Again, the same _Ghost_ frequently appears in many places at one and the same time. DeFoe tells of the burglars who found the same _ghost_ in a chair in every room in the house at the same moment. Still again, we have "well-authenticated" cases of beggar Ghosts in rags, of one-armed Ghosts, beheaded Ghosts, blind Ghosts, hungry Ghosts, thirsty Ghosts, worried, tormented and unhappy Ghosts, and wicked, revengeful Ghosts. Is, then, the spirit world (heaven), no improvement on our own world? Mr. Kardec once asserted that we are surrounded by "myriads of spirits--good, bad and indifferent," which quite alarmed the author of "Mary Jane," who feared accidents might happen among such a crowd of _spirits_. Mr. Baker, it was, who set the author at ease, by explaining that "the _spirits_ can walk through one another and not feel it." It is a wonder that, in a world so full of humbuggers, get-rich-quicksters, fakirs and delusionists, greater effort has been made to profit by the greatest of all passions. For every human weakness we have a gold seeker, be it a Barnum, Munyon, a Lydia Pinkham, a 520% Miller, a Dowie, a Dis de Bar, or a Sister Fox. Some want to be tall, some short, some fat, some thin, some rich, some healthy, some beautiful, etc., etc., and there is always an army of fakirs, honest, semi-honest and otherwise, ready to make them so for a monetary consideration payable in advance. But, the greatest distress, the greatest passion, the greatest longing and yearning, is for the dead. What a tremendous army is the army of the mourners! What a gold mine to the man who can bring the mourner and the departed together! _Ghost_ makers do not necessarily mean to defraud, nor do they always perform for money. There are good and bad, as in all else, and they sometimes fool themselves in their efforts to fool others. The _Imagination_ is a wonderful organism. It is the greatest machine on earth, because it can do the greatest things. But, beware of it--it is not to be trusted; it will expand your credulity, undermine your reason, and give you a taste of the delirium tremens--which makes you see things! _Strikes, Profiteering and the High Cost of Living_ _Being an Argument in Favor of Industrialized Government_ PART I. THE A. B. C. OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. (_Simplified for the Uninitiated._) The one great desire uppermost in the minds of men is to get the greatest good from the earth, the source of all wealth, with the least possible labor and effort. In the so-doing, both experience and reason teach that economy is the watchword. It is the life blood of civilization--the essence of industrial prosperity. The basis of all philosophy is "I want," and in the pursuit of happiness and contentment, economy must be the watchword. WASTE.