The doctor smilingly interposed. "Let me finish and get this out of
my system. By their own confession, the commission's chief function
is to keep the majority in ignorance, which is said to be the same
thing as bliss. This man Ernol and his pitiful rebellion only serve
to prove the rule.

"In a word, the Capellans have carried the principle of improvement,
as opposed to reform, to its logical conclusion. They can go no
further."

"And why not?" challenged Van Emmon. "Because the fittest have
survived, on Capellette as elsewhere. These commissioners are the
fittest."

The doctor nodded gravely. "True enough, Van. But the point I want
to make is, the commissioners have put an end to the processes of
evolution. They won't allow progress. They stopped all that a
century ago.

"Friend, Capellette is a world that has given up. It has quit!"






VIII

THE UPPER CRUST