He had not yet made a complete convert of Halpert McCormack. For while the young lieutenant sympathized deeply with his humanitarian motives, and, in a general way, with his philosophy of economics, he was not yet ready to approve of the methods by which the economic millennium was to be ushered in. Complete disarmament, confiscation of private property, abolition of restraining laws, sabotage and violence, these things were not to Hal’s liking; in his view the end did not quite justify the means. But, under the eloquence of Donatello’s logic, under the power of his persuasion, under the magic force of his enthusiasm, this young dreamer and reformer was drifting ever and ever nearer to the rocks and shoals of that radicalism upon which, if finally and completely stranded, he was sure to be wrecked.
It goes without saying that Donatello’s weekly Journal, The Disinherited, took up the cause of the more radical element among the striking workmen with vigor and enthusiasm. The attitude of the Barriscale corporation, and other manufacturers whose workmen were out, was characterized as selfish, obstinate and cruel. One issue of the paper, published some weeks after the inauguration of the strike, contained an editorial a portion of which ran as follows:
“Still the situation does not change. Still is justice denied to those men by whose labors these very purse-proud owners of the mills have become so rich. Now they say that strike-breakers will be coming to take the places of those honest working-men, and that state soldiery will protect these scabs, and that the military company of Fairweather will be marched to the mills and ordered by the capitalist employers to turn the points of their bayonets against the hearts of laborers looking for their own. But all of those members of the military company do not have sympathy with these plutocrats and hired thugs. What then will be? Will honest and free soldiers obey orders to shoot down fellow-toilers, those neighbors and friends? Is it for this the military is? Then what young man of spirit, of heart-kindness, would join himself with that militia, and become the tool of the capitalist class, and forced to obey their orders, even to the shedding of the blood of fellow-workers?”
On the evening of the day on which the paper containing this article made its appearance, General Chick entered the drill-hall at the armory to find a group of militiamen reading, and discussing with some heat, the editorial in The Disinherited.
As the boy approached the crowd, one of the fun-loving members of it called out to him:
“Here’s a drive at you, Chick. Donatello says that no honest man will try to join Company E. Where’s that paper? Let Chick read it for himself.”
The paper was thrust into Chick’s hands and the article pointed out to him. He took it to the nearest electric sidelight, and slowly, and not without some difficulty, read it through.
When he returned to the group the young fellow who had spoken to him said:
“Well, what do you think of it?”