But,” again he paused, and meditated his chewed cigar profoundly—“it may be we’re due now for a change. Wilson was a great president—in my opinion, the greatest man we’ve had since Lincoln—I don’t believe any other man could have done the job he did as well as he—but,” the word came out impressively, “the job is done! The war is over—”
“Yes, thank God!” some one murmured softly but fervently.
“The people want to forget about the war—they want to forget all their sacrifices and suffering—” said this little man who had sacrificed and suffered nothing—“they are looking forward to better times…. And in my opinion,” he spoke again with his air of slow deliberation, important carefulness—“in my opinion, better times are before us. I think that after this election we are going to witness one of the greatest periods of national development and expansion that the world has ever known…. Why, we haven’t begun yet! We haven’t even started!” he cried suddenly, with a note of passionate conviction in his voice—“Do you realize that this country is only a little more than a hundred years old? Why, we haven’t even begun to show what we can do yet! We’ve spent all that time in getting started—in building cities—settling the country—building railroads and factories—developing the means of production—making the tools with which to work…. The resources of this country are scarcely tapped as yet. And in my opinion we are on the eve of the greatest period of prosperity and growth the world has ever known…. Look at Altamont, for example,” he went on cogently. “Ten years ago, in 1910, the census gave us a population of 18, 000…. Now, we have thirty, according to government figures, and that doesn’t begin to take the whole thing in: it doesn’t take in Biltburn, Lunn’s Cove, Beaver Hills, Sunset Parkway—a dozen other places I can mention, all really part of the town but not included in the census figures…. If all the suburbs were included we’d have a population of at least 40, 000 inhabitants—”
“I’d call it nearer fifty,” said another patriot.
“And within another ten years we’ll go to seventy-five, perhaps a hundred…. Why, that town hasn’t begun to grow yet!” he said, bending his short body forward in his enthusiasm and tapping his fat knee—“It has been less than eight years since we established the Citizen’s Bank and Trust Company with a capital of $25, 000 and capital stock at $100 a share…. Now,” he paused a moment, and looked around him, his swarthy face packed with strong conviction—“now, we have a capital of $2, 000, 000—deposits totalling
