The record of a Century teaches them nothing.
The evidences of their own senses are ignored.
The very factory hands who at Fall River lived off the soup of the Salvation Army devoutly believed that if it hadn’t been for the Protective system they wouldn’t even have got the soup.
The factory girl who is paid five dollars per week, and who, when she complains that she cannot live on the wage, is sardonically advised to get a gentleman friend, actually believes that were it not for Privilege and Protection she would not get the five dollars.
God in heaven! No wonder that George McDuffie expressed his doubt as to whether the masses could ever be enlightened. No wonder his prophetic speech vibrated with an undertone of despair.
Less than one-tenth of the laborers of this country own their homes; yet they have been Protected for a hundred years.
Less than a quarter million men own practically the entire wealth of the whole United States; yet Privilege and Protection are not for their benefit.
You go to the millions of Unprivileged and Unprotected citizens and you point out to them how they are plundered by being made to pay twice as much as they should on every article which they buy.
They understand it; they admit the fact; but the corrupt politician has taught them what to say.
This is the lesson: