"If I
got all that you have told me is coming to me, I'd probably ruin
myself with high living anyhow."
"You don't mean to say that you've swallowed that old piffle!" said
the black-bearded chap incredulously.
"I don't see any piffle about it. As I look at the matter, the
owners are doing us a genuine favor. Not only do they take the
burden of our surplus earnings off our shoulders, but they run our
government for us without charge."
"Well, I'll be utterly damned!" The other fellow looked as though
the words were not half strong enough. "I never thought a full-grown
man could continue to believe the stuff we were taught when we were
kids! Don't you ever think for yourself, Reblong? Why, look here!"
He came closer and spoke with painstaking clearness, as though he
were addressing a child.
"The commission, instead of assuring us that increased wages would
be our ruin, could just as well be educating us to spend wisely!
Just as well, Reblong! And as for child labor--man, children ought
to be kept out of industry until they're twenty, instead of sixteen!
Every last one of us ought to be given a college education, instead
of merely the children of the rich! And all this could be done, too.
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