And here the material interests stand condemned as just another cycle in the endless round of human conquest and oppression.

On the symbolic level, the phrase "all that the Gould Concession stands for" is a reference to idealism, the one common denominator to every conquest in every epoch. In this respect, by using her last name in the same breath as "Gould Concession," Monygham indicts Mrs Gould along with, and possibly ahead of, everyone else. Indeed, her altruism, being the belief in humanitarian reform, constitutes the hope in whose name the geatest ideals are attempted. According to the cynic Monygham, such reform is and always will be a misplaced hope (see "The doctor did not believe in the reform of Costaguana" ).