people. But I've never made that my business. You know that.
I've always gone after the robbers."

"I missed my point," she admitted. "Wait a minute."

And for a space they rode in silence.

"I see it more clearly than I can state it, but it's something like
this. There is legitimate work, and there's work that--well, that
isn't legitimate. The farmer works the soil and produces grain. He's
making something that is good for humanity. He actually, in a way,
creates something, the grain that will fill the mouths of the hungry."

"And then the railroads and market-riggers and the rest proceed to rob
him of that same grain,"--Daylight broke in Dede smiled and held up her
hand.

"Wait a minute. You'll make me lose my point. It doesn't hurt if they
rob him of all of it so that he starves to death. The point is that
the wheat he grew is still in the world. It exists. Don't you see?
The farmer created something, say ten tons of wheat, and those ten tons
exist. The railroads haul the wheat to market, to the mouths that will
eat it. This also is legitimate. It's like some one bringing you a
glass of water, or taking a cinder out of your eye. Something has been
done, in a way been created, just like the wheat."

"But the railroads rob like Sam Scratch," Daylight objected.

"Then the work they do is partly legitimate and partly not. Now we
come to you. You don't create anything. Nothing new exists when
you're done with your business. Just like the coal. You didn't dig
it. You didn't haul it to market. You didn't deliver it. Don't you
see? that's what I meant by planting the trees and building the
houses. You haven't planted one tree nor built a single house."

"I never guessed there was a woman in the world who could talk business
like that," he murmured admiringly. "And you've got me on that point.
But there's a lot to be said on my side just the same. Now you listen
to me. I'm going to talk under three heads. Number one: We live a
short time, the best of us, and we're a long time dead. Life is a big
gambling game. Some are born lucky and some are born unlucky.
Everybody sits in at the table, and everybody tries to rob everybody
else. Most of them get robbed. They're born suckers.

"Fellow like me comes along and sizes up the proposition. I've got two
choices. I can herd with the suckers, or I can herd with the robbers.
As a sucker, I win nothing. Even the crusts of bread are snatched o