Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-11-04


niture, the heavy carpets, the chill
high walls, the massive desks, tn
impressive chairs, the great majesti,
table portentously suggestive O
power. Prestol the dim calm i
broken; the air vibrates as when al
ancient church is invaded by swarm
of vampire. bats. Into the grea
room enter a group of men and
flock of youths, who settle in the
impressive chairs round the majestic
table. You wonder what is the
motive of the assemblage. Thes,
grave lawyers, whose names arr
welghty In the nations councils, aud
these gray-haired, dignilied fiuanciers
might well be gathered to arbitrate
dispute involving empires, but why
these ofiice-boys and clerks, with
their restless, surprised eyes and
uneasy gestures? The flourishing OF
papers, the murmuring of voices and
confusion of "seventy-five million, ("
"we buy" eve SELL" "we will"-
words, nothing but words; then
silence as one reads from stiff
parchment certain resolutions which
the suave gentleman with incisiye
steel-clicSing manners, at the head
of the table, puts to vote. Then
these youths, whose souls are afire
with the hope of directors SIS gold
fee, timidly sign the record, tremb-
ling the while lest a blot call down
on them scolding! head clerk,
whose fOndest dream is raise of
salary as the result of coming under
The Masters Eye iu seventy-fve-mil-
lion dollar deal, affixes a seal, and
there is an exchanging of thin slips
Of Observation-Disclosures
ly "made dollars. Exit office bows
and lawyers.
The door closes-silence again.
Then the air vibrates with the sound
of hearty hand-slap and the genial,
whole-souled greeting of the "Master"
to his partner. "William, / feel as
though had done an honest DAVIS
laborl Thirty-six million dollars
made and no hitch, no delayW Then
follows the partners mild answer:
"Yes, Harry, but don't forget James
and the others shares will shrink it
up quite Bit"
Thirty-six million dollars for one
honest days labor! Thirty-six million
dollars-and Alaska cost us but
fourteen millions and Spain relin-
quished to US ber claims on the Phil
lppines for only twenty millionsl
Thirty-six millionl And this vast
SUM was taken from the people to
enrich men whose Golfers were al
ready, as the results of similar opera
tlons, so full Of dollars that neither
they nor their children, nor their
children's children could count them
as the people count their savings,
dollar at a time-as thoughtlessly
taken as are the apples that the
school-boy steals after he has eaten
so many that he can eat no more.
a thousand times have / tried to
figure out in nv mind what worlds
of misery such a sum of millions
might allay if issued by a govern
ment and intelligently distributed
among q people-and do my readers
know that never in the worlds re-
corded history has any nation felt
itself rich enough to devote thirty
six millions to the cause of charity
even in the midst Of the most
awful calamities of fire flood, war
or pestilence On the other
hand l have had to know
about the horrors, the misfortunes,
the earthly hell, which were the
awful consequences of the taking of
this vast amount. l have had to
know about the convicts, the suicides,
the broken hearts, the starvation
and wretchedness. the ruined bodies
and Lost souls which strewed the
fields of the Systems" harvest.
Can it be that a just God suffers
our sons and daughters to exc out a
bare existence as the best reward of
earnest effort and sterling worth, and
at the same time rewards these other
men with sac, 100000 for one days
labor?
Pondering all these things, l have
ceased to wonder at the deep MUIR
murings of discomfort that are rising.