From The Earl of Louisiana p. 277 in the Library of America edition of a true master, Mr. A.J. Liebling. I might as well also express my unlimited enthusiasm for “Yea, Verily” and/or “The Honest Rainmaker” (to say nothing of everything else Liebling ever wrote).
“Oil is to Louisiana what money is to a roulette game,” Tom said. “It’s what makes the wheel go round. It’s the reason there are so many big bank rolls available to stake any politician who has a Formosa Chinaman’s chance to get into office.” Louisianians who make money in oil buy politicians, or pieces of politicians, as Kentuckians in the same happy situation buy race horses. Oil gets into politics, and politicians, making money in office, get into oil. The state slithers around in it.
