Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-07-03
CHAPTER XII Continued


ct DARE to ten you" Robinson went
L cn "thut wealth which rests uFon
social injustice and political favorltism.
not to say upon corruption, Il insecure.
" no knows now many Aurentskys are
brooding their way to madness In the city
of Philadelphia today? Who knows now
soon this attitude of Indifference ana tr-
responsibility on behalf of some holders
Of great wealth. say some. for Phila-
dClphia has holders of great wealth VINO
admit their responsibility say VINO
knows how soon men like you, BuCking-
ham, who regard neighborlinCss to the
WORKERS as n Chimerical duty. VIII have
turned the heads of hundreds of thou
sands of industrial workers of foreign
birth within our borders--men who have
little education. little capacity to reason
and little experience of free government
and are lacking. therefore, in that patient
intelligence of the masses which makes
demuCraCies possble-who knows how
long before these men shall turn into
mobs and rnEe through our streets, de-
stroNing property values because proper
ty values have been turned into IA means
of eNtortng from them the price of life,
without returning to them the means of
life in amy comfortable form"
wild! wild, silly thoughts,' ejaculat-
cd Birmingham sCOrnfuliy.
But they are not only my thoughts
Mr.. Buckingham" pcrs st,d Robinson.
his tone EraVcr ana less dvnunc atorN
They are also my fears. There are
Philadelphia who are beginning TO think
wildly ana beginning to act wildly. Ana
not i'll Philadelphia only; nor are you
the only irresponsible" trustee of great
wealth IN Am, I. ca. 10 you not read the
papers? ID ypu not know that there
exists in this country an organization in
ilamed by what they conceive to be in
dustrial wrongs and estimated TO be as
high as 2,O0O.ooo i'm numhcrS-2.O 100000
that is number as large as the
population Of PhlHdr rlpha--WhO all over
this nation are preaching destruction of
property? That nOtiC' 5 hay" been posted
suEgt sting tn" burning of crops, and of
standing timber. the running of ma
ChInery the destruction of manufactured
goods. and even the poisoning Of live
stock? And that such human ghouls
fired the poor dUDCs who follow and be-
ljeve in ana become their CmiSSariCS of
crime among the AuTcntskYs who have
dcsparcd of ever obtaining justice from
society as at present organized?
"DO you not know and feel that as
one on whose shoulders there do rest
the vast iiducinrN responsibilities of which
you are so conscious. your first and fore
most effort should be for the welfare OF
the man ut the bottom upon whose bend
! ing back all property NGiuC> rc"t?'
buckingham waved his hands and
tried to speak hut Robinson cut him OF
with this final Indictment:
~ ask YOU, willard II. buckingham.
, to cease to yauni of the magnitude of
your income, to cease to boast of the
sums YOU give TO charity and to prate
no more about fuithfuincss to fiduciary
responsibility. 50 long as in the great
! est responsibility of uli-you have
/ inilcd entirely"
/ Outraged and angry beyond words, the
fnanC.er turned and tried to walk away
from Robinson. who, to use a reporter :
igurc in describing the incident, was stiil
Cruptng like a human volcano, but the
crowd from without the rail had flowed
inside, Wedging chairs and desks about
him so tightly that an exit was for the
moment impossible. and the man had to
stand with flushed. wTathful face while
Rollnson broke into Il final burst OF
something Ike eloquCnCe with:
Recently there has been organized
| here political movement looking to the
/ pettrrment of conditions i'll Philadelphia
| \ clean and noble young man has been
found to lead it-hundreds. and indeed
/ thousands, of men have given themselves
up with the fervor, of a crusade to this
enterprise. You should have been the
first and surest man to help it, because
you have more at stake than any one
else. Instead, YOU We're at first ndffer-
cnt, then sCornful, then openly opposed
to it. You have made towards of mer
who would have helped in ii; you have
threatened with a blow in the back the
men who did not withdraw their sup
port from this great cause at your com.
mand. You have even COnSpired to ruir
4 great manufacturing institution OF
this city in order to ruin the leaders ir
this great movement
"That was morally unjust; legally
1t was crime. Why, Mr.. Bucling-
ham, were YOU not SO big as TO be
regarded in this community almost
beyond the law, l might, at this mo-
meut. I've suing YOU under the statutes
for an insidious kind of business
piracy, that is 10 more honorable than
! the process OF cXtOrtiOn by which
J"scph Maldono robbed this inufrrusivp
dew of his grocery store. You have
! called this man .AureniskN INSANE and
an anarchist. Mr.. buckingham, it is
| you who are the anarchist. II il only
Your many other altogether admirable
qualities nS citizen and business
man TINT keep the knowledge of this
fact from being reflected in the face of
every friend who looks at you"
Robinson had finished. The Grove
senscd this instantly and began to fal
bach before Buckingham, whose red
heated features and seethlng anger mad
his immediat" proximity none too pleas
ant a place for any one to linger. A
the banker made his way past the chat
in which Jerry Archer had sat motion
less during the ten minutes of this col
loquy, that toward the last had become
monologue on Nictor's part. Bucking
hams outraged eyes seemed TO paus
and scan the face of the young maj
keenly, as if hoping to find there som
sympathetic appreciation of his position
and the wrong that had been done him.
But Jerry returned his glance with n
more than look or recognition. IL
had been greatly disappointed in Buck
ingham this morning.
II only the man had softened, If onl
he had been Mortified instead of enrage
by the discovery of his relationship I
the condition of the house in whiC
little Isadore Aurentsky had died, If onl
he had mustered one word, one though
or expression of consideration for til
man who had attempted his life But. no
the man could think today only Of hin
self and of his hurt and offended prid
Therefore it was but just that Victc
had said to Mr.. Buckingham in publ
what Jerry had tried to say to him
private; but Victor, being traine
speaker, had said it SO much bette
more Cuttingly. and with so much MOI
smashing force than Jerry had bee
able to say it.
But not even Jerry had suspected tha
| the reason Victor Robinson had bee
| able to speak with such feeling of II
| broader social consequences of a col
| gtubbOrn Indifference like Buckingham