But he says, “No, Miss Riggs that would never do at all,” he says, “and the reason is that we have got factories over here to make all the goods for ourselves.”
“Well,” says I, “but we can have twiced as many goods.”
“No,” he says, “our people haven’t got the money to buy so much, and so it would shut our factories down, and all our people that works in the factories would starve.”
Well Mom it shows you how dumb and ignorant us poor working people is. I would never of thought of that would you? But it is plain as day—why we have even got what is called tariff laws to tax the things that is brought into the country so as to keep them Dagoes from dumping their cheap goods off on us and putting all our working people out of their jobs.
I seen then why the Spokesman was so unhappy because if we couldn’t take money and we couldn’t take goods what could we do about the debts? If they wasn’t paid at all you can see what a bad example it would be for nobody would want to play the business game at all if they would never get paid their money if they made too much.
Well I must say I was scared because if all these greatest minds in the world hadn’t been able to guess the answer what chanced was there for poor little Mamie Riggs of the Elite Beauty Parlors? But I thought and thought and Mr. Edgerton set and watched me with an anxious look knowing how much there was at stake. And at last—will you believe it Mom?—I got it! Yes I did and all the world is going to know it in a day or two. That is, of course they aint going to know that I got it but they will be told the answer by the Spokesman in the big white house where He lives and tells them answers.
Says I, “Mr. Edgerton, them Dagoes has got a lot of pictures and cathedrals and things over there ain’t they?”
“Yes,” he says, “they have that.”
“And people travel over there to see them all the time dont they?”
“Oh yes.”