Ambition and Get-Rich-Quick Schemes

Characters like Jefferson Thorpe and the Whirlwind Campaign committee engage in speculative mining booms and fundraising drives, reflecting the universal human desire for sudden wealth and status, often with comic or deflating results.

Mr. Smith's secret plan to build a 'caff' as a way to circumvent the closure order reflects a clever, ambitious scheme to maintain his business.

Jeff Thorpe's speculative mining investments and the town's excitement over quick wealth.

Pupkin's father is a promoter who 'blew companies like bubbles,' reflecting get-rich-quick schemes of the era.