ers,
worshiped Bigness and the growth, each man serving for his own sake and
for what he could get out of it, but all united in their faith in the
beneficence and glory of their god.

To almost all alike that service stood as the most important thing in
life, except on occasion of some such vital, brief interregnum as the
dangerous illness of a wife or child. In the way of "relaxation" some of
the servers took golf; some took fishing; some took "shows"--a mixture
of infantile and negroid humor, stockings, and tin music; some took
an occasional debauch; some took trips; some took cards; and some took
nothing. The high priests were vigilant to watch that no "relaxation"
should affect the service. When a man attended to anything outside his
business, eyes were upon him; his credit was in danger--that is, his
life was in danger. And the old priests were as ardent as the young
ones; the million was as eager to be bigger as the thousand; seventy was
as busy as seventeen. They strove mightily against one another, and
the old priests were the most wary, the most plausible, and the most
dangerous. Bibbs learned he must walk charily among these--he must wear
a thousand eyes and beware of spiders indeed!

And outside the temple itself were the pretenders, the swarming thieves
and sharpers and fleecers, the sly rascals and the open rascals; but
these were feeble folk, not dangerous once he knew them, and he had
a good guide to point them out to him. They were useful sometimes,
he learned, and many of them served as go-betweens in matters where
business must touch politics. He learned also how breweries and
"traction" companies and banks and other institutions fought one another
for the political control of the city. The newspapers, he discovered,
had lost their ancient political influence, especially with the knowing,
who looked upon them with a skeptical humor, believing the journals
either to be retained partisans, like lawyers, or else striving to
forward the personal ambitions of their owners. The control of the city
lay not with them, but was usually obtained by giving the hordes of
negroes gin-money, and by other largesses. The revenues of the people
were then distributed as fairly as possible among a great number of men
who had assisted the winning side. Names and titles of offices went with
many of the prizes, and most of these title-holders were expected to
present a busy appearance at times; and, indeed, some among them