I met men
incoherent with indignation at the brutality of prize-fighting, and
who, at the same time, were parties to the adulteration of food that
killed each year more babies than even red-handed Herod had killed.
I talked in hotels and clubs and homes and Pullmans, and steamer-
chairs with captains of industry, and marvelled at how little
travelled they were in the realm of intellect. On the other hand, I
discovered that their intellect, in the business sense, was
abnormally developed. Also, I discovered that their morality, where
business was concerned, was nil.
This delicate, aristocratic-featured gentleman, was a dummy director
and a tool of corporations that secretly robbed widows and orphans.
This gentleman, who collected fine editions and was an especial
patron of literature, paid blackmail to a heavy-jowled, black-browed
boss of a municipal machine. This editor, who published patent
medicine advertisements and did not dare print the truth in his paper
about said patent medicines for fear of losing the advertising,
called me a scoundrelly demagogue because I told him that his
political economy was antiquated and that his biology was
contemporaneous with Pliny.
Pages:
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310