Enemy of the People: ACT

¶ … ENEMY of the PEOPLE: ACT 6 not by Henrik Ibsen-

Milly: Peter Stockman's housekeeper.

James Stockman: Peter Stockman's brother.

SCENE. -- Peter Stockman's parlor. A single door is in center stage. There are a couple of easy chairs by the fire. Peter Stockman sits in one of them, reading the newspaper. There is a knock on the door. He gets up, and answers it. Milly stands in the doorway)

PETER STOCKMAN: What the blazes is it now?

MILLY: It's your brother, sir... Oh, not that one... it's James, come from America!

PETER STOCKMAN: Send him in; what are you waiting for?

MILLY: He said he wasn't certain you still wanted to see your family, sir. Told me as to inquire 'bout him coming in.

PETER STOCKMAN: God

A yes, please Milly. Show him in. (He goes to sit down. A moment passes and the door opens, as Milly politely waves James in) I take it you've talked to Thomas.

JAMES: Yes.

PETER STOCKMAN: I suppose he's tried to poison your mind against me, with all his talk of infection... To turn you into a revolutionary, perhaps?

Beat. James does not answer.) He had no evidence. His report was nothing but words on paper, bent on overthrowing the council with his... slanders.

JAMES: Was it?

PETER STOCKMAN: So the majority opinion agreed. (a small silence) it doesn't matter if it was true or not. It would have destroyed us all. There are plenty of other towns with healing waters and baths. I looked into it -- it would have taken years and cost thousands of dollars just to move the viaducts. Even then, even after we moved the drainage ducts, how could we have changed all the water -- or public opinion. If word got out that the waters here were poisoned, the market would never have trusted us again. We would have been ruined. It is a competitive market. Do you really think the market is fair? Do you think it supports those who try to change the world? Even if we spent thousands of dollars to make our waters clean and pure again, we would never get that money back. The cost would far outweigh anything we could hope to gain in return, after our good name had been spoiled. You must understand, in the market it is reputation and status that drive the choices of the consumer, not quality. We would do better to have poisoned waters with good reputations than to have the purest water with spoiled reputations. We have a brand here, James -- we have status and reputation. We dare not disrupt that by appearing to the world as... As anything less than perfect.

JAMES:

Do you think so poorly of the majority too, then?

PETER: What do you mean?

JAMES: Thomas says the majority are all fools and cattle, like curs or scraggly cocks... he would not trust them to make their own decisions.

PETER: He thinks himself so superior to all the world -- and then has the gall to refer to the true elite as piggish!

JAMES: Yet you, too, do not trust the majority.

PETER: I fail to see your point. I trust the majority -- the majority choose to ignore his foolishness.

JAMES: The market is nothing but the economic choices of the majority -- where they spend their money, how they choose to sell their labor. The only difference is that the market is unavoidable and democracy is optional.

PETER:... and?

JAMES: You don't trust the majority to know the difference between a poisonous bath and a safe one. You don't trust the majority-market to adjust to change -- to realize that a recall is better than a deadly product?

PETER: What, do you trust the majority market?

JAMES: I can't argue that the majority is not often foolish. Yet I suggest you consider that it is also not always blind. You should consider not only the benefits of your obfuscation, but also the costs. Certainly today you will keep your business afloat... But what will you do in the summer when typhoid starts killing your visitors? No-one was happier about these baths than Thomas... yet he noticed the pattern. Do you think no one else will notice? The situation is only made worse by the fact that he has not fled. What will you do when visitors stricken by plague are told by the most available local doctor -- that would be our brother, you know, now that no one in town will go to him -- that these plagues are the results of your water? You should balance the costs of lawsuits... And innumerable deaths on your conscience... against the cost of repairs.

PETER: What of the cost of publicity?

JAMES: It is a competitive market, indeed -- but who is to say that having the highest standards cannot be competitive. Let the neighbors steal your business, until you can advertise that you have the only baths proven by years of hard labor to be absolutely disease free... while your competitors may still be diseased.

PETER: It is a fool's dream.

JAMES: Is it... Our brother says you have a more personal stake in the matter.

PETER: What would that be?

JAMES: A political career.

PETER: You insult me.

JAMES: Is it not true that your job would be at risk if you admitted your error in placing the viaducts so near the bath? Can you afford to risk your reelection by costing the town this much money and hardship?

PETER: I would not be so callous.

JAMES: You are comfortable, are you willing to become uncomfortable?

PETER: Are you suggesting that my special interest in this bath is dictating my performance as mayor? Would you really accuse me of sacrifice lives for my job.

JAMES: I am not saying anything... I am asking... Our brother says you ordered him silenced to protect your power as ruler of the town. Your election was coming up