HILLMAN. What experiment's that, Captain?
GEORGE. Now that you've got your union, what's the good of it?
RENCH (after a pause). Why, I thought we'd made that pretty clear, Captain. We've got something to fall back on in case the employers don't live up to their agreements. I'm not speaking of you—
GEORGE. In other words, you've got a weapon.
RENCH. Well, you might call it that.
GEORGE. But weapons imply warfare,—don't they?
RENCH. We wouldn't fight with you.
GEORGE. Yes, you would,—if our interests conflicted. When I was in the trenches I kept thinking of the quotation Lincoln used, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” We're going to try to perpetuate that house, just as he did.
HILLMAN. Lincoln had common sense.
GEORGE. Another name for intelligence. And what we've got to decide is whether the old house will do—for democracy—industrial democracy? Can we shore up the timbers—or shall we have to begin to build a new house?