always politically anemic, but he was hoping that by the injection of
good-government virus, he might be strong enough to catch a regular
nomination, to boot, and to run on a fusion ticket. From present
indications, it wasn't impossible. And Mr. Mix smirked in his
mirror.
Mirabelle said, with a rolling-up of her mental shirt-sleeves: "Well,
now let's get after something _drastic_. I've heard lots of people say
you ought to get elected to office; well, show 'em what you can do. Of
course, what we've been doing is all _right_, but it's kind of small
potatoes."
Mr. Mix looked executive. "Mustn't go too fast, Miss Starkweather.
Can't afford to make people nervous."
"Humph! People that don't feel guilty, don't feel nervous. I say it's
about time to launch something drastic. Next thing for us to do is to
make the League a state-wide organization, and put through a Sunday
law with teeth in it. That amusement park's got to go. Maybe we'd
better run over to the capital and talk to the Governor."
Mr. Mix was decisively opposed, but he couldn't withstand her. He had
a number of plausible arguments, but she talked them into jelly, and
eventually dragged him to an interview with the Governor. When it was
over, she beamed victoriously.
"There! Didn't I tell you so? He's with us."
Mr. Mix repressed a smile. "Yes, he said if we draft a bill, and get
it introduced and passed, he'll sign it."
"Well, what more could he say?"
He wanted to ask, in turn, what less could be said, but he contained
himself. "You know," he warned her, "as soon as we put out any really
violent propaganda, we're going to lose some of our new members, and
some of our prestige."
"Good! Weed out the dead-wood."
"That's all right, but after what we've done with the food laws and
stopping the sale of cigarettes to boys, and so on, people are looking
at us as a switch to chastise the city. But we don't want them to look
at us as a cudgel. And this state law you've got in mind hits too many
people."
"Let it hit 'em."
"Well, anyway," he pleaded, "there's no sense in going out and waving
the club so everybody's scared off. We ought to take six months or a
year, and do it gradually. And we ought to pass a model ordinance here
first, before we talk about statutes. I'd suggest a series of public
lectures, and a lot of educational pamphlets for a start. I'll write
them myself."
She was impatient, but she finally yielded. "Well, we'll see how it
works. Go ahead and do it."
"I will--I'll have the whole thing done by late this spring."
"Not 'till _then_?" she protested, vigorously.
Mr. Mix shook his head. "Perfect the organization first, and begin to
fight when we've got all our ammunition. It'll take me three months to
get that ready. So far, all we've had is a battle, but now we're
planning a war. I want to be prepared in every detail before we fire a
single more shot."
She regarded him admiringly. "Sounds reasonable at that. You do it
your own way."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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