ABSTRACT
Everybody knows that America is more virtuous than Europe, and that the Middle-West of America is the most virtuous portion of that country. There is a perfectly simple test of virtue which proves the justice of this common opinion: if a wants to persecute B, while B does not want to persecute A, then clearly a is more virtuous than B; he has a higher moral standard and is more inclined to moral indignation. Consequently, where a large public has to be appealed to, its most virtuous portions determine the nature of the appeal, for while the vicious can tolerate virtue, the virtuous cannot tolerate vice. Hence every increase in the size of the audience means an increase in the virtuousness of the appeal.
