MIFFLIN:  And then at your father’s death the lives and fortunes, souls and bodies of all these workmen passed into your hands?

GIBSON:  Not quite that; there were only forty-one workmen, and nineteen of them didn’t stay when father died.  They got other jobs before I could stop them.

MIFFLIN:  And how many men have you now?

GIBSON:  I believe there are one hundred and seventy-five on the pay roll now.

MIFFLIN:  One hundred and seventy-five [with gusto] labourers!

GIBSON:  Some of them are; some of them are orators.

MIFFLIN [jovially]:  Ah, I’m afraid that’s hard on Miss Gorodna.

GIBSON [quietly]:  She’s both.

MIFFLIN:  I understand you are not fighting the labour unions?

GIBSON:  No.  The workmen themselves declined to unionize the factory.

MIFFLIN:  Mr. Gibson, when your father began manufacturing “The Gibson
Upright”—­

GIBSON:  He didn’t.  He made a very fine piano—­and only a few of them.  It was “The Gibson Upright” that saved the factory.  You see, with this model we began to get on a quantity-production basis.  That’s why the business has grown and is growing.

MIFFLIN:  You mean that “The Gibson Upright” is the reason for the present great prosperity of this plant?

GIBSON:  Yes.

MIFFLIN:  Now be careful, Mr. Gibson; I’m going to ask a trap question. [Wagging his pencil at him.] What is the reason for “The Gibson Upright?”

GIBSON:  Do you mean who designed it?

MIFFLIN:  Oh, no, no, no!  I mean who makes them?  If someone asked you if you’re the man that makes “The Gibson Upright” wouldn’t you say “Yes?”

GIBSON:  Certainly!

MIFFLIN [triumphantly]:  Ah, there you fell into the trap!

GIBSON:  What’s the matter?

NORA [with controlled agitation]:  It’s the same old matter, Mr.
Gibson.  It’s those men out there that make the piano.

GIBSON [a little sadly]:  Do they?

NORA:  With their hands, Mr. Gibson!

GIBSON:  Is there anything more, Mr. Mifflin?

MIFFLIN:  You couldn’t possibly imagine how much you’ve given me, Mr. Gibson, in these few little answers.  It is precisely what I want to get at—­the point of view!  The point of view is all that is separating the classes from the masses to-day.  And I think I have yours already.  Now I want to go to the masses if you will permit me.

GIBSON:  Then you might as well stay here.

MIFFLIN:  Ah, but I want to hear the workers talk!

GIBSON:  Well, this is the best place for that!  Some of them are waiting now just outside the door.  I’ll let you hear them.

[Goes to the factory door and opens it; two workingmen come in.  One is elderly, with gray moustache and beard—­CARTER. The other, FRANKEL, is a Hebraic type, eager and nervous; younger.]

GIBSON:  What do you and Frankel want, Carter?