THE PLACE
In traveling through the country on a street-speaking tour about the first thing a speaker observes is the poor judgement shown by the local comrades in the selection of street corners for their meetings. The chosen corner is usually where the down-and-outs and drunks congregate and is hemmed about by cheap noisy saloons. If a speaker is to be in a town one or two nights he can hardly show the local comrades their error. If I am to be in a town any longer I look through the town during the day and early evening and pick out a down-town corner where there is a steady flow of average citizens and nobody will stop unless they stop to listen. Then the night after making the announcement at the old stand I begin a revolution in the method of running street meetings. I have no hard feelings against drunks but they are useless and worse in a street meeting. There are two reasons for the present bad selection of corners in so many cities. First, it is easier for a poor speaker to get an audience where there are hangers-out waiting to be entertained. Second, the city authorities like to have Socialist speaking done where it will not reach the live members of the community. A change of corners sometimes means a hard fight with the police but if the proper methods are used victory is sure and the result is always worth the labor spent.