The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1916-01-20
eleventh lNSTAlLMENT
CHAPTER XVIII.

That so many of the strikers had
had the narrowest kind of an escape,
from being blown to pieces by dyna-.
mite did not make their feelings for
Kehr and his men any friendlier, but
one thing was certain. If harm came tol
the girl who had rlsked her life to warm
them of their danger it would have
to come to her over their dead bodies.
strikers she was welcomed with a.
kind of gallant alteration. Something
about her seemed, when she entered
room, to pull the rudest and the
most ignorant men to their feet
Everywhere she went she preached
men and women hopeful of better
things. And presently only those who
were naturally bloodthirsty and who
loved violence for its own sake talked.
openly of attacking the stockade. 1T
seemed to Celestia that the strikers
demands were not unjust, and she de-
termined to end the strike by persuad-
ing Kehr and the men he represented.
to meet their demands.
Elections were coming on, and the.
best way to secure the labor vote was
to see that labors envelope was bet
ter filed than ever before. With a
new form OF government in control
of the nations most disinterestod and
able men there would be such II saw
ing of national waste that doubling
the pay of every laborer in the coun-
try would be but drop in the bucket.
Tommy could not see any possible.
good in Celestias form of millennium.
He felt that, innocently, of course,
and with the best intentions, she was
trying to betray labor into the hands
of capital and he fought her doctrine
tooth and nail. But what she seemed
TO offer was so glitterlng and alluring.
to the poor and needy that Tommy's
opposing arguments found few listen.
ers in Bitumen.
Celestia preached that government
of the people by the people and for
the people had been proved gigan-
tic failure, for two excellent reasons
%, it isn't by the people. and CD 1t
isn't for the people. The fathers who
set down some very noble aspra-
tions in black and white were in
stantly succeeded by politicians, who
twisted their aspirations to their own
ends. We are today a government of
the people by the politicians and for
the politicians. Patriotism, If 1t isn't
dead, has gone to sleep. There are
patriotic Virginans. patriotic Yer
monters, too, but there are very few
patriotic Americans.
No business run as this United
States is run could possibly be
success. No employee of such busi-
ness could be blamed for falling in
respect for his employers or in 10y
atty To them. So, do We want our
country TO be respectable and sue
cess or don't we? Let it be run with
the same American efficiency with
which the Standard oil company has
been run. and nobody will be poor and
no part of any city will be dirty and
full of disease.
II there were no waste there would
be plenty Of money for everybody, or
at least OF the things money can buy.
Celestia was insistent on this, and
personally | am hanged if | don't
think she was right. We waste every
thing-raw material. finished product
health and brains.
In the face of Kehr's stubbornness
It was not easy TO make progress
toward a settlement of the strike, and
at last Celestia telegraphed to Cor
don Barclay and asked for definite
power to speak for the coal companies
and treat with the labor leaders.
His answer was a flying trip to
Bitumen.
He was very sharp with Kehr, hum
bled him and browbeat him, caused
Gunsdorf and the other leaders TO be
released. and then, after a long. secret
conference with Professor Stilliter. he
gave Celestia the power she asked
for.
Before returning TO New York he
sent for Gunsdorf ct al, made a per
sonal peace with them, and obtained
their political allegiance
"Celestia," he told them, rs right.
The troubles between labor and capital
are only the symptom Of the great ma
tional wastage that has gone on since