I'm awfully sorry, but I've nothing to do with that side of things. So you just want to write about the miners, eh?
LOTH
That question shows how little of an economist you are.
HOFFMANN
[Whose vanity is stung.] I beg your pardon! I hope you don't think … Why? I don't see why that isn't a legitimate question?… And, anyhow: it wouldn't be surprising. One can't know everything.
LOTH
Oh, calm yourself. The matter stands simply thus: if I am to study the situation of the miners in this district, it is of course unavoidably necessary that I touch upon all the factors that condition their situation.
HOFFMANN
Writings of that kind are sometimes full of frightful exaggerations.