Intentionally or otherwise, the question suggested is whether a single
flaw of conduct (the betrayal to financiers of a state secret) ought to
blast a political career. Here, again, is an arguable point, on the
assumption that the statesman is penitent and determined never to repeat
his misdeed; but when we find that this particular statesman is prepared
to go on betraying his country indefinitely, in order to save his own
skin, the question falls to the ground--the answer is too obvious.
It happened some years ago that two plays satirizing "yellow journalism"
were produced almost simultaneously in London--_The Earth_ by Mr. James
B. Fagan, and _What the Public Wants_ by Mr. Arnold Bennett. In point of
intellectual grasp, or power of characterization, there could be no
comparison between the two writers; yet I hold that, from the point of
view of dramatic composition, _The Earth_ was the better play of the
two, simply because it dealt logically with the theme announced, instead
of wandering away into all sorts of irrelevances.
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