never, O Socrates, have done with this?

SOCRATES - And Chinamen, therefore, have full right to come and live in
California.

PHAEDO (and the rest) - We will all see them in hell first.

And I am very certain that every Socialist in California will agree both
with the premises and the conclusion.

But we might try another course of reasoning by which we may perhaps
more easily reach the predetermined conclusion, and we will let the same
parties carry on the dialogue, which is a most delightful way of
reasoning when, as in the case of Plato and myself, the same person
conducts both sides of the discussion. It might run in this way: