Nostromo - A Tale of the Seaboard.pdf - Planet eBook

at the end of his rule (which had kept peace in the countryfor a whole fifteen years) there was more fatuous imbecility,plenty of cruelty and suffering still, but much less of theold-time fierce and blindly ferocious political fanaticism. Itwas all more vile, more base, more contemptible, and infinitelymore manageable in the very outspoken cynicism ofmotives. It was more clearly a brazen-faced scramble for aconstantly diminishing quantity of booty; since all enterprisehad been stupidly killed in the land. Thus it came topass that the province of Sulaco, once the field of cruel partyvengeances, had become in a way one of the considerableprizes of political career. The great of the earth (in Sta. Marta)reserved the posts in the old Occidental State to thosenearest and dearest to them: nephews, brothers, husbandsof favourite sisters, bosom friends, trusty supporters—orprominent supporters of whom perhaps they were afraid. Itwas the blessed province of great opportunities and of largestsalaries; for the San Tome mine had its own unofficialpay list, whose items and amounts, fixed in consultation byCharles Gould and Senor Avellanos, were known to a prominentbusiness man in the United States, who for twentyminutes or so in every month gave his undivided attentionto Sulaco affairs. At the same time the material interests ofall sorts, backed up by the influence of the San Tome mine,were quietly gathering substance in that part of the Republic.If, for instance, the Sulaco Collectorship was generallyunderstood, in the political world of the capital, to open theway to the Ministry of Finance, and so on for every officialpost, then, on the other hand, the despondent business