Captains and the Kings

  Chapter 48

  Joseph was having a long talk with the governor, who was afraid of him but who was not pleased by the conversation. "Rory-and you know how fond of Rory I am, Joe, and know all about his excellent mind and endowments-hasn't exactly distinguished himself in his two congressional terms in Washington. Nothing too bad was ever said about him. He was never really controversial. But nothing positively good was said about him, either. He seemed to think being a congressman was a lark, a continuing social event, something with which a rich man and a rich man's son amuses himself. Galas, parties, garden affairs." Then the governor frowned. "He did vote against a Federal income tax, but that didn't make him more popular. It was said in a lot of newspapers that he had done this for 'selfish' reasons, and that he didn't want his own fortune taxed."

  "It is a strange thing," said Joseph, whose thick hair was almost white now, with only here and there a streak of russet. "Mankind is the most selfish species this world has ever spewed up from hell, and it demands, constantly, that neighbors and politicians be 'unselfish' and allow themselves to be plundered-for its benefit. Nobody howls more against 'public selfishness/ or even private selfishness, as much as a miser, just as whores are the strongest supporters of public morality, and robbers of the people extol philanthropy. I've lived a long time, but my fellowman baffles me more and more, which no doubt is naive of me." It didn't hinder you from plundering him, though, thought the governor, unkindly. But the governor owed his office to Joseph Armagh and his money. "And he voted against the Amendment to permit direct election of senators, instead of appointment by the State Legislature. In fact, he delivered a speech, if I remember-notable for surprising eloquence and emotion-that that would be 'redundant,' and that two bodies of government were unnecessary, directly elected. If I remember, he said the Senate served the same purpose as the House of Lords, in England, to control the 'enthusiasm, sketchy consideration, superficial judgments and public exigency' of congressmen, who were directly elected by the people, and 'so subject to the greeds, vagaries, romances, and ignorant pressures of the mobs, under fear of defeat in the next elections. We must have a calm, unpressured, moderate, controlled and judicious body in the government,' he said, 'just as the Founding Fathers had decreed, to control the unseemly, hysterical and uneducated passions of the masses.' That did not endear him to many in Washington, or even in this state. He is now known as the 'Monarchist.'"

  "Rory puts a lot of faith in the legislature of the state, though it, too, was elected," said Joseph, with not the slightest smile. But the governor laughed nastily and shook his head. "At any rate he was acclaimed as a 'Constitutionalist,' and many of the people are ardent Constitutionalists, so I don't think Rory is too unpopular." Joseph thought of his angry conversations with Rory over these very matters, and his visits to Washington to influence his son. Rory, as always, was smiling and affable, though his lower eyelids relaxed innocently. "Pa," he had said, "I know what the decent electorate wants, in spite of the howling mobs of the Tuileries; pardon me, of New York and Philadelphia and Boston and Chicago, and such. If I am to have any political future at all I will have to rely on the honest men of America." "Don't be a damned fool," Joseph had said. Then he had studied Rory. "Now, no joking, Rory, any longer. You and I know that honest men in any country are very rare. And they are totally impotent. You can't turn back the clock to McKinley's era, Rory. The vast mass of the American people want a Federal income tax, to take revenge on those they call 'the powers that be,' that is, the intelligent who have made money one way or another. If they don't believe, as you have told them, that that tax, will eventually loot them and will be used to enslave them, rob them, and employed to promote wars for empire and tyranny, are they worth fighting for? No. Let them wallow in their own enslavement later, and die in ar? Yes." "They also like thieves, big thieves," said Joseph. Mr. Regan continued to smile but his eyes fixed themselves on the other man. This Armagh frequently gave the impression, through his tongue, that he was "unreliable," and so he was not completely trusted. He also had a way of baiting his associates, and for this reason alone his son, Rory, was not as yet taken into what was ambiguously called "the Circle." The senator showed every symptom of being tractable and helpful, but there were some in the Committee for Foreign Studies who declared that he appeared to be making "mental notes" which might be "dangerous." Mr. Rockefeller, fof in' stance, had openly declared that he was wary of the young man. "I have a feeling," said Joseph to Mr. Regan, "that we are not inspiring love for the United States in South America. Roosevelt's seizure of Santo Domingo in 1904, for an alleged foreign debt of nineteen million dollars- ; which was not owed to America, not one penny-is not going to do us much good in the future. 'Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine,', indeed. It seems to me that I missed something in our last few meetings, , or perhaps I wasn't told, Jay. I have often suspected, lately, that I am not invited to all the meetings." . "Now, now," said Mr. Regan. "Of course you are. But there are things of dull routine-" "And didn't Teddy just jump for joy when Japan attacked Russia?" said Joseph. "What did he say? 