Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1904-04-20
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Scoundrels GO. |
BY COULSON KERNAHAN
Author Of Captain Shannon" '.A Book 81
Strange Sins. pa Dead Mans Diary" Etc.
Copyright, 1899, by Herbert S. Stone & Co.
CHAPTER XV.-Cos11xurn

N11AE i LII AV.-CONTINUED.
once again the show OF hands was
unanimous, and Number Two having
maze fitting acknowledgment, the
serious business of the meeting was
commenced
MY friends said our new chief.
i've got little move to propose that
should put thousand pounds into each
OF our pockets. You know. Of course.
that there's big dock strike on.
wen, no less a sum than $4,000 has
oeen subscribed by the working men
OF Germany, and this money has been
sent over to their fellow-workmen in
england to enable them to carry on
the war which is being waged against
capital
At least, we are told that the money
has been subscribed by the WORKING
men OF Germany, and some of the ma
pers nave prophesied the coming of the
millennium on the strength of il. The
sush about universal brotherhood in
which they are indulging is quite pret-
ty to read.
Germany give US $4,000 for moth
Ing! l knew better than that, so I set
10 work to get the truth, aud what do
You think it is? Not 800 pence OF that
money has come from German work
men. 1t has come-almost the whole
OF lt-from German employers. and is
sent to furnish sinews of war to the
asltators who are fermenting mischief
between the masters and men. But
Why? Because every day the strike
lasts sees our trade drifting into the
hands OF Germans, who, vixen they
have once got it, will take care to keep
1t. l don't say that the strike leaders
aren't honest men. They are honest.
hut they're fools, for all that, for if
they knew how much the German en-
ployers have had to do with starting
the strike, and what it is worth to Ger
man trade, they'd advise the men to 20
back to work tomorrow on any terms.
But I'm not here to talk politics;
I'm here for us to consider how we
can turn what's going on to our own
advantage. Well, gentlemen, In,
known in the commercial world as Mr..
Richardson Hall, the secretary of the
Anti-Capitalist Association for the
Protection of Labor, and the money
has been sent to me to pay over to
the strike leader. The question is,
how is that money to find it's way into
our pockets, instead of into the pock-
cts OF the agitators? tell you frankly
that even if were an honest man, in
stead of being a swindler and a thief.
I'D make no bones about laying hands
upon that money. Rogue as l am, Id
rather chuck it into the sea tomorrow
than that it should go to the strikers,
when l know that it has been sent over
by Germans only because they know
that while the English workman and
the English employer have their hands
on each others Threats, the trade is
being diverted to Germany That the
wife and children of the men are stary-
ing, and the masters are being ruined,
doesn't trouble these Germans, so long
as they can pocket the coin. So, as
l say, although l am appointed to re-
ceive the money and to hand it over to
the strikers, I'm ready to tumble to
any plan that will put the cash into
our own pockets. I'm not without
conscience, though l am a thief, but
on that matter l confess I've no more
conscience than spider. The question
is, how is it to be done?'
Have you got the money!" asked
Number Six.
Yes, it is in my possession at this
moment"
Then don't let it go out of your
possession. Let's share it between US
and make ourselves scarce"
MY good fellow, don't talk like
madman!' said Number Two. "A seat
on the council is worth thousands a
year to each of us, and to do as you
propose would be to kill the goose that
lays the golden egg, and for a paltry
thousand apiece. Why, if these Ger
man employers thought there was any
chance of the strike coming to an end
through the men being too reduced to
carry on the war, it would be an easy
thing to squeeze another $4,000 out
OF them. No, no; we must have the
money, but we must work the business
so that our-or rather my-honesty
can't be called into question.
Now listen to my plan, and if any
OF you think of better one, I'll be
glad enough to hear it. I've arranged
that there shall be something of cere-
mony on the occasion of the handing
over OF the money to the strike COM
mittee. I've got the loan of big hall
at the East End for the purpose, and
l intend to make bit of splash. The
editors Of all the democratic papers
will be invited, and all the M. P.'s and
other public men who talk tall about
the sacredness Of labor, and all the
rest of it. They'll come readily
enough if they think there's a chance
of a good advertisement, and we'll ar
range that. The hall am taking will
hold couple of thousand people. 1t
has window right behind the plat
form, which in winter is covered by
thick plush curtain, but in summer
can be left open, and so keep the place
cool, which is a consideration, for if
the weather is as hot as it is now the
place will be precious stuffy. The
chairman will sit at the table, with
myself on his right, and the members
of the strike committee, the M. P.'s and
so on around us. After the usual pre-
liminaries, the chairman will call upon
me to hand over on behalf of the Ger
man working people the noble sum
they have so generously and self-sacri-
ficingly subscribed to assist the work.
ingmen in England. rise, make my
speech, work it up we'll, present the
satchel containing the moacy-gold
and small Northumberland then resume
my seat. Tho satchel will, of course,
be accepted on behalf of the British
workman by the chairman. But when
the enth usiasm is at it's height, the