English factories, the American trusts, the exploitation of
African gold, diamonds, ivory and rubber, outdoes in villainy the
worst that has ever been imagined of the buccaneers of the
Spanish Main. Captain Kidd would have marooned a modern Trust
magnate for conduct unworthy of a gentleman of fortune. The law
every day seizes on unsuccessful scoundrels of this type and
punishes them with a cruelty worse than their own, with the
result that they come out of the torture house more dangerous
than they went in, and renew their evil doing (nobody will employ
them at anything else) until they are again seized, again
tormented, and again let loose, with the same result.

But the successful scoundrel is dealt with very differently, and
very Christianly. He is not only forgiven: he is idolized,
respected, made much of, all but worshipped. Society returns him
good for evil in the most extravagant overmeasure. And with what
result? He begins to idolize himself, to respect himself, to live
up to the treatment he receives. He preaches sermons; he writes
books of the most edifying advice to young men, and actually
persuades himself that he got on by taking his own advice; he
endows educational institutions; he supports charities; he dies
finally in the odor of sanctity, leaving a will which is a
monument of public spirit and bounty. And all this without any
change in his character. The spots of the leopard and the stripes
of the tiger are as brilliant as ever; but the conduct of the
world towards him has changed; and his conduct has changed
accordingly. You have only to reverse your attitude towards him--
to lay hands on his property, revile him, assault him, and he
will be a brigand again in a moment, as ready to crush you as you
are to crush him, and quite as full of pretentious moral reasons