Professor von Glauben, seated in his own sanctum, and engaged in the
continuance of his "Political History of Hunger," found many points in
the immediate situation which considerably interested him and moved him
to philosophical meditation.
"For,--take the feeling of the People as it now is," he said to
himself; "It starts in Hunger! The taxes,--the uncomfortable visit of
the tax-gatherer! The price of the loaf,--concerning which the baker,
or the baker-ess, politely tells the customer that it is costly,
because of the Government tax on corn; then from the bread, it is
marvellous how the little clue winds upward through the spider-webs of
Trade. The butcher's meat is dearer,--for says he--'The tax on corn
makes it necessary for me to increase the price of meat.' There is no
logical reason given,--the fact simply _is_! So that Hunger
commences the warfare,--Hunger of Soul, as well as Hunger of body. 'Why
starve my thought?' says Soul. 'Why tax my bread?' says Body. These
tiresome questions continue to be asked, and never answered,--but
answers are clamoured for, and the people complain--and then one fierce
day the gods hear them grumble, and begin to grumble back! Ach! Then it
is thunder with a vengeance! Now in my own so-beloved Fatherland, there
has been this double grumbling for a long time.
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