No one else spoke. The banker lighted a cigar, and resumed at the point
where he left off when I ventured to enter upon the defence of his class
with him. I must say that he had not convinced me at all. At that moment
I would rather have trusted him, in any serious matter of practical
concern, than all the novelists I ever heard of. But I thought I would
leave the word to him, without further attempt to reinstate him in his
self-esteem. In fact, he seemed to be getting along very well without it,
or else he was feeling that mysterious control from the Altrurian which I
had already suspected him of using. Voluntarily or involuntarily, the
banker proceeded with his contribution to the Altrurian's stock of
knowledge concerning our civilization:
"I don't believe, however, that the higher education is any more of a
failure, as a provision for a business career, than the lower education is
for the life of labor. I suppose that the hypercritical observer might say
that in a wholly commercial civilization like ours the business man really
needed nothing beyond the three R's, and the working-man needed no R at
all. As a practical affair, there is a good deal to be said in favor of
that view.
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