June 16, 2004 - 6:11 a.m.

If you need an example of unbridled capitalism, look no farther than the sad story of Jumbo the elephant. Jumbo was a member of the Barnum circus, and was regularly abused by his keepers, some of whom fed him lit cigarettes as a joke. Finally the beast became unmanageable (I think you'd be too, under the circumstances) and the circus contemplated foisting him off on a zoo, but then Thomas Edison, benefactor of society, stepped in with a grand plan. He'd been engaged in public debate with his former employee Nikola Tesla about the safety of AC current (Tesla was in favor of it, while Edison staunchly defended DC current; history would prove Tesla correct, of course). So Edison devised a ghastly spectacle to prove that AC was a menace to society: he agreed to publicly electrocute Jumbo the elephant one fine day in Coney Island, thereby killing two "birds" with one "stone". To the horror of many children who had loved Jumbo, the big beast rolled over on his side and expired after being zapped with AC for about ten minutes.

When we think about this story nowadays, our first response is a smug "Well, that could never happen today, that's for sure! Those turn of the century capitalists were heartless bloodsuckers. We're much more humane today." Guess that's why our troops are dying in Iraq for Halliburton and Bechtel?

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