nna. "You're on the right track.
Carlisle couldn't take it after you'd smashed it."

"But," said Mr. Dooley, "look here: if ye had th' free an' unlimited
coinage iv silver at a ratio iv sixteen to wan, ye cud take this here
mass iv silver down to Carlisle, an' say, 'Here, Jawn, give me a
dollar'; an' he'd have to give it to ye."

"A dollar of what?" said Mr. McKenna.

"A dollar iv what?" repeated Mr. Dooley. "A dollar iv what? Man alive,
don't ye know what a dollar is? Carlisle'd hand him out a plunk, a case,
a buck. He'd say, 'Here, Larkin, ye're a dam fool to be malthreatin' th'
currincy iv yer adophted counthry, but I have to give ye a dollar
because ye're a good fellow an' a frind iv Dooley's.'"

"He wouldn't say anything of the kind," said Mr. McKenna. "He'd give
Larkin fifty cents."

"I'd push his face in if he did," said Mr. Larkin, warmly. "I'm as good
a ma-an as he is anny day. I'll have no man rob me."

"But he wouldn't rob you," said Mr. McKenna. "Think of the purchasing
power: you've got to always figure that out. A dollar you'd get then
would be worth only half as much as it's worth now. It'd be a dollar
like they run through the ringer down in Mexico."

"How can wan dollar be worth on'y half as much as another dollar, if
they're both dollars an' th' man that made thim is at la-arge?" answered
Mr. Dooley. "Here's a dollar, an' here's a dollar. Wan akels th' other.
Now you take this here dollar, an' come into my place. 'Give me a brandy
an' sody,' ye say. Thin what do I say?"

"You say you're just out of brandy and soda."

"So I do, so I do. Thin you ask f'r a little liquor with beer f'r a
chaser. An' I give it to ye. Ye lay down wan iv these here quartz
dollars. I return eighty-five cints. Larkin comes in later, ordhers th'
same thing, an' I give him th' same threatment. I play no fav-rites.
Entertainmint f'r man an' beast."

"But, if we had free silver, you'd charge thirty cents for the drink,"
said Mr. McKenna.

"I wud not," said Mr. Dooley, hotly. "I niver overcharged a man in my
life, except durin' a campaign."

"No one accuses you of overcharging," explained Mr. McKenna. "Everybody
would charge the same. It'd be the regular price."

"If it was," said Mr. Dooley, "they'd be a rivolution. But I don't
believe it, Jawn. Let me tell ye wan thing. Whisky is th' standard iv
value. It niver fluctuates; an' that's funny, too, seein' that so much
iv it goes down. It was th' same price--fifteen ci