"No," said Porcellis. "He doesn’t go out much. I saw him once. I was being shown through his library—it’s a marvelous place, full of treasure-trove that would make a scholar think he was in heaven—and the librarian pointed him out to me: he was sitting in the alcove that held the First Folios, and he was reading the current ’World Almanac.’" They both laughed. "Still," protested Luke, "he seems more Jovian than ever to me. I don’t know whether he’s a good Jove or a bad one, but I don’t see how he can really be bad when he does so much good." Porcellis was still intolerant of the ethical question. He pointed out that nobody of weight ever knew or cared whether Shakespeare’s life was moral or whether the effect of his work was immoral. What had happened in regard to the American was that, because he had at last been secured to come to a public hearing, people were beginning to realize that he was a living man and not a force of nature. For a quarter of a century he had been the greatest individual power in the United States, and for all that time he had remained hidden. He had been doing daily tremendous things, things that were epic in their sweep and yet affected every man, woman, and child included in the census—and nobody knew of them, no paper printed a word about them, until he had passed them out of his own hands and into those of his lieutenants, not until, indeed, his lieutenants had sent them so far from hand to hand that none could tell precisely when and where they had started. "The man’s a genius," said Porcellis, "and like all geniuses he’s just what we all are when his genius isn’t at work. What he feels is just what we’d feel if we were in his place." "Still," argued Luke, "the influence of such a man is too great; it’s dangerous. It oughtn’t to be allowed in politics." "There you go again!" sighed Porcellis. "Allow? How are you going to allow or disallow a force? It simply is. This man can give the big politicians certain large advantages if they pass laws that suit him. The big politicians can give the little politicians certain lesser advantages if they furnish the votes. The lesser politicians can get the votes if they let the police charge the criminals for protection in crime. Each man seizes his opportunity, and that’s all there is about it." "You think so?" said Luke. "I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it would be necessary if the right laws were passed and enforced. Wait till your brother-in-law gets the District-Attorney’s office cleaned out and in working order. Then you’ll see I’m right."