BOLLAND [interrupting]. Do you realize what the amount of detail and the management of the whole factory means? HAUSER. But friend Beermann never even worked in a soap factory. How can that apply to him? BEERMANN. Oh, what's the use of discussing things if you're joking. HAUSER. Really, I can't see the connection. BEERMANN. At any rate, I'm a better candidate than the book-binder whom the Socialists have put up against me. BOLLAND. Beermann has had greater experience and has a broader point of view. FRAU LUND. Then there's something else I heard about Herr Beermann, that I don't like at all. BEERMANN. About me? FRAU LUND. Yes, I bear that you are the President of the new Society for the Suppression of Vice. What makes you do such things? That isn't nice. FRAU BEERMANN. I fully agree with you. BEERMANN. You do? For what reasons? When honest men select me as their President, is that mere flattery? FRAU LUND. It is not becoming to you, and you are insincere in it. FRAU BEERMANN. It's as false as anything can be, and you speak about problems which you have never understood. BEERMANN. Pardon me! I ought to know best what is becoming for me. FRAU LUND. There's no one in the world I dislike as much as a preacher. But if a person wants to be one ... then, according to the gospel he ought to live on bread and water. It doesn't go well with champagne and lobster. BEERMANN. Do the Scriptures command that we must be poor to be honorable? FRAU LUND. No, Beermann, but if I still remember, they speak of a camel and a needle. BOLLAND. The ladies evidently are not acquainted with the purposes of our new society. I am sure they would subscribe to every one of the principles which are incorporated in our By-laws. FRAU LUND. I certainly would not. BOLLAND [feeling in his side pocket]. At least read our "Appeal to the Public." FRAU LUND [refusing]. No, thank you. BOLLAND. Every woman will rejoice when she reads it. FRAU LUND. Do you think so? How exceedingly amusing your societies are! So, cards and bowling no longer offer sufficient entertainment. You have to moralize. HAUSER. I can't help thinking of the notorious starvation freak at the circus who gets his meals on the sly everyday. DR. WASNER. Of course, every conviction can be made ridiculous once it's regarded as insincere. You shouldn't accuse without proof. HAUSER. Herr Professor, politeness requires that each individual be regarded as the exception--but not an entire club. BOLLAND. It is a pity, indeed, that a great movement like ours is disposed of by a few trifling remarks. That embitters our task of curing the nation of social diseases. FRAU LUND. Where did you get your Doctor's license to cure? DR. WASNER. It's sad enough that the cure is left to only a few of us. HAUSER. Well, I'll remain a patient. You'll need a few anyway to keep up your business.