we found that where one man could only
turn out 800 Limericks a day under the old system, any ablebodied-poet
can write 3,000 in the same number of hours. That's very good,
Wiggins," he added turning to the workman. "I shall recommend the
Commissioner to promote you to an Inspectorship in the Sonnet works."

"Thanky sir," said the Poet, as he blushingly bowed himself out.

[Illustration: "OUR THINKING DEPARTMENT"]

"Here," said the Commissioner, opening a door leading into a long,
darkened chamber, "here, young lady, is our Thinking Department."

Alice passed into the darkness and dimly made out a half a hundred
long-haired individuals sitting in comfortable Morris chairs, their
forefingers pressed hard against their brows and their eyes gazing
fixedly out into space.

"These men and women think the thoughts which our municipal poetry is
designed to express," the Commissioner continued. "A thought once
seized by any one of them is written down upon a pad, and then taken
into this next room where it is classified and assigned to the line
cutters who turn out the first draft in the rough. Then when this is
done it is sent to the rhyming room where the lines are made to end in
rhymes, and finally it goes to the Polishing room where the poem is made
ready for publication."

"It's a wonderful system," said the Hatter. "It not only improves the
quality of our poetry, but in campaign times it is a great help, since
we control absolutely all the campaign poetry. When I run for mayor next
fall to succeed myself there won't be a single poem written on the other
side."

"That ought to be a great help," said Alice.

"Yes," said the Hatter. "It will be. Every employee in this Department
will not only vote for me but will work for me as well. Same way in the
gas plant and the trolley--in fact in all the City Departments. It is
only another evidence of the very great value of Municipal Ownership. It
is uncertainty in political times that upsets business, but with the
Municipality in control of all these Departments from Gas to Poetry
there is no uncertainty about who will win, so that business is not
unsettled by it."

"Wonderful," said Alice.

"By the way, Mr. Commissioner, you'd better start the Rhyming Bureau on
the search for rhymes to Hatter at once," said, the Mayor. "We don't
want to be caught unprepared at the last minute."

"The list is being compiled now," replied the Commissioner. "We already
have, Matter, Ba