The Argosy, August 1905 — page 98: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE ARGOSY. to understand, Mr. refused the’ Messrs. each for “We are given Sowders, that you Levi their offer of six dollars these shirts.” - Sowders, still standing beside the table, waved one hand to the justice in appreciative cordiality. At the same time his face did not relax its severity. “The understandin’ you haye,” he said, “is unanimously correct.” ; “Then may I ask,”’ resumed the jus- tice, “if you have fixed any particular price on the precious articles that are now in your possession ¢ The committee made a movement that suggested the keenest interest. “Replyin’ to your perfectly respect- ful question,” said Sowders, “ I will say that I have fixed a price. And further replyin’, I will say that I do not propose to dispose of these shirts in no common way. [’ve been revolvin’ the situation in my mind, Mr. Justice and gentlemen of © the committee. “Tam not mercenary—in fact, my nature is calculated to respond to them that’s in distress or that has struck bot- tom with nothin’ to show for it. If you were poor, gentlemen, and came to me empty of pocket, distressed, demandim’ of my white shirts, I would give freely. But as I take it, this is no ten-cent community lookin’ for alms.” A murmur of assent told Sowders that he was not in a ten-cent com- munity. In fact, the faces of several of the citizens of Tontic reflected resent- ment, “We are quite able,” here ventured the justice of the peace, “to pay any price you may ask.” “T will ask you to remember them words,” said Sowders, “when I have related to you the fable of the King of Egypt.” The crowd stared curiously. Sowders placed one hand on the table for sup- port, and gazed serenely toward his vis- itors. ; “I am actin’ under historical pre- cedent,” he said. “Ag my fellow- citizen, the justice, may recall from his studies of the land of the Pharaohs— and I am not speaking of a lay-out, gentlemen—there was once a king who ruled over a » F ry) good acreage of land, but ruins of “Tis treasury was empty at about the time the gods called on him to build a temple, and as he owed the Affiliated Orders of Egypt Pyramid Masons and Brick Layers pretty heavy for some old jobs, things begun to look black. “Just here the court philosopher, who usually had a vein he could tap, even if it was only in his head, hove on the scene as radiant as the dews of the morn. ‘ What you want, O mighty king,’ said this here philosopher, “is a special assessment tax.’ “<1t won’t work,’ says the king. ‘I’ve got only about five hundred thou- sand people, and if I make the ordinary average equality tax there won’t be enough to build a side wall, let alone a whole temple. *“* We've been taxin’ the poor until they’ve got nothin’ left to take; and as for the rich, they’ve got their assessment cases up before the supreme court now on the basis that the last levy was too high. : “*Tve got about two thousand mil- lionaires, it is true, but I don’t seem to be able to get at ’em.’ Goin’ to show, gentlemen, that times hasn’t changed so all-fired much. “And now comes the court philoso- pher with his scheme. *‘ What you want, O king,’ says he ‘is to excite these millionaires into a game of chance. You just announce a Royal Nile lottery, of which half the proceeds go to buildin’ this temple an’ the other half to the man who draws the lucky number, and you issue just two thousand tickets for this same game of chance. ““You don’t want any ordinary lot- tery. The stakes must be high. It oc- curs to me, O king, that the loyal sub- ject who draws number one should pay therefore one piece of gold. The onal pays two pieces, the third three, and so on to the end, when you've got your capital prize—to be cut in ball amountin’ to the sum total of two thou- sand pieces of gold added down to one.” “The moral of these remark ontle. man, was that the ki ok mightily, the Royal Nile lottery we into operation, and the 3 on of the mo nts t ruins of ~ oF 7 ie * ed % ‘ he comicbooks.com