Severe stresses were expected, yet recent events seemed extreme.  Even the experts were perplexed.

Where were the three elected regents?  Where were the eleven respected clerks?  Where were the seventeen esteemed referees?  Where were these men when we needed them?  Elsewhere!

The regents sneered, the clerks jeered.  The referees rebelled, then rejected the sevret decree.  The clerks embezzled the regents' defense settlement; were themselves then expelled.  The referees were reversed, the clerks then sentenced.

Where end these senseless excesses?  Where?  When?  Here?  There?  Next week?  Next September?  Next December?  Ever?  Never?

Yes, gentlemen, these events tell the essence, yet remember: rejected extremes set precedents nevertheless!