human
I don't see, said my wife,
gpt
No, said Morgan;
human
But it would be very interesting to me, Mrs. Fletcher remarked.
gpt
Is there any protection, Mr. Morgan, for people who have invested their little property?
human
Yes; the law.
gpt
But suppose your money is all invested, say in a railway, and something goes wrong, where are you to get the money to pay for the law that will give you restitution? Is there anything in the State, or public opinion, or anywhere, that will protect your interests against clever swindling?
human
Not that I know of, Morgan admitted.
gpt
You take your chance when you let your money go out of your stocking. You see there are so many people who want it. You can put it in the ground.
human
But if I own the ground I put it in, the voters who have no ground will tax it till there is nothing left for me.
gpt
That is equality.
human
But it isn't equality, for somebody gets very rich in railways or lands, while we lose our little all. Don't you think there ought to be a public official whose duty it is to enforce the law gratis which I cannot afford to enforce when I am wronged?
gpt
The difficulty is to discover whether you are wronged or only unfortunate. It needs a lawyer to find that out. And very likely if you are wronged, the wrongdoer has so cleverly gone round the law that it needs legislation to set you straight, and that needs a lobbyist, whom the lawyer must hire, or he must turn lobbyist himself. Now, a lawyer costs money, and a lobbyist is one of the most expensive of modern luxuries; but when you have a lawyer and lobbyist in one, you will find it economical to let him take your claim and all that can be made out of it, and not bother you any more about it. But there is no doubt about the law, as I said. You can get just as much law as you can pay for. It is like any other commodity.
human
You mean to say, I asked,