'ain't got no sympathy for at all."

"I bet yer Vincent Astor thinks that John B. Rockafellar should ought to
be satisfied mit the reasonable income which a feller could make it by
working hard at the real-estate business the way Vincent Astor does,"
Abe commented.

"John B. Rockafellar _oser_ worries his head over the ravings of a
protelariat," Morris said. "But, anyhow, Abe, there's a whole lot to
what this here Chump Clark says at that. If we compel men to give up
their lives for their country, why shouldn't we compel them fellers
which has got incomes of over ten thousand dollars to give up their
property for their country also?"

"Well, I'll tell you, Mawruss," Abe replied. "This here Chump Clark is a
Congressman, and the way I feel about it is, that when a Congressman
wants to say something in Congress, y'understand, he should ought to be
compelled to first submit it in writing to a certified public accountant
or, anyhow, a bookkeeper, y'understand, because the average Congressman
'ain't got no head for figures. Take Mr. Clark, for example, and when he
reckons that everybody which gets drafted is going to give up his life
for his country, y'understand, you don't got to be the head actuary of
the Equitable exactly in order to figure it out that he's made a
tremendous overestimate. So when the same feller talks about
confiscating incomes over ten thousand, it ain't necessary to ask how he
come to fix on ten thousand instead of five thousand or fifteen
thousand, because whether he tossed for it or dealt himself three cold
hands, and the hand representing ten thousand dollars won out with treys
full of deuces, y'understand, the information ain't going to help us
finance the war to any extent."

"Why not?" Morris asked.

"Because you take yourself, for instance, and we would say for the sake
of argument that in nineteen seventeen you turned over a new leaf and
worked so hard that you made fifteen thousand five hundred dollars."

"Listen, Abe," Morris interrupted, "if there is a new leaf coming to any
one around here, Abe, I wouldn't mention no names for the sake of an
argument or otherwise."

"All right," Abe said, "then we'll say you didn't work no harder, but
just the same, Mawruss, if you was to make fifteen thousand five hundred
dollars in nineteen seventeen, and this here Chump Clark gets the
government to confiscate fifty-five hundred dollars on you, how much
would they confiscate on you in nineteen eigh