JABEZ. Go ahead.
CHARLIE (reading from the proof as if selecting detached sentences, mumbling a few words between each). "The book bears on every page the sign-manual of sincerity. Its facts are an incontrovertible proof of the inadequacy of our factory law administration to cope with the rapacity and unscrupulousness of manufacturers. A book to read not only with the eyes, but with the heart. The authors has drawn public attention to a festering sore in our midst. The great heart of the public cannot fail to be moved by such an exposure of man's inhumanity to man. Something must be done to counteract such infamy. There can be no delay." (Mumbling, as if looking for a further selection.)
JABEZ. Stop! This is intimidation. It's blackmail. Clavering—you know very well he came to me with some cranky respirator he'd patented. This is his revenge on me for refusing to take up his rotten patent. It's libel. I'll ruin him for it.
CHARLIE. Hadn't you better read the book before you talk like that?
JABEZ. That for your book. (Throwing it in the paper basket.) I'll buy up the edition. I'll suppress it. I'll——
CHARLIE. No, you won't. The publisher happens to be an honest man.
JABEZ. What the devil do you mean by taking a hand in this game? Haven't I trouble enough as it is with the factory acts and their confounded regulations? The men are pampered like lords with their grandmotherly legislation.
CHARLIE. They're poisoned, and you know it. You refused to use his safety device, and he's naturally taken the only course open to him of arousing public opinion and forcing your hand. I was glad to help him.
JABEZ. You young idiot. Can't you see through his game? He wants to make money out of his patent safety respirator. He doesn't care a hang for the condition of the men. If he did, he wouldn't have put the price up by patenting his thing. No, my friend, he wants to do his philanthropy on twenty-five per cent, terms at some one else's expense.
JABEZ (con.). And you fall into his trap like the blessed innocent you are and help him to blackmail me.