everything.
The real producer of all the necessities and luxuries of life was
actually giving nine-tenths of the fruits of his labor to a class of
loafers and schemers who took it as a divine right, and then begrudged
him the one-tenth he received of his own production. I observed that for
every one of these producers there were ten non-producers who spent
their time and efforts devising the best ways and means to confiscate
that which had been produced. It seemed strange that the producer would
allow this state of affairs to exist; but he did, and seemed quite
elated sometimes to think that the non-producer would permit him to live
at all. I noticed that most of the non-producers were fat and bloated
from being over-fed and from guzzling prepared liquors, and that they
were clothed with the finest materials the producer could contribute,
while the producers themselves were lean and hungry looking objects, and
were dressed in rags. I had seen these same things many times before
without giving them any consideration, but now for the first time, I
felt that there was something wrong with the people of the world. It
seemed to me now that the entire system of human endeavor had been
started wrong and was running along upside down. But what was the cause
of this curious state of affairs? One word alone explained it all--
Selfishness. And then there came to me a sentence, the imprint of which
has never been effaced from my memory, viz: "Selfishness is the root of
all evil; eradicate selfishness from all human beings and the earth win
be heaven."

Oh, dear reader, go over those few words again, and again; ten times;
fifty times; one hundred times if necessary to thoroughly impress their
full meaning upon your intellect. Study them; practice them; teach them;
sing them to all the world. Take them for your everlasting motto and you
will have no need for all the stupid theories ever created by man.
"Eradicate selfishness from all human beings and the earth will be
heaven."

And now I observed that great numbers of these little men were being
unloaded from the various ships in the harbor, and upon landing started
immediately in a northerly direction. I understood the reason. Gold had
been discovered in the Transvaal, and thousands upon thousands were
coming from every quarter of the globe in anticipation of getting some
of this metal. And what is there about gold that caused people to go
such vast distances and bear many hardsh