Page:Labour - The Divine Command, 1890.djvu/67

Rh among laborers, it is because he does not observe this law.

We must not deny that other works have merit, but they are only to be considered after one has earned his nourishment with his own hands.

You have permitted the executioner to flog men, but what men? Evidently us only. He touches not the rich man, who has for his defence friends, eloquence, cunning, and, above all, money. We have no such advantages.

Of course the rich man must expiate his crime, if the affair reaches the ears of supreme authority. But it is usually smothered from the beginning. It is said in Deuteronomy: "Presents dazzle the judges' eyes."

Of all the petitions I would make to you the dearest to my heart is this: Do not crush the poor while sparing the rich. And if you must crush any, begin with the head rather than the tail. Think of my argument against your custom of shedding human blood. Let the executioner disappear from among men, and let even his name become unknown in all the world.

36. But will not the baser sort among the people say, Here are such and such ones who live on the labor of others, why may not I do likewise?

Then I will rob, slay, and exact the uttermost penny; I will live like a pomestchik, with my hands in my pockets; I will command, and no longer obey. For it is not by honest labor that you acquire your fine houses. "Honest labor