Hamilton smiled.
“You do, eh? He was one of ’em. Read nothing but the American Mercury and Jurgen and then knew it all. I’m not narrow-minded. I read those things, too, but I didn’t have to believe ’em. I read the Literary Digest, too, and the Times, something they would never do. To get on, he was panning the Administration and predicting that the whole country was about to go to the bow-wows…go to pieces. He didn’t like the Gold Standard, he didn’t like Wall Street, he thought we ought to write off the War Debts.
“I could see that some of our better members were getting pretty sick of it, so I jumped in. “They hired the money, didn’t they, ‘ I told him.
“He grinned at me-sneered I should say. ‘I suppose you voted for him.’
“‘I certainly did, ‘ I answered, which was not strictly true; I hadn’t gotten around to registering, such things coming in the middle of the football season. But I wasn’t going to let him get away with sneering at Mr. Coolidge. ‘I suppose you voted for Davis.’
“‘Not likely, ‘ he says. ‘I voted for Norman Thomas. ‘
“Well, that burned me up. ‘See here, ‘ I said, ‘the proper place for people like you is in Red Russia. You’re probably an atheist, to boot. You have the advantage of living in the greater period in the history of the greatest country in history. We’ve got an Administration in Washington that understands business. We’re back to normalcy and we’re going to stay that way. We don’t need you rocking the boat. We are levelled off on a plateau of permanent prosperity. Take it from me-Don’t Sell America Short!'” I got quite a burst of applause.
“‘You seem pretty sure of that,’ he says, weakly.
“‘I ought to be,’ I told him. ‘I’m in the Street. ‘
“‘Then there is no point in me arguing,’ he said, and just walked out.
“Somebody poured me another drink, and we got to talking. He was a pleasant, portly chap, looking like a banker or a broker. I didn’t recognize him, but I believe in establishing contacts. ‘Let me introduce myself, ‘ he said. ‘My name is Thadeus Johnson.’
“I told him mine.”
“‘Well, Mr. Smith, ‘ he said, ‘you seem to have confidence in the future of our country.’
“I told him I certainly did.
“‘Confident enough to bet on it?’
“‘At any odds you want to name, money, marbles, or chalk.’
“‘Then I have a proposition that might interest you. ‘
“I pricked up my ears. ‘What is it?’ I said.
“‘Could you take a little joyride with me?’ he said. ‘Between the saxophones and those Charleston-crazy kids, a man can’t hear himself think.’ I didn’t mind-those things don’t break up until 3 A. M.; I knew I could stand a spell of fresh air. He had a long, low wicked-looking Hispano-Suiza. Class.
“I must have dozed off. I woke up when we stopped at his place. He took me in and fixed me a drink and told me about the stasis-only he called it a ‘level-entropy field. ‘ And he showed it to me. He did a lot of stunts with it, put a cat in it, left it in while we killed a drink. It was all right.
“‘But that isn’t the half of it, ‘ he said. ‘Watch. ‘ He took the cat and threw it, right through where the field would be if it was turned on. When the cat was right spang in the center of the area, he threw the switch. We waited again, a little longer this time. Then he released the switch. The cat came sailing out, just the way it was heading when we saw it last. It landed, spitting and swearing.
“‘That was just to convince you, ‘ he said, ‘that inside that field, time doesn’t exist-no increase of entropy. The cat never knew the field was turned on. ‘
“Then he changed his tack. “Jack, ” he says, ‘what will the country be like in twenty-five years?’
“I thought about it. ‘The same-only more so,’ I decided.
“‘Think A. T. & T. will still be a good investment?’