All
food is government property. Yet I have sat down opposite a man
who gave the government at the door a work-coupon identical with
mine, but who furthermore dropped into the waiter's hand "35 cents
spig"--which is half as bad as to do it in U.S. currency--and
while I was gazing tearfully at a misshapen lump of vacunal
gristle there was set before him, steaming hot from the government
kitchen, a porterhouse steak which a dollar bill would not have
brought him within scenting distance of in New York. Do not blame
the waiter. If he does not slip an occasional coin to the cook he
will invariably draw the gristle, and even occasional coins do not
grow on his waist band. It would be as absurd to charge it to the
cook. He probably has a large family to support, as he would have
under socialism. There runs this story on the Zone, vouched for by
several:
A "Zoner" called an I.C.C. steward and complained that his waiter
did not serve him reasonably:
"Well," sneered the steward, "I guess you didn't come across?"
"Come across! Why, damn you, I suppose you're getting your rake-
off too?"
"I certainly am," replied the steward; "What do you think I'm down
here for, me health?"
Surely we can't blame it all to the steward, or to any other
individual. Lay it rather to human nature, that stumbling-block of
so many varnished and upholstered systems.
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