The Commonwealth. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914, 1912-10-18

ana lln0llN Jhere was another crisis.
Then had the boys paint the back
yard fence, split all the wood for the
winter, clean up the yard and after
had had them do all of this work why
of course, they spent their money with
me because there was no place else to
spend it. About the third or fourth
time, however, they began to mutter
among themselves. OF course there is
always an agitator, there has always
been agitators and thank God there al
ways will be agitators. SO the boys had
a meeting and they decided that some
thing must be done. You know what
they decided to do? They decided to
build a railroad of their own. NV chief
lieutenant was on the job, Skinny Jones
was there, and he explained to them that
it could not be done; it would unsettle
business conditions to do anything like
! that, it would undermine the very
foundations of society. Nevertheless, the
boys were determined and pretty soon
their road was running. | had not a
passenger. | went over to see it and
saw that the boys were having a great
deal of fund and I concluded I would
take a ride on this new enterprise. l
got on and rendered some of the collateral
that was good on my railroad The CON
ductor informed me, the plutocrat of
Boytown, that my money was no good
| said, "How am l to do something that
is good?' and he told me that would
have to get off and push; and then
made the discovery that one push on the
new Boytown railroad entitled me to
four rides, while on my railroad it re-
lquired four pushes to get one ride.
The Real Capitalists.
I might talk to you republicans and
democrats for the next twentyfou hours
and I don't believe that l could make it
any palmer to you how this system of
exploitation operates. In other words,
our condition as men and women who
work, is due to the fact that the ma
chinery of production is owned by a
small group of individuals. This group
of individuals we designate the capitalist
class in the United States, and do you
know how many we have? Real CAPT
talists? In New York they get out
book called the Financial Red Book ?"
I am wondering how many of you know
how many real capitalists there are?
Eighteen thousand names, or all that
you can find within the covers of this
book and those eighteen thousand names
represent the financial power of this
country You take list of the directors
of any corporation in the United States
and with few exceptions you will find
on those lists of directors the names of
men who are listed in this Red Book
And these men in order to preserve
their position and protect their property
find it necessary to control the president
and congress, governors, state legisla-
lures and the courts. Some time some
Iof you people who read the Appeal to
Reason wonder how it is possible that
we get so many inside facts on the OPP
Grafton of this system. I am going to
let you into the secret this afternoon
Here is a telegram sent by one of the
largest steamship companies operating on
the east coast l want to read this tele-
gram to you men and women this after
noon to show you how important the
capitalist considers political power. A
strike is threatened among the sailors
and so this officer sends a message to all
the agents of that corporation up and
down the coast, and this is what this
man instructs the agents of that cor
poration to do:
A Typical Telegram.
"New York City, June 28, l9l2-
Strike of firemen. coal passers and sail.
.ors undoubtedly viii be called out Of
ports tomorrow. Steamship companies
not informed as to methods unions will
employ and do not know whether strike
will be called out on all lines or not.
Our company likely to be among the
first, therefore it is necessary that we
prepare for protection at AN ports Sc
cure corporation of the city authorities.
especially the police. inducing them if
possible. If attempt is made by crews
To- quit vessels at southern points TO
have them arrested as Migrants and
placed aboard Ship"
=, Socialist Cities