Don't sell so many tickets, my virtuous dignitary.
After all, men and women (unless considered from a purely commercial
point of view) are not exactly the cattle of the Western-ocean trade,
that used some twenty years ago to be thrown overboard on an emergency
and left to swim round and round before they sank. If you can't get more
boats, then sell less tickets. Don't drown so many people on the finest,
calmest night that was ever known in the North Atlantic--even if you have
provided them with a little music to get drowned by. Sell less tickets!
That's the solution of the problem, your Mercantile Highness.
But there would be a cry, "Oh! This requires consideration!" (Ten years
of it--eh?) Well, no! This does not require consideration. This is the
very first thing to do. At once. Limit the number of people by the
boats you can handle. That's honesty. And then you may go on fumbling
for years about these precious davits which are such a stumbling-block to
your humanity. These fascinating patent davits. These davits that
refuse to do three times as much work as they were meant to do. Oh! The
wickedness of these davits!
One of the great discoveries of this admirable Inquiry is the fascination
of the davits.
Pages:
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349