If you
haven't got the ready money, you can buy one on credit, and pay ten,
twenty, and thirty per cent. interest, and live in a dugout on the
plains--till your mortgage matures." The young man took his arms from the
wheel and moved a few steps backward, as he added: "I'll see you over at
the house later."
The driver touched his horses, and we started briskly off again. But I
confess I had quite enough of his pessimism, and as we drove away I leaned
back toward the Altrurian and said: "Now, it is all perfect nonsense to
pretend that things are at that pass with us. There are more millionaires
in America, probably, than there are in all the other civilized countries
of the globe, and it is not possible that the farming population should be
in such a hopeless condition. All wealth comes out of the earth, and you
may be sure they get their full share of it."
"I am glad to hear you say so," said the Altrurian. "What is the meaning
of this new party in the West that seems to have held a convention lately?
I read something of it in the train yesterday."
"Oh, that is a lot of crazy Hayseeds, who don't want to pay back the money
they have borrowed, or who find themselves unable to meet their interest.
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