38 THE THIRD POWER 



ing through tariffs might be more arduous than it 

 is now. Some of the beggars for tariff taxes might 

 actually be called on to show why they needed them 

 and ought to have them. 



As for the speculators, they would not find life 

 wholly pleasant under the proposed conditions. 

 When, to return to Mr. Norris's book, Curtis Jad- 

 win tried to corner the wheat supply, he was beaten 

 by the new crop which came pouring in. Here is 

 how it happened : 



"And the avalanche, the undyked ocean of the 

 wheat, leaping to the lash of the hurricane, struck 

 him fairly in the face. He heard it now; he heard 

 nothing else. The wheat had broken from his con- 

 trol. For months he had, by the might of his single 

 arm, held it back ; but now it rose like the upbuilding 

 of a colossal billow. It towered, hung, poised for an 

 instant, and then with a thunder as of the grind and 

 crash of chaotic worlds, broke upon him, burst 

 through the pit and raced past him, on and on to the 

 eastward and to the hungry nations." 



What if the farmers had controlled that "un- 

 dyked ocean of the wheat," and had refused to let 

 any of the ocean get through the dyke? The price 

 would not have broken, and the corner would have 

 won. The next deal would have smashed Jadwin. 

 And what right had he to control the price of wheat 

 for months ? Neither he nor any of his tribe could 

 do it if the farmers would assert their power. It 

 would be the same way with the stock market. As 



