their enforced
idleness, are turning away from all that we have taught them.

PRESCOTT. [_Annoyed._] Come, James. That isn't what you came to see
me about.

BISHOP. It is.

PRESCOTT. You have been reading sensational papers. Of course a
depression gives the radicals a chance to spread their doctrines.
But there isn't any cause for worry. Prosperity is always a sure
cure for radicalism. And things are picking up.

BISHOP. You are probably under the common delusion that all
radicals are wild-eyed foreigners.

PRESCOTT. [_Bitter in his thoughts_.] If it wasn't for this foolery
at Washington ...

BISHOP. So was I. But I find they are not.

PRESCOTT. We should all have been out of the slump long ago.

BISHOP. Many of them--the young ones--are good American stock.

PRESCOTT. The Administration proclaims its adherence to the profit
system....

BISHOP. They have education, in some cases, background, but
unfortunately no experience.

PRESCOTT.... and at the same time it insists on unfair competition
with private enterprise.

BISHOP. As long as such men remain idle ...

PRESCOTT. So how can private capital be expected to make
commitments?

BISHOP. I don't know.

PRESCOTT. But don't you agree?

BISHOP. Perfectly.

PRESCOTT. Surely, James, the depression did not hit you personally?

BISHOP. In unexpected ways, Stanley--in most unexpected ways.

PRESCOTT. On the contrary, the Church should have benefited. People
in misfortune turn to religion.

BISHOP. But with empty pockets. However, I am not complaining for
the Church. It is my son I am worried about.

PRESCOTT. Ah, yes. Kenneth. An agreeable fellow, Kenneth.

BISHOP. Of the six years he's been out of college he has worked
only four months. Think of it.

PRESCOTT. Is he married?

BISHOP. No.

PRESCOTT. That's fortunate.

BISHOP. Perhaps. If he were married and had a dependent wife and
children he might get architectural work in a government slum
clearance project.

PRESCOTT. Exactly what I was talking about. The sooner the
government turns the building industry back to private enterprise
the better.

BISHOP. Kenneth's situation is tragic. He is a mature man, long
overdue to take a man's full place in the world.

PRESCOTT. [_Impatient._] Yes, I know--I know.

BISHOP. Yet he is classed as a dependent child.

PRESCOTT. Well, aren't you able to take care of him?

BISHOP. I have kept him from starving.

PRESCOTT. You realize, of course, t