Black on White

or not, it would have provided a rich and stimulating and instructive show for those of us in the sidelines.

But it was not to be. Panic-stricken liberals and conservatives discovered in the nick of time that private property is non-partisan. Everything orthodox, respectable, insipid, mediocre and timid—in short, the safe and sane elements—cut athwart party and social labels to keep Frank F. Merriam in office From the moment the New Deal leadership in Washington decided on a rough deal for Sinclair, his gubernatorial chances — and Tom Mooney’s chances of freedom as well—were ended.

Maybe it is all for the best. The inevitable failures and dislocations of Epic in practice (especially with a whole world lined up against it) might in the long run have reacted against protective thinking and planning as a whole. Even the Kremlin now admits that an abortive revolution is worse than none. The exciting California campaign was not without its lesson. It made manifest a simple truth to millions who were unaware of it; namely, that in crucial moments people divide naturally in two distinct categories: those who regard private property as a sacred immutable institution and those who do not.

Merriam and all his hosts cannot make these millions unlearn that lesson.

Yet, as I confessed at the outset, I am disappointed in a low, undignified fashion. There were the advance ballyhoo and thrilling posters and the sound of drums in the distance—but the circus didn’t come to town after all.

Shalom ben Joseph Shabezzi, a Yemenite weaver of the seventh century, wrote most of the liturgical hymns used by the Yemenite Jews to this day.