Page:The Brass Check (Sinclair 1919).djvu/133

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

advantage. Similarly, the "American" favored him sixty to one. The "Call" placed the two on a par—that is to say, the "Call" printed the news.

I conclude the account of this little episode by quoting a passage from the published "Memoirs" of a wise old Chinese gentleman, Li-Hung-Chang, who happened to be a man of humanity as well as of property:


A poor man is ever at a disadvantage in matters of public concern. When he rises to speak, or writes a letter to his superiors, they ask: "Who is this fellow that offers advice?" And when it is known that he is without coin they spit their hands at him, and use his letters in the cooks' fires. But if it be a man of wealth who would speak, or write, or denounce, even though he have the brain of a yearling dromedary, or a spine as crooked and unseemly, the whole city listens to his words and declares them wise.