d Paderewski is a piano-player, and
at the same time he went over to Poland to organize the new Polish
Republic."

"And the result will be that when the new Polish Republic gets started
under the direction of this here piano-player," Abe said, "and they get
a new Polish National Anthem, it will be an expert piano-player's idea
of something which is easy to play, and the consequence is that until
the next Polish revolution, every time a band plays the Polish National
Anthem, them poor Polacks would got to stand up for from forty-five
minutes to an hour while the band struggles to get through with what it
would have taken Paderewski three minutes at the outside."

"Henry Binder is a college graduate even if he would be in the pants
business," Morris said, "and he said to me: 'Perlmutter,' he said, 'the
Freedom of the Seas is like this,' he says. 'You take a country like
Norway and it stands in the same relation to the big naval powers like
we would to the other big manufacturers. Now, for instance,' he says,
'last year we did a business of over two million dollars, and--'"

Abe raised his right hand like a traffic policeman.

"Stop right there, Mawruss," he said, "because if the Freedom of the
Seas is anything like Binder & Baum doing a business of two million
dollars last year, I don't believe a word of it, which it wouldn't make
no difference if Henry Binder was talking about the Freedom of the Seas
or astronomy, sooner or later he is bound to ring in the large amount of
goods he is selling, and, anyway, no matter what Henry Binder tells you,
you must got to reckon ninety-eight per cent. discount before you could
believe a word he says."

"And do you suppose for one moment that the members of the Peace
Conference is going to act any different from Henry Binder in that
respect?" Morris asked. "Every one of the representatives of the
countries engaged in this here Peace Conference is coming to France with
a statement of the very least they would accept, and it is pretty
generally understood that all such statements are subject to a very
stiff discount, which that is what these here preliminaries is for,
Abe--to get a line on the discounts before the Peace Conference
discusses the claims themselves."

"Well, when it comes to the Allies scrapping between themselves about
League of Nations and Freedoms of Seas, I am content that they should be
allowed a liberal discount on what they say for what they mean, Mawruss,
bu