Another amusing example of bad judgement by Captain Mitchell, who prided himself on his ability to judge character .

There are particularly deep levels to this remark, however. "This question of the silver" is really a "question" of what to do with a society's dream-ideal in the breakdown of society. Mitchell is "warmly" of the opinion that it can be entrusted to the People (Nostromo), who love their masters and who will certainly restore it to society again (i.e., hand it intact to Holroyd to secure the new State). Mitchell has a "warm" opinion of the People. What actually happens when the allegorical People come into possession of the dream-ideal, however, is that they recognize their former exploitation, discover their independent worth, adopt an ideology of Socialist liberation and never do return the treasure of their dreams to the masters.