Read Online Of Time and the River by Thomas Wolfe - Free Book Online Page B

suffering—” said this little man who had sacrificed and suffered nothing—“they are looking forward to better times. . . . And in my opinion,” he spoke again with his air of slow deliberation, important carefulness—“in my opinion, better times are before us. I think that after this election we are going to witness one of the greatest periods of national development and expansion that the world has ever known. . . . Why, we haven’t begun yet! We haven’t even started!” he cried suddenly, with a note of passionate conviction in his voice—“Do you realize that this country is only a little more than a hundred years old? Why, we haven’t even begun to show what we can do yet! We’ve spent all that time in getting started—in building cities— settling the country—building railroads and factories—developing the means of production—making the tools with which to work. . . . The resources of this country are scarcely tapped as yet. And in my opinion we are on the eve of the greatest period of prosperity and growth the world has ever known. . . . Look at Altamont, for example,” he went on cogently. “Ten years ago, in 1910, the census gave us a population of 18,000. . . . Now, we have thirty, according to government figures, and that doesn’t begin to take the whole thing in: it doesn’t take in Biltburn, Lunn’s Cove, Beaver Hills, Sunset Parkway—a dozen other places I can mention, all really part of the town but not included in the census figures. . . . If all the suburbs were included we’d have a population of at least 40,000 inhabitants—”
    “I’d call it nearer fifty,” said another patriot.
    “And within another ten years we’ll go to seventy-five, perhaps a hundred. . . . Why, that town hasn’t begun to grow yet!” he said, bending his short body forward in his enthusiasm and tapping his fat knee—“It has been less than eight years since we established the Citizen’s Bank and Trust Company with a capital of $25,000 and capital stock at $100 a share. . . . Now,” he paused a moment, and looked around him, his swarthy face packed with strong conviction— “NOW, we have a capital of $2,000,000—deposits totalling more than $18,000,000—and as for the stock—” for a moment the little man’s swarthy face was touched with a faint complacent smile, he said smugly, “I don’t know exactly how much stock you gentlemen may hold among you, but if any of you wants to sell what he has, I will pay you $1000 a share—here and now,” he slapped a fat small hand down upon a fat small knee—“here and now! for every share you own.”
    And he looked at them steadily for a moment with an air of challenge.
    “Not for mine!” the florid heavy man cried heartily. “No, sir! I’ve only got ten shares, Emmet, but you can’t buy it from me at any price! I won’t sell!”
    And the swarthy little man, pleased by the answer, smiled complacently about him before he spoke again.
    “Yes, sir!” he said. “That’s the way it is. And the thing that’s begun to happen at home already is going to happen everywhere—all over the country. From now on you’re going to see a period of rising prices and high wages—increased production, a boom in real estate, stocks, investments, business of all kinds—rising values everywhere such as you never saw before and never hoped to see.”
    “And where is it going to stop?”
    “Stop!” the swarthy little man spoke almost curtly, and then barked, “It’s not going to stop! Not during OUR lifetime, anyway! I tell you, man, we’re just beginning! How can there be any talk of stopping when we haven’t STARTED yet? . . . There’s been nothing like it before,” he cried with passionate earnestness— “nothing to match it in the history of the world. We’ve had wars, booms, good times, hard times, slumps, periods of prosperity—but, I tell you, gentlemen!” and here he smote himself sharply on the knee and his voice rose with the