The San Francisco call., 1913-10-24
Continued From Yesterday

Inc 4eduefS 1oOheQ at edCn Other
and at the floor and shrugged their
shoulders
Well snapped Allan. impatiently.
The American took up the reply
again.
OF course. we know what you say
Is right. boss" he said, but it's diff
Ierent with a lot o. the men. You
know it's just the idea O. being caught
oo"n there under the ocean with no
way out-thats what gets EN-"
Is it?" retorted Allan. grimly.
Well. you tell them that they'll go to
work in three days or clear out of
mere See if that gets 'em.'
OPPOSITION
This ultimatum did not have ex-
ectly the effect that Allan had hoped
me Immediate result was a series OF
monster mass meetings on the great
dumping plain by the sea. where
speakers addressed crowds of from
nfty to a hundred thousand from a
score OF wagons and in a score of
tongues This gave Allan an idea
lie cynically bribed half a dozen of
the influential leaders and sent them
out TO make speeches also.
These last worked conscientiously-
the word is. used without irony-to
earn their money. They pointed out
the magnificent hospitals where the
injured were cared for free of charge
while their pay went on just as If
they were working their eight hours
daily under the sea.
They bade the workmen consider
their sanitary dwellings where they
lived rent free and compare their lot
with that of other workmen. They
dwelt on the fact that up until this
unforseeable disaster few men had
been killed in comparison with other
industries where the work was sup
posed TO be much safer
And finally. The winter is coming
on they cried. Here il is October
and if we do not go back to work
here. where will we work? Two hun
dred thousand men viii be suddenly
dumped into the market for labor
We viii have to take jobs away from
other men at lower wages. We will
get less pay and worse treatment
How many of you can earn S5 in
eight hours anywhere else2"
For time these arguments seemed
TO be making headway, but only for
short time. The opposing orators
were silenced. Their slogan was that
mile and a half of coffins" that had
come out of the tunnel Their vocal
chords. too, were strengthened with
a golden tonic. The shipping trust.
not daring 10 fight in the open,
spared no money or effort to cripple
the tunnel enterprise in the dark.
They tell you that only 5000 men
have been killed since the tunnel
work began years ago. shouted one.
Yes. but what Of the 10000 that
Break down every year and are
e1rned adrift in the streets or die
In the poorhousei No man can stand
his hellish work, 1t is better my
friends. to get less pay and live to
Z decent old ge."
Allan himself was indefatigable. He
worked with a feverish energy as if
he felt that only by overworking his
mind and body could he shut out the
voice of Grief-the thought of the
ashes of his wife and child in the
New York vault and Rives in the
hospital And as he worked and
fought slowly there came back to
him the old belief in himself and in
his mighty project. And one after
noon he went out TO address the
strikers himself.
Yor "a hours the event had been
advertised and the great level plain
was packed with thousands and thou
sands Allan, mounted upon the seat
of an auto truck, spoke through A
megaphone and his words were re-
peated by other speakers with mega
phones so that all could hear.
When the big truck slowly pushed
its way through to the appointed
spot, Allan on the seat with the
driver, it was received in dead si-
lence. He did not yet realize what
the American who had spoken in the
conference understood perfectly-that
arguments could not possibly be of
H<- of r.
men were shut with terror-a deep,
gripping horror of a death by fire
and smoke shock in that rathole un-
der the waters. But they heard him
in silence.
He talked for an hour and brought
up every power OF simple reasoning
he could summon. AS he neared the
end II seemed for a time that the
delegate of the conference was wrong,
for he could feel that he was winning
them.
"It is true that this work has killed
several thousand men," he shouted.
gym know rne-every one of you
knows me. You know that ] nave
been fair and generous, and you
know how terribly this disaster mas
struck at me. But work. my friends.
is killing hundreds of men every day
in every quarter of the world. work
York city today. but no one in New
York thinks of quitting work on that
account. The sea kills 10000 human
beings a year, but no one quits the
sea on that account: the work on the
sea goes on just the same.
You have lost friends. relatives, In
this accident. So have I, but / shall
not quit because of that You have
been told that you are working for
syndfcate-to make few rich men
richer-but ! tell you, my friends, that
no little handful of capitalists can
ever own this tunnel. These men are
working for YOU When THIS tunnei
IS finished the peoples of the old
and new worlds will own IT. That is
as certain as the sunrise. 1t VIII
become yours as naturally and surely
as the air you breathe. No handful
of men can hold you back from that.
TERROR RULES
you are told that ] am working
because IL is making me rich. That
IS not true. l was rich enough Tor
one man before the first spade was
driven into the ground where we
stand, We who are building this tun-
nel-you and I-are building for our
children and our children's children.
Every man who gives up his life for
this work is saint in the religion
of labor, which is the religion of our
time.
ANY man who turns back now is
a coward. and towards are not needed
here. But I call on you as brave
men. men who are big enough and
brave enough to work for a big and
brave thing, TO come back with me
and conquer the EARTH