n statutes. 'Tis the insatiety of the human beasts of prey
immortalized in jurisprudence, and I, Dignity, sanctify all that.

As a captain of industry, as a prince of commerce, or as a king of
finance, I speak with solemn face of the heavy responsibilities that
rest upon those to whose care God, in his infinite wisdom, has entrusted
the wealth of the universe; I speak with zeal of the sacred duty of the
rich to lend a helping hand to our less fortunate brothers; I never tire
to emphasize the necessity of wise stewardship.

In the meantime, I exploit the "poor brothers" and I appropriate the
lion's share of the fruit of his labor; he is made to pay me an usurious
profit on my investments.

I fill my shops and factories with men, women and children, and I
transmute the base metal of their bones into the noble coin of the
realm; my coffers grow fat, my slaves grow lean, but I acquire the
reputation of a public benefactor, a public-spirited citizen, a noble
humanitarian.

As military commander, as a great general, I eulogize the heroism and
self-sacrifice of my blind slaves and hirelings that have returned from
a successful campaign against a weaker nation. I speak of the great
benefit that the success of our arms will confer upon the people, I
emphasize its stimulating effect upon the progress of our country and
upon our civilization.

Yet while my anointed lips pour forth these solemn lies, my mind travels
over the bloody fields of carnage; I behold the thousands of the slain,
the mutilated bodies, the torn limbs, the streams of human blood....

I stand in the pulpit and call the faithful to prayer. I thunder eternal
curses upon the heads of the unbelievers; I threaten the people with the
torments of hell and I try to bribe them by the promise of heaven.
Believe, live and be saved, I cry. Or else you will die and be damned!

For I am the visible representative on earth of those invisible,
extra-mundane spirits whom man, in his fear and ignorance, created to
his own continued mental enslavement.

Terrified, sin lies prostrate at my feet. It does not know that a sick
conscience is a characteristic trait of all slaves. It is the universal
self-accuser. Were the people--individually and collectively--to sin on
a grand scale, were they to refuse to be the puppets of the man-made
idols--were that to happen, masters and slaves would cease to be.

The tyrants of the world are under great obligations to me. They must
not