The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Potlatch Riots, by Allen Kim Lang

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Title: The Great Potlatch Riots

Author: Allen Kim Lang

Release Date: March 18, 2008 [EBook #24864]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE GREAT
POTLATCH RIOTS

By ALLEN KIM LANG

_Oh, leave it to the bureaucrats and
they'll figure out new ways to make
you buy more and more.... But there
was only one way the poor consumer
could rise up in his wrath._

"I've sweated for months over the plans for this campaign," Captain
Wesley Winfree told the Major. "Just nod, sir; that's all I ask; and
I'll throw my forces into the field."

"I admire your audacity, Winfree," Major Stanley Dampfer said, "but
don't you think we'd be wise to consolidate our current positions before
launching a fresh offensive?"

Captain Winfree, straight in his scarlet-trimmed winter greens, tapped
the toe of one boot with his swagger-stick. "With all respect, sir," he
said, "I feel that if we do no more than hold the line, we're lending
moral comfort to the foes of prosperity. Attack! That's my battle-plan,
sir. Attack! And attack again!"

Major Dampfer, seated behind Winfree's desk, stretched out his legs and
sighed. "You younger officers, men who've never in your lives tasted
defeat, are an inspiration and a trial to us old field-graders," he
said. "Captain, a project that failed could set your District back
fifteen years."

"I realize that, sir," Winfree said. "I'm placing my career in the
balance. If I attempt this, and goof, ship me to the sticks, Major. I'd
rather spend the rest of my BSG years as a corporal, a simple Potlatch
Observer in a downstate village, than never to have embarked on this
campaign."

"Young Napoleon must have been very like you, Winfree," Major Dampfer
mused. "Very well, lad. Brief me."

"Yes, sir!" Captain Winfree marched over to the giant calendar that
covered one wall of his office and tapped his stick against the three
dates circled in red. "We'v