"Now, let us look at this thing from the other side. Who
contributes most in favour of the poor, for the support of these
houses, asylums, poor-houses? The rich people, the merchants, our
body of merchants. Very well! And who commands our life and regulates
it? The nobles, the functionaries and all sorts of other people, not
belonging to our class. From them come the laws, the newspapers,
science--everything from them. Before, they were land-owners, now
their land was snatched away from them--and they started out in
service. Very well! But who are the most powerful people today? The
merchant is the supreme power in an empire, because he has the
millions on his side! Isn't that so?"
"True!" assented Foma, eager to hear the sooner that which was to
follow, and which was already sparkling in the eyes of his godfather.
"Just mark this," the old man went on distinctly and impressively.
"We merchants had no hand in the arrangement of life, nor do we have
a voice or a hand in it today. Life was arranged by others, and it
is they that multiplied all sorts of scabs in life--idlers and poor
unfortunates; and since by multiplying them they obstructed life and
spoilt it--it is, justly judging, now their duty to purify it.
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