'I was thoroughly well pleased with the Japanese victory, for Japan is playing out game.' I missed that, didn't I? Yes, I know. He finally, recently, intervened and demanded that the two nations make peace. I hear he is going to get the Nobel Peace Prize almost immediately. Who arranged that?" "I am sure I don't know," said Mr. Regan, lighting a cigar. "We have no influence over that." "Hah," said Joseph. "Each of us in the Society owns a senator, who works for our interests," said Mr. Regan. "But who does Rory work for?" "Me," said Joseph. "Now, now, Joe," said Mr. Regan. "I doubt he even works for you. This is the end of his first term, and no doubt he will be reappointed by the State Legislature. Yet, what has he done of value?" "He has acquired a reputation for honesty, which even hostile newspapers can't deny." "Very astute of him. But honesty doesn't serve our private interests, does it? I think there is nothing more valuable for a senator or any other politician to acquire as a reputation for honor and honest)'-for public consumption. That can be done easily, with the help of a few newspapers and a little money and bought critics and lesser politicians, and large donations to the Party. But it is quite another thing when a senator takes himself so seriously that he ignores or refuses to serve-" "His real masters," said Joseph. Mr. Regan smiled. "Now, only a fool believes that the electorate is master over its politicians. 'Serving the people,' Joe-" "I know," said Joseph. "An old nun I knew when I was a young boy used to say 'but that doesn't buy any potatoes,' though I don't think she meant it in this context. Still, it's valid." "Moreover," said Mr. Regan, nodding, "the people are most ungrateful. A politician, as we know, who serves the people, really serves them out of conviction and idealism, is eventually despised by them as a naive imbecile. But a scoundrel of color, who can invent a few deadly aphorisms of his own, and can laugh and twinkle and joke, gets their adoration, and even if he is later exposed for what he is-a thief, a time-server, a liar-the public becomes hysterical at the 'attacks' on him. In fact, the public will attack the outraged attackers of their darling. But, Joe, you know all this. You've been in this business almost as long as I have. See here, Joe, I'm Irish, like you, though Protestant. We have what my Granny used to call 'a sharp tongue on him, an Irish tongue.' More Irishmen have been hanged by their tongues than by ropes. We can't resist being sarcastic or ironic, at the very worst times." "In short, you are warning me, Jay." Mr. Regan, large and fat and rubicund-some said he resembled Mr. Taft-slowly lit one of his enormous cigars, and seemed to be ruminating. Then he said, "No, Joe. I'm just advising you. You want Rory to be the first Catholic President of what Bryan calls 'the Yew-nited States of Ammurrica.' We all know that. You must smooth down your spikes. We, 'the Circle,' know that you aren't devious nor overtly subtle, and that when you saj' something-shall we call it disturbing?-you mean it, and never regret its edge. So, you have a reputation for not being 'quite the gentleman.' In other words, you are not suave and urbane and serpentine, and you have a way of openly jeering at the delicate euphemisms of 'the Circle,' and laugh at its-you call it pretensions?-of 'ultimately serving humanity.' Yes. There is not a murderer who does not feel that he has served some purpose in murdering, nor a thief who does not think he is justified, nor a general who ever deplored a war. Men, even like our colleagues-and we know what they are-desire to be thought political philanthropists, of enormous intellect and understanding, with nothing but peace and harmony and enlightened government as their objectives. I don't care how intelligent a man is, or a country, they love to believe that his, and its, infamies, are committed in the name of a larger benefit to humanity. Aristophanes never wrote so broad a comedy, and I am constantly amused." He looked at Joseph who had been listening with a dark expression. y ; "What I am getting at, Joe, is that if you wish Rory to be President you will have to curb your tongue and serve us all, as we serve you, with your whole heart, and stop being sardonic. I confess that I often have your own thoughts but I am wise enough not to utter them. What good does it do, anyway? Does it advance your interests? No. It only heightens mistrust." "I've served them damned well," said Joseph., "Yes, and it sticks in your craw, and it's visible." Joseph stood up and began to pace up and down the enormous paneled. and carpeted office of Mr. Regan, in New York. He said, "Wasn't it Sophocles who said that when a vast force or power enters into the affairs of men, open or secret, it brings with it a curse?" "We've been in business a long time, Joe, our fathers and grandfathersi before us, and our sons will take our place. We have what the Romans I called 'gravitas.' If you think that our growing and tremendous power is a 'curse,' then I cannot agree with you, for I, too, believe that humanity j cannot bear what it calls 'democracy' but must have despotism. It is the ' Irishman in you which despises any sort of despotism, and you must hold your tongue." . He became annoyed. "Joe, you were to be subpoenaed to Washington to answer charges that you are a 'trust.' We