The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-05-08

whats wrong with my businessE
play fair and square. There's moth
ing u%nderhand about it. which cam
be said OF most businesses. whether OF
the big corporations Or Of the cheat
ing. lying, little corner-grocerymen. !
play the straight rules Of the game
and l don't have to lie or cheat or
break my word"
Don't you see," he went on, the
whole game Is a gamble. Everybody
CANDLES IN one way or another. the
farmer CANDLES against the weather
and the market on his crops. So does
the United States Steel Corporation.
| The business Of lots of men Is straight
robbery Of the poor people. But I've
never made that my business. You
know that I've always gone after the
robbers"
81 missed my point" she admitted.
Wait a minute"
/; And for a space they rode In ST.
lence.
II see 1t more clearly than | can
state 1t, but it's something like this
There is legitimate work. and there's
work that-well, that isn't legitimate.
The farmer works the soil and pro-
duces grain. He's making something
that is good for humanity. He actual
ly, In a way, creates something. the
grain that will fill the mouths OF the
hungry"
And then the railroads and market
| riggers and the rest proceed to rob
him of that same grain" Daylight
broke In.
There amt much difference be-
tween playing halfway. robber like
the railroad hauling that farmers
wheat to market. and playing all rob-
Der and robbing the robbers like | do.
And. besides, halfway robbery is too
slow a game for me to sit In. You
don't win quick enough for me-"
But what do you want to win for?'
Dede demanded. you have millions
and millions. already; why can't you
do good with all your money!
Daylight laughed.
Doing good with your money!
Amt it funny. to 60 around with brass
knuckles and a big club breaking
folks heads and taking their money
away from them until I've got a pile.
and then. repenting of my ways. going
around and bandaging up the heads
the other robbers are breaking?
leave IT to you. That's what doing good
with money amounts to. Every once
in q while some robber turns soft
hearted and takes to driving an am
bulance. That's what Carnegie did.
He smashed. heads in pitched battles
at Homestead. regular wholesale head
breaker he was. held up the suckers
for a few hundred million. and now
he goes around dribbling 1t back to
them. Funny? l leave It to you"
He roMed a cigarette and watched
her half euriously. half amusedly. His
replies and harsh concentrations Of a
harsh school we're ,disconcerting. and
she came back to her earlier position.
81 can't argue with you. and you
know that. No matter how right a
woman Is, men have such q way about
them-well. what they say sounds
most convincing. and yet the woman
Is still certain they are wrong. But
there is one thing, the creative Joy;
and it's a higher Joy than mere gam,
bling. Haven't you eve made things
yourself-a log cabin up In the W.
kon, or a canoe. or raft. or something?
And don't you remember how salts
fed you were. how good you felt,
while you doing it and after you
had 1t done?"
While she spoke his memory was
| busy with the associations she recall
ed He saw the deserted fiat on the
| river bank by the Klondike. and he
saw the log cabins and warehouses
spring up. and all the log structures
he had built. and his sawmllls work
ing night and day on three shifts.
why, dog-gone 1t. Miss Mason,
you're right-in a way. I've built
| hundreds of houses up there, and
remember I was proud and glad to
see them go up. I'm proud now, when
I remember them. And there was
0phir-tbe most God-forsaken moose
pasture OF a creek you ever laid eyes
on. made that into the big Ophir'
Why, 7 ran the water In there from
the Rinkabilly, eighty miles away
They all said | couldn't, but | did IT
and | did 1t by myself The dam and
the lume cost me fonr million. But
you should have seen that Ophir-powL
er plants. electric lights. and hum
dreds of men on the payroll. working