“And why not?” asked Don Alonso.
“Because there shouldn’t.”
“And how are people going to live? What’s going to become of business if there aren’t any factories?”
“Let it suffer, as we’re suffering. The earth ought to provide enough for all of us to live on,” added Jesús.
“And how about civilization?”
“Civilization! Much good civilization does us. Civilization is all very good for the rich. But what does it mean to the poor?...”
“And electric light? And steamships? And the telegraph?”
“Yes, what about them? Do you use them?”
“No. But I have used them.”
“When you had money. Civilization is made for the fellow with money, and whoever hasn’t the hard cash,—let him starve. Formerly, the rich man and the poor got their light alike from the same sort of lamp; today the poor man continues with his humble lamp and the rich man lights his house with electricity; before, if the poor man went on foot, the rich man went on horseback; today the poor man continues to go on foot, and the rich man rides in an automobile; before, the rich man had to dwell among the poor; today, he lives apart; he’s raised a wall of cotton and can hear nothing. Let the poor howl; he can’t hear. Let them die of hunger; he’ll never learn of it....