THE NATION Hercules in a Hard Hat
King Augeas of Elis had 3,000 cattle, including twelve sacred white bulls. The stable in which he kept them had not been cleaned for 30 years. It may be assumed that some of the neighbors had begun to complain, and there was one cynical school of thought which held that the stables never would be cleaned. When Hercules agreed to clean the stables, Augeas was pleased—although he later gypped the strong man out of his reward.
But that is running ahead of this week's news that New York's Federal Judge Thomas F. Murphy accepted President...