The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1902-04-19
sonnet HING 0FDfbS
Continued from Page One.

Continued from Page One.
the appetite to conquer. One night in
midwinter at Elmira, N. Y, a conduc-
tor on the Erie kindly dropped me off
in a sr1owbank, and as I calmbered to
the top I ran into the arms of a police
man who heard my story and on the
spot became my friend.
I rode on the engines over mountain
and plain, slept in the cabooses and
hunks, and was fed from their pals by
the swarthy stokers who still nestle
close to my heart and will until it is
cold and still.
Through all these years I was nour-
ished at Fountain Proletaire. I drank
deeply of it's waters and every particle
of my tissue became saturated with the
spirit of the working class. had fired
an engine and been stung by the ex-
posture and hardship of the rail. I was
with them in their weary watches, at
the broken engines side, and often
helped to bear their bruised and bleed
ing bodies back to wife and child again.
How could I but feel the burden of
their wrongs? How the seed of agita-
ton fail to take deep rootin my heart?
And so I was spurred on in the work
of organizing, not the firemen merely,
but the brakenen, switchmen, teleg-
raphers, shopmen, track hands, all of
them in fact. and as I had now be-
come known as an organizer, the calls
came from all sides and there are but
few trades haven't helped to organize
q nd cfi in 1tr1o tril 7
not at some time had a hand.
In 1894 the American Railway Union
was organized and a drawer body of
men never fought the battle of the
| working class.
Up to this time I had heard but little
of Socialism, knew practically nothing
about the movement, and what little
I did know was not calculated to i'm
press me in it's favor. I was bent on
thorough and complete organization of
the railroad men and ultimately the
whole working class, and all my time
and energy were given to that end. My
supreme conviction was that if they
were only organized in every branch Of
the service and all acted together in
concert, they could redress their wrongs
and regulate the conditions of their en-
ployment. The stockholders of the
corporation acted as one, why not the
men? It was such plain proposition
simply to follow the example set be-
fore their eyes by their masters-surely
they could not fail to see it, act as
! one, and solve the problem.
1t is useless to say that I had: yet.
to learn the workings of the capitalist
system, the resources of it's masters
and the weakness of it's slaves. Indeed,
no shadow of "system' fell athwart
my pathway; no thought Of ending
wage misery marred my plans. 1 was
too deeply absorbed in perfecting wage
-servitude and making it "a thing of
beauty and a joy forever" ,
It all seems very strange to me now.
taking backward look, that my vision
was so localized on a single objective
point that utterly failed to see what
now appears as clear as the monday
sun-so clear that I marvel that any
WOrk1ngman, however dull, uncompre-
hending, can resist it. :,
But perhaps it was better So I was
| to be baptized in Socialism in the roar
of conflict and I thank the gods for
| reserving to this fitful occasion the fiat
Lei, there Dc light Tile uSHC CQdC
streams in steady radiance upon the
| broadway to the Socialist republic.
The skirmish lines of the A. r. U.
were well advanced. A series of small
battles were fought and won without
| the loss of a man. A number Of cSxfE.
cessions were made by the corporations
rather than risk an encounter. Then
came the fight on the Great Northern,
short, sharp and decisive. The victory
was complete-the only railroad strike
of magnitude ever won by an organiza-
| ton in America.
Next followed the final shock-the
Pullman strickland the American
Railway Union again won, clear and
complete. The combined corporations
were paralyzed and helpless. At this
juncture there were delivered. from
wholly unexpected quarters, swift
succession of blows that blinded me for
an instant and then opened wide my
eyes-and in the CLEAN Of every bay
oret and the flash of every rifle the
class struggle was revealed. THIS was
my first practical lesson in Socialism,
though wholly unaware that f. was
called by that name. go -, ~. -
An army OF detectives, thugs and
murderers were equipped with badge
and beer and b1udgeon ana turned