aloud comparing the capitals of the great American
banking firms, the Bank of England, the Credit Lyonnais and the wealth of
all the American millionaires. Even the skat players gave their attention
for a few moments at a time.

America was then suffering from a business depression, a crisis, as the
political economists dub it. The causes of the depression came up for
discussion. Most of the Americans present happened to be Democrats, and
they threw the blame on the Republicans. The Tammany Tiger was the
subject of especial execration. It not only controlled New York City, the
mayor of which was a creature of Tammany, but had also put its men into
the most influential positions throughout the land. And every Tammany man
knew how to shear his sheep. As a result, the American people were
thoroughly bled. The corruption in the highest offices was said to be on
a tremendous scale. Millions of dollars were appropriated to the navy,
but if a man-of-war actually happened to be built, the thing was a great
achievement, since the money, long before it was applied to its proper
purpose, sifted down into the pockets of peaceful Americans, whose
interest in the navy was of the slightest.

"I shouldn't care to be buried in America," cried Stoss, in his sharp
voice. "It would be too dreary and boresome for me in my grave. I hate
their spitting and their ice-water." The burst of laughter that greeted
his remark encouraged him to further sallies. "Americans are parrots,
incessantly chattering two words, dollar and business, dollar and
business, dollar and business. Those two words have been death to culture
in America. An American doesn't even know what it is to have the
Englishman's spleen. Think of the fearfulness of living in a country
called the land of dollars. We have human beings living in Europe. The
Americans regard everything, even their fellow-men, from the point of
view of the number of dollars they represent. If a thing can't be
reckoned in dollars, they have no eyes for it. And then Carnegie and
Company come and want to astonish us with their disgusting shopkeeper's
philosophy. Do you think they're helping the world on by slicing off some
of the world's dollars and then returning some of the sliced off dollars
with a great flourish of trumpets? Do you think that if they do us the
favour to give us some of their money, we'll throw overboard our Mozart
and Beethoven, our Kant and Schopenhauer, our Schiller and Goethe, our