ways it is. That's where the fun of it comes in. Yet, there are times
when it looks to me more like a series of combats, hand-to-hand fights
for life, and fierce struggles between men and strange powers. You buy
your newspaper and that's your ticket to the amphitheatre. But the
distance is hazy and far; there are clouds of dust and you can't see
clearly. To make out just what is going on you ought to get down in
the arena yourself. Once you're in it, the view you'll have and the
fighting that will come your way will more than repay you. Still, I
don't think we ought to go in with the idea of being repaid.

"It seems an odd thing to me that so many men feel they haven't any
time for politics; can't put in even a little, trying to see how their
cities (let alone their states and the country) are run. When we have
a war, look at the millions of volunteers that lay down everything and
answer the call of the country. Well, in politics, the country needs
_all_ the men who have any patriotism--_not_ to be seeking
office, but to watch and to understand what is going on. It doesn't
take a great deal of time; you can attend to your business and do that
much, too. When wrong things are going on and all the good men
understand them, that is all that is needed. The wrong things stop
going on."




PART I



BOSS GORGETT