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A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court | Mark Twain | |
Sixth Century Political Economy |
Page 3 of 7 |
"There -- ye're confessing it again, ye're confessing it again!" "Confound it, I've never denied it, I tell you! What I say is this. With us HALF a dollar buys more than a DOLLAR buys with you -- and THEREFORE it stands to reason and the commonest kind of common-sense, that our wages are HIGHER than yours." He looked dazed, and said, despairingly: "Verily, I cannot make it out. Ye've just said ours are the higher, and with the same breath ye take it back." "Oh, great Scott, isn't it possible to get such a simple thing through your head? Now look here -- let me illustrate. We pay four cents for a woman's stuff gown, you pay 8.4.0, which is four mills more than DOUBLE. What do you allow a laboring woman who works on a farm?" "Two mills a day." "Very good; we allow but half as much; we pay her only a tenth of a cent a day; and --" "Again ye're conf --" "Wait! Now, you see, the thing is very simple; this time you'll understand it. For instance, it takes your woman 42 days to earn her gown, at 2 mills a day -- 7 weeks' work; but ours earns hers in forty days -- two days SHORT of 7 weeks. Your woman has a gown, and her whole seven weeks wages are gone; ours has a gown, and two days' wages left, to buy something else with. There -- NOW you understand it!" He looked -- well, he merely looked dubious, it's the most I can say; so did the others. I waited -- to let the thing work. Dowley spoke at last -- and betrayed the fact that he actually hadn't gotten away from his rooted and grounded superstitions yet. He said, with a trifle of hesitancy: |
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A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court Mark Twain |
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