I

AN OFFER TO OPEN THE RIVER


Considering the state of the imperial city of Frankfort, one would not
expect to find such a gathering as was assembled in the Kaiser cellar of
the Rheingold drinking tavern. Outside in the streets all was turbulence
and disorder; a frenzy on the part of the populace taxing to the utmost
the efforts of the city authorities to keep it within bounds, and
prevent the development of a riot that might result in the partial
destruction at least of this once prosperous city. And indeed, the
inhabitants of Frankfort could plead some excuse for their
boisterousness. Temporarily, at any rate, all business was at a
standstill. The skillful mechanics of the town had long been out of
work, and now to the ranks of the unemployed were added, from time to
time, clerks and such-like clerical people, expert accountants,
persuasive salesmen, and small shopkeepers, for no one now possessed the
money to buy more than the bare necessities of life. Yet the warehouses
of Frankfort were full to overflowing, with every kind of store that
might have supplied the needs of the people, and to the unlearned man it
seemed unjust that he and his family should starve while granaries were
packed with the agricultural produce of the South, and huge warehouses
were glutted with enough cloth from Frankfort and the surrounding
districts to clothe ten times the number of tatterdemalions who clamored
through the streets.