Crime -- United States; Criminals -- United States
The common servant who cannot distinguish as between beneficent sport and
sporting that smells to heaven, ceases to be a social asset not only; he
is a menace to the moral health of the nation. Did he not stand convicted
by the major millions of rational men and women, one would despair of the
dawning day of a common brotherhood.
It were not too rank to paraphrase thusly: "The nation the gods would
destroy, they first make sporting mad." America is dangerously close to
sporting mad. She will come out of that particular form of nerve storm
because she will have to do so. She will have to do so for the very good
reason that she cannot much longer pay the two-fold freight entailed; a
two-fold freight expressed man for man in constantly reduced production,
and an increasing number of disappearing dollars.
At a given time, the national wealth of America reduces to the equivalent
of the number of dollars Americans have wisely earned and invested.
Wisely-earned dollars mean big production, and big production means an
average big spending and investing capacity. That, in turn, means brisk
business along the lines of legitimate commerce and trade. And that means
nearly universal employment, and freely-circulating money turned over and
over along those lines.
Contrary to the claim of the gamester, there is a vast difference between
the working power of the dollar that finds its way into the industrial
groove, and the dollar that helps pack the purse of a prostitute. In the
one case, the moral dollar will earn ever-increasing increment, while
contributing to the general well-being. In the other case, the immoral
dollar had passed and will pass mainly from the pocket of one mulcting
parasite into the pocket of another mulcting parasite. It had and will,
because human parasites produce nothing tangible in exchange for that
which is dumped into their palms. The money they spend for their general
upkeep is largely turned back into approved channels of trade; but that is
but a fraction of the grand total. The bulk of their capital is and must
be nearly as dead to the business world. It is practically of little more
use to going business than is hoarded money.
Even so, the enacting indictment of the sporting drone is not a dollar
indictment. The capital brief society should hold against him is that he
plys intrinsically criminal tools, with which he frequently
"double-crosses" even his fellow craftsmen.
"Well," says the imprisoned felon of the stripe in question, "what did big
and little business men do to the people during the progress of the World
War? What did they do to each other when diving foreign exchange upheaved
home values? What did they do to every body for long months after prices
should have dropped pretty close to their normal level? Did they or did
they not play the game as I played it, until consumers got after them with
buying strikes, and the cry of stop thief? Did they or did they not?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account