of Rutherford B. Hayes on 'em left, and if not, to send Jake up
with three hundred of them three-by-seven-inch ten-thousand-dollar
bills, and that's all there is to it. But as a matter of fact he doesn't
do nothing of the kind, because nobody could get any money out of the
Secretary of the Treasury except by an act of Congress."

"Well, it's nothing against Mr. Glass that he is such a tight-wad,
Mawruss, because that's the kind of man to have as Secretary of the
Treasurer, Mawruss, which supposing they had one of them easy-come,
easy-go fellers for Secretary of the Treasurer, Mawruss--somebody who
would fall for every hard-luck story he hears, y'understand, and how
long is it going to be before the police is asking him what did he done
with it all?" Abe said. "So, for my part, Mawruss, they could abuse Mr.
Glass all they want to, y'understand, but I would be just as well
satisfied, so far as my income taxes is concerned, if the only way you
could get money out of him was by a miracle instead of an act of
Congress. Am I right or wrong?"

"Do me the favor, Abe," Morris said, "and don't talk a lot of nonsense
about a subject about which you don't know nothing about, because when I
say that nobody could get money out of Carter H. Glass except by an act
of Congress, y'understand, I ain't talking poetical in a manner of
speaking. They must actually got to got and act of Congress before
anybody could get any money out of the Secretary of the Treasury, no
matter if Mr. Glass would be the most generous feller in existence,
which, for all I know, he _might_ be. So, therefore, Abe, when Congress
adjourned without passing the acts which was necessary in order that the
Secretary of the Treasury should pay the railroads seven hundred and
fifty million dollars to keep 'em going, y'understand, not to mention
such chicken-feed like three million dollars for this here Soldiers'
Relations Bureau and the like, it leaves the country practically broke
with seven or eight billion dollars in the bank. _Now_ do you understand
what I am driving into?"

"I think I do," Abe said, "but explain it to me just as if I didn't,
because what is a mystery to me is, why did Congress adjourn without
passing them acts, Mawruss?"

"They did it to put Mr. Wilson in bad on account he went to Europe
without calling an extra session," Morris said.

"I thought Congress got paid by the year and not by the session," Abe
remarked.

"So they do," Morris continu