Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1904-03-03
Copyright, 1899, by Herbert S. Stone & Co.
CHAPTER XV.-Coxr1xuED.


Once again the show OF hands was
unanimous, and Number Two having
made 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 a thousand pounds into each
of our pockets. You know, of course,
that there's a big dock strike on
Well, no less a sum than $4,000 has
been 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 pa
pers have prophesied the coming of the
millennium on the strength of it. The
Sush about universal brotherhood in
which they are indulging is quite pret-
ty to read.
Germany give us G5 900 for moth
ing! | knew better than that. so set
10 work to get the truth, and what do
you think it is? Not 600 pence of tn at
money has come from German work.
men. 1t has come-almost the whole
of it-from German employers, and is
sent to furnish sinews of war to the
agitators 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, when they
have once got it, will take care to keep
1t. | don't say that the strike leaders
aren't honest men. They are honest,
but 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 go
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, I'm
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 thief,
I'd make no bones about laying hands
upon that money. Rogue as | am I'd
rather chuck it into the sea tomorrow
than that it should go to the strikers,
when 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 throats, the trade is
being diverted to Germany. That the
wife and children of the men are starv-
ing, and the masters are being ruined,
doesn't trouble these Germans, so long
as they can pocket the coin. So, as
say, although | am appointed to re-
t'eive 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 a
conscience, though | am a thief, but
,on that matter | confess I've no more
conscience than a spider. The question
is, how is it to be done?"
Have you got the money!" asked
Number Six.
Eyes, it is in my possession a. 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 a
madman." said Number Two. "a seat
on the council p worth thousands q