"Then I've got you." Ernest's jaw snapped like a trap. "Let me show you.
Here is a man who works on the street railways."

"He couldn't work if it weren't for capital," the Bishop interrupted.

"True, and you will grant that capital would perish if there were no
labor to earn the dividends."

The Bishop was silent.

"Won't you?" Ernest insisted.

The Bishop nodded.

"Then our statements cancel each other," Ernest said in a matter-of-fact
tone, "and we are where we were. Now to begin again. The workingmen
on the street railway furnish the labor. The stockholders furnish the
capital. By the joint effort of the workingmen and the capital, money is
earned.* They divide between them this money that is earned. Capital's
share is called 'dividends.' Labor's share is called 'wages.'"

* In those days, groups of predatory individuals controlled
all the means of transportation, and for the use of same
levied toll upon the public.

"Very good," the Bishop interposed. "And there is no reason that the
division should not be amicable."

"You have already forgotten what we had agreed upon," Ernest replied.
"We agreed that the average man is selfish. He is the man that is. You