THE PATH OF VISION
others. But no one seemed to think of a transfer system, or imagine the possibility of a fusion of interests, or even dared to suggest the construction of shuttles between certain Lines. The confusion soon developed to anarchy and chaos. Private-ownership of the roads of knowledge and faith bcame a public nuisance. But how was the nuisance to be abated? By going back to the monks. Their circumambient system of roads, was partly destroyed, partly merged in the private Lines; and it was not possible to reconstruct or redeem even a narrow gauge to the nearest junction of skepticism and doubt.
In fact, though the people did not cease to travel, to commute rather, the heads of the private corporations were discredited. People began to lose faith in the Information Bureau; tickets were destroyed; timetables were burned; and skepticism became the fashion of the day. And like all fashions, it was soon to become the means of another monopoly.
Hence the Voltaires, the Goethes, the
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