Through the ages the working classes, which have always constituted the greatest portion of any population (at least, this has been so until today, when the working class has been transformed into the shirking class), the slaves, indentured workers, serfs, and free workers have been forced to live more or less abstemious lives. Only the wealthy and the nobles were able to overindulge in food and other substances to any great extent, except, perhaps, on special occasions, when the slaves and workers were indulged. This has not been due to any essential difference between the noble hogs and the working hogs. Whatever virtue of temperance the working class has possessed has grown out of necessity, or, what is perhaps more accurate, out of the economics of scarcity that existed.

Always desirous of aping their "betters" in all things, the workers have always been discontented because they were unable to indulge in all the vices of the "upper class." When white bread was so high in price that only the well-to-do could afford it, they bemoaned their lot because they had to eat black bread. The poor fools have always wanted to emulate the famous gluttons of history.

When we read that a Roman feast would last for days, the guests reclining at a table, and thrusting a finger or feather down their throat to induce emptying of the stomach, when surfeited, so that they might begin eating all over again, we are not to understand that the Roman working class and Roman slaves ever had either the food or the leisure time to indulge in such destructive practices. Only the parasitic class could do so. It is unfortunate that the ideals and practices of the parasite tend to become the ideals and practices of the workers, so that, even, those who think they want to revolutionize the world do not want a revolution--they want only to alter conditions so that all can "enjoy" the indulgences of the parasites.

It would be a serious mistake to conclude from the examples of Charles V, Pepys, Johnson, Elizabeth and others that the British working class had an abundance of food or that they had midnight meals, or to conclude from the eating habits of the French kings and Napoleon that the French working class ate large quantities of food. Had they been able to eat in this way, the French revolution would never have occurred. Let us not think that the slaves, either white or black, and "poor white trash" of Colonial America ate luncheons such as the one described by the French visitor.

The records of the old gluttons make frequent references to huge portions of ginger, red pepper, nutmeg, cloves and other condiments, which were consumed before and during each repast. These irritants were formerly so high in price that the working class could not afford such luxuries. Today they are so abundant and so cheap that almost everybody employs them. There is little danger of a revolution so long as the working class can have these luxuries, plus beer and white bread. The Russians had only black bread before the 1918 revolution--they are now demanding and getting white bread. Russian life is "improving"! The old records also make frequent references to gastritis, peptic ulcers, gout and even gastric cancer. Napoleon died of cancer of the stomach. These are luxuries, too, that the working class has always aspired to "enjoy." Neither the workers nor their leaders know anything about what living should be. Their cry of "abundance for all" is really a demand for surfeit.

The repeal of the prohibition law in this country was not accomplished so much by the millions spent by the brewers and distillers, nor so much by any public or official opposition to gangsterism, which was falsely blamed on prohibition, nor, even, so much by the fact that women voted for repeal, as it was by the demand of the workers that they be permitted to drink if the men of wealth were to be permitted to do so. It was a rank injustice to permit the predatory groups to drink and withhold the poisonous concoctions from the workers. John L. Lewis wanted his miners to have beer. He can control them better that way. To avoid a revolution give the workers beer and circuses.

A man's value lies not so much in what he possesses in health, strength and life, as in the use he makes of these things. He may recklessly and wantonly squander his physiological reserves until like the spendthrift who soon becomes financially bankrupt, he reaches middle age in a condition of vital bankruptcy.