“I find your rich men controlling the market—holding back the bread that the poor hungered and starved for, putting burdens on them more grievous than they could bear. These rich men, sitting with their soft, white hands, and forms that never ached with labor, putting such high prices on grain and corn that the poor could not buy to eat—these rich men prayed in the morning (for they often go through the forms of the holy religion)—they prayed, ‘Give us this day our daily bread,’ and then made it their first business to keep people from having that prayer answered to them.
“They prayed, ‘Lead us not into temptation,’ and then deliberately made circumstances that they knew would lead countless poor into temptation—temptation of theft—temptation of selling Purity and Morality for bread to sustain life.”
Sez I, a-groanin’ out loud and a-sithin’ frequent—
“I can’t bear to hear sech talk, it kills me almost; and,” sez I honestly, “there is so much truth in it that it cuts me like a knife.”
Sez he, a-goin’ on, not mindin’ my words—“I felt that I must warn this people of its sins. I must tell them of what was done once in one of our own countries,” sez he, a-wavin’ his hand in a impressive gester towards our east door—
“In one of our countries the authorities learned that stock exchanges were being formed at Osaka, Yokohama, and Koba.
“The police, all wearing disguises, went at once to the exchanges and mingled with the crowd. When all was ready a sign was given, the police took possession of the exchanges and all the books and papers, the doors were locked and the prisoners secured. Over seven hundred were put in prison, the offence being put down—‘Speculation in margins.’
“I yearn to tell this great people of the way of our countries, so that they may follow them.”
“A heathen a-comin’ here as a missionary!” sez I, a-thinkin’ out loud, onbeknown to me. “Wall, it is all right.” Sez I, “It’s jest what the country needs.”
But before I could say anythin’ further, at that very minute my beloved pardner come in.