THE COSMIC COMPUTER

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"Blackie Perales is anybody the Planetary Government can't catch, which
means practically any outlaw," Fred Karski said.

"No, Fred; there is a Blackie Perales," Tom Brangwyn said. "He used to
be a planter, down in the south. The banks foreclosed on him when he
couldn't pay his notes, and he turned outlaw. That's the way it's going,
all around. Every time a planter loses his plantation or a farmer loses
his farm, or a mechanic loses his job, he turns outlaw. Take Tramptown,
here. We used to plant nothing but melons. Then, when the sale for wine
and brandy dropped, the melon-planters began cutting their melon crops
and raising produce, instead of buying it from up north, and turning
land into pasture for cattle. The people we used to buy foodstuffs from
couldn't sell all they raised, and that threw a lot of farmhands out of
work. So they got the idea there was work here, and they came flocking
in, and when they couldn't get jobs, they just stayed in Tramptown,
stealing anything they could. We don't even try to police Tramptown any
more; we just see to it they don't come up here."