noon
Do you suppose that I 've worked hard all my life and worn myself out for the express purpose of turning our factory into a workingmen 's home ? No , my boy , I ca n't support you in your little hobby . '' `` But , father , capital and labor -- '' `` O , cut out those silly phrases , '' interrupted the old gentleman irritably , `` Karl Marx and Henry George and all your other stand-bys may be all right in your library , and help to decorate your bookshelves , but I prefer to settle our practical problems on the basis of my experience and not of your books . As manager and proprietor of our plant I want to tell you that when the whistle blows at noon to-day I shall notify our workingmen that in consequence of the totally unforeseen breaking out of hostilities -- here I shall insert a few words about the sacred duty of patriotism and of defending one 's country -- we are unwillingly forced to dismiss three thousand of our workmen . We 'll pay wages for , let 's say , a fortnight longer , but then good-by to the men ; we 'll shut up shop , and the thousand men that are left can finish the standing orders and any new ones that may come in . And if no new ones turn up , then the remaining workingmen will be dismissed at once . In the meantime I 'll subscribe one hundred thousand dollars to the war-loan , and then engage passage on a Lloyd steamer , the most expensive cabins with every possible luxury , for your mother , your two sisters , myself , and I hope for you , too , and we 'll be off to old Europe .