The lawyer broke the awkward pause which followed: "I have heard it
asserted that there is no country in the world where the separation of the
classes is so absolute as in ours. In fact, I once heard a Russian
revolutionist, who had lived in exile all over Europe, say that he had
never seen anywhere such a want of kindness or sympathy between rich and
poor as he had observed in America. I doubted whether he was right. But he
believed that, if it ever came to the industrial revolution with us, the
fight would be more uncompromising than any such fight that the world had
ever seen. There was no respect from low to high, he said, and no
consideration from high to low, as there were in countries with traditions
and old associations."
"Well," said the banker, "there may be something in that. Certainly, so
far as the two forces have come into conflict here, there has been no
disposition, on either side, to 'make war with the water of roses.' It's
astonishing, in fact, to see how ruthless the fellows who have just got up
are toward the fellows who are still down. And the best of us have been up
only a generation or two--and the fellows who are still down know it.
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