The advocate., 1894-03-21
CHAPTER XVIII.
(CONTINUED.)

good he has done. But as working
man gets along in years, some day a
boss comes to this old man that's
worked hard all his life and says to
him: You're getting too old to keep
up with the procession, old man.
You'll have to 60. We've got to have
men that can do full days work.
And the old man has to go. Nobody
wants to hire a worn out hand; he's
always worked for such slim wages
that, with being out Of job now and
then, and sickness coming sometimes,
and so on, or, maybe, with busted
savings bank to help him down hill, he
hasn't dollar laid by; and now no
body wants him-What's he to do?
Why, 90 to the poor house, or hurry up
and die; that's all there is to do. They
didn't treat their slaves down south as
bad as that; so | guess you'll agree
that / am slave, or worse, to the en-
plOying class-a master that has no
interest in me when l get sick or old
and worn out in his service. Though
she didn't mean it that way, your pres
ident hit the nail square on the head:
am a mems man. But excuse me,
ladies; I've drifted from the subject" "
"No, mol We want to hear about
the subject you have been talking
about" said Mrs. Delorme. eyes, go
on with that, please" said others.
"Well, ladies', what I've said leads
up to the subject, for the real leaders
Of the Peoples party-not its mere pol
iticians, mind you-are in the move
ment because they want to abolish this
slavery. They have been afraid to
speak out, some of them, for fear the
people would think them too radical;
but it's a sight of the workingman's
wrongs that has made every real elo-
Quent Peoples party speaker a re-
former. And, if there's really just
God anywhere in this universe, I'm
satisfied the new movement will keep
right on till before a great while it will
bring about socialism in some form,
and the men and women that work can
have chance to live like human be-
ings, and quit being slaves for others
to live off their miserable lives"
Enthusiastic, almost plebeian, ap-
plause gr ,eted this; for it was said
with intense yigOr by man fully
aroused. 1t was the heart penetrating
the fimsy veil of caste and speaking to
the heart.
$50 l may say that the relation OF
the Peoples party doctrines to social
ism is just like the relation of an 18
year-old boy to a grown-up man-it'll
get there if you only give it time"
Smiles and hand-clapping at the apt
ness of this odd simile.
"It don't take very smart man to
see that you can't argue in favor OF a
single doctrine Of the Peoples party
without arguing for soCialiSm-whether
you call it socialism or not. Take the
doctrine that the government ought to
control and supervise, or own and op-
crate the railroads. You can't prove
that without proving the government
ought to run other things too. See
where even the control OF tranSporta
tion leads to. A lot of men own rail
road. We say a corporation owns it,
but in reality it's number of people;
q corporations only the machine they
use-it don't amount to anything in
itself. The railroad belongs to these
people, Just the same as mill belongs
to its owners, or as his farm belongs to
the farmer that lives on it, The object
Of the farmer and of the miller is to
make all the money they can, and they
try to raise grain or to make flour at
the lowest possible expense, and then
sell it for the highest price they can
get. The owners of a railroad own it
TO make money out of its operation
Just the same way exactly. They pay
their labor the least they can hire it
for and run the road as cheap as they
can, and then charge all the traffic will