There is a criminal conspiracy, called the Beef Trust, which
thrives on the needs and privations of the whole people. It is a
blot on humanity. Do what you can to destroy this evil. But do
not be made bitter by it. Your age is a happier one than others.
In France, not so long ago, human beings were punished for eating
the bodies of men that had died of the plague, and strict laws
were issued to stop that kind of cannibalism. The Beef Trust age
is an improvement on that age, is it not? High prices are
bad, but not as bad as hideous, widespread starvation. ----
Human selfishness and heartlessness are criticised to-day, and
the criticism is just. Yet, MORALLY, the human race has
improved more than in any other way.
We see to-day callous, heartless men spending millions upon their
personal pleasures, paving insufficiently the laborers whose work
enriches them, and robbing the public whose patience makes the
great fortunes possible.
But the worst plutocrat of to-day is an angel compared with the
mildly vicious men of olden times.
Your selfish man to-day only asks for a yacht and some race
horses, mild forms of dissipation. A thousand years ago the
vicious man demanded and exercised the power of life and death
over those who surrounded him, and his mildest fit of irritation
cost the life of some helpless human being.
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