The two men looked at each other. Burnham bit his lip.
“I do not propose to promise the people an era of absolute prosperity and uninterrupted progress, and let them take it as a blind destiny without exertion or sacrifice or patriotism on their part. I want to teach them to be healthy, intelligent, and virtuous citizens, and to expect from us the treatment such citizens deserve. I believe that such a course is for the pecuniary interests of the mill, as well as for theirs. I have heard enough of the conflicting interests of labor and capital; and on the other hand I do not believe in the twaddle that proclaims them one. I believe they are reciprocal, and that we must take that idea as fundamental.”
“You propose a radical change, I fear.” Geoffrey Burnham’s tone held a new respect for this woman whom he had believed wrapped up in the toils of worldly and shallow aims.
“Yes, I may as well own it; I do,” assented Salome. “Among my grandfather’s manuscripts, I came across, the other day, these sentences: ‘I would like to prove my luminous ideal of what a superintendent may be among his people. I would like to live long enough to show the world that the spirit of the Crucified may rule in a cotton-mill as fully as in the life of a saint.’ That sentence, gentlemen, must speak for me. In those words lies the germ of my plan of action.”
Silence followed her. Geoffrey Burnham told himself that a new era must be dawning,—the era foreshadowing the millennium, since she who held the power could so bravely avow her intentions to make the Shawsheen Mills an experiment in what he called Christian socialism. But John Villard, after a moment, rose and extended his hand to Salome.
“I pledge my hearty co-operation,” he said, “and thank God for the opportunity to prove what a cotton-mill may become by the new Christian political economy.”
“Thank you,” said Salome. “And now let us see just what the strikers demand, and how far we can grant their wishes.”
John Villard produced the paper which had been presented on the first day of the strike, and placed it in Salome’s hands. It was the first time she had seen it. She read it through very carefully.
“It seems to me there was no need of these long months of idleness,” she commented, when she had finished the paper. “Now, let us see. First, they demand recognition, as the Shawsheen Labor Union. I think we may yield that point, safely enough.”
“Without modification?” inquired Geoffrey Burnham.