opponents in such a quiet, courteous way that they are obviously sorry to
disagree with him. His business capacities are of the first rank; he makes
as much money as he likes, and however crowded his life may be, he always
finds time for more work. He is a member of the Town Council and a staunch
supporter of Walraven's progressive plans. Walraven has certain misgivings
about Jacobs' thoroughness, but he fully realizes his friend's quick grasp
of things. He may build bridges, irrigate whole districts, and drain
marshes in Holland, open up mines in Spain, build docks in America, or
hunt for petroleum in Russia; he is always sure to succeed, and a fair
profit for himself, at any rate, is the invariable result of his
exertions. He travels a great deal, knows everybody everywhere, and always
turns up again in the old haunts, bristling with interesting information,
visibly enjoying his busy, full life, and not without a certain vanity,
arising from the feeling that his fellow-citizens are rather proud of him.

The last to come is Mr. Smits, President of the Court of Justice, a man of
philosophical turn of mind, an ardent student of social problems, a fine
lawyer, a first-rate speaker, a shrewd judge of men, and a tolerant and
mild critic of their weaknesses. He also is a member of the Town Council,
and, like Jacobs, a member of a municipal committee of which Walraven is
the chairman. Their duties are the supervision and general management of
the communal trade and industry, such as tramways, gas-works,
water-supply, slaughter-houses, electrical supply, corn exchange, public
parks and public gardens, hothouses and plantations, etc. Smits is also
the chairman of two debating societies, one for workmen and the other for
the better educated classes; but social problems are the chief topics
discussed at both. These societies, he says, keep him well in touch with
the general drift of the popular mind; as a fact, by his encouraging ways,
he draws from the people what is in their thoughts and hearts, and very
often succeeds in correcting wrong impressions and conceptions. He is also