helped you to evade that, as we I have helped others to evade it. You show no gratitude." When Joseph did not reply Mr. Regan said, "You have objected; occasionally to our promotion of revolutions throughout the world. Yet you know that revolutions increase the power of the State, and larger revolutions make the State absolute. That is our objective throughout the world. In many ways we are indeed philanthropists. We will remove the uneasy and unstable and hysterical power of the electorate-and it doesn't want the power anyway-and give it a firm, kind, benign government, which, to the relief of humanity, will remove the necessity for judgment, thought-particularly thought-and responsibility. Come on, Joe. You know all this. I am speaking to you as a friend now and not merely as a colleague." But Joseph had been thinking of something else. He said, "Is it true that Roosevelt will not seek the nomination in 1908? He keeps on insisting on that." "He has served his purpose," said Mr. Regan. "A little persuasion- The trouble with Mr. Roosevelt, Joe, is that he began to take himself seriously and to forget who really put him into power. His attack on 'trusts' came too close to the bone in the case of Morgan, Rockefeller, Depew, Mellon, Armour, and you, too. And I. You cannot trust a politician. Build him up, against all his inclinations, as a Benefactor of Humanity, a Warrior for Freedom, and he will eventually believe he is such, and act accordingly. He is working to make William Howard Tail President. Tail is not our man, but he is amiable and trustful and pedestrian." "He will never know who pulls the strings," said Joseph. "We can spare him that, at least." "Joe, it is that sort of remark which antagonizes people. I have warned you before, as a friend. If your plans for Rory are not to collapse, and perhaps you with them, and Rory also, learn a little discretion." He looked at Joseph very hard now, and his light gray eyes were intent. "Rory is a good Catholic husband and father. We have worked on that, as you know. We are also mentioning that intolerance is evil, and Catholics are just as good America
ns as Protestants, in spite of all the rampant anti- Romanism-" "Which all of you initiated and stimulated for your purposes!" Joseph could not help exclaiming. Mr. Regan shrugged and sighed. "It served our purposes. But now we are interested in Rory. It will be some years before anyone will take him seriously as a candidate. I give him credit: He does not have your scalpel tongue, Joe. He is diplomatic, easy, devious, placating, which is very clever of him-and civilized. If he has thoughts he wisely keeps them to himself. Perhaps even the things he does against us can be turned to our advantage. We are protean, as you know. Rory has impressed us. But, we can destroy Rory, if we wish. We know of his previous marriage -and the annulment." I should have known, Joseph thought to himself. He controlled his fear. He said, "That is over and done with, and meant nothing. Do you know how many times Rory farts, too?" Mr. Regan laughed heartily. "Indeed we do, Joe. Indeed we do." Then he became stern. "If Rory wishes to be President then he must begin now to serve us-and not just you, if he indeed serves you, Joe, which I doubt. For instance, he must oppose that nefarious new bill, to be voted on by the House soon, the Child Labor bill. Hell, what do the people breed for, except to serve their masters? And don't parents have the right to decide the destiny of their children? Aren't their children their own, and not the State's? If they send their young children into the factories at five, six, seven years old, it is their affair, for who among them does not need money? I have simplified this a little, Joe. You know all the arguments. We have the clergy with us, too, in this. You might mention it to Rory. That bill must be stopped, if it reaches the Senate, though we will try to kill it in the House." It was like an echo to Joseph, and he remembered Senator Bassett in Washington, whose death had not prevented the passage of the Alien Contract Labor Act in 1882. He said, "Somehow, I feel the Child Labor bill will be enacted, though I will suggest to Rory that he oppose it." Later he said to his son, "Rory, you and I want you to be President of this country. There are rumors that you will support the Child Labor bill, when it comes before the Senate. Don't. I repeat, don't. The arguments are very good, as you know. 'Parents have the right to control their children, and the labor of their children. Their children are their own.' Yes. You will oppose the bill." When Rory did not answer, but only smiled his brilliant easy smile, Joseph said, "When you are President, you can, within limits, support what you will or oppose what you will." "No, Pa," said Rory, very gently. "You know that is not true. I will be the biggest puppet of all, and you know that. If I refuse-" and he drew his hand eloquently across his throat in a slicing gesture. "Well, I won't worry about that. No Catholic will ever be nominated for the Presidency, let alone be elected to it. Maybe we should thank God for that." "This time we will succeed," said Joseph. Rory became grave. He looked at his father enigmatically. "Maybe I am interested in the Presidency, after all. Yes. Perhaps." He voted against the Child Labor bill. "It is a violation of parent's Supreme and Divine Authority over their children," he said. He was much I applauded in powerful newspapers. His father was congratulated by "the Circle." .