Here Nevins takes a slip of paper from his pocket and begins to read:

"By reason of his treasonable act in furnishing the Nation's defenders poisonous food while they were engaged in actual war, and for continued vending of deleterious food to the citizens at large; for his conspicuous partic.i.p.ation in the formation of the monopoly of the meat products of the country, for the purpose of extorting tribute from the ma.s.ses, I name Tingwell Fang as one of the transgressors. This man has a fortune of $200,000,000; more than the life earnings of 2,000 men engaged in ordinary pursuits for a period of thirty years each.

"Judge if G.o.d ordained that one man should be possessed of such fabulous wealth when His Son gave as our prayer, 'Give us this day our daily bread.'

"As the controller of the Wheat Trust, by which the grim hand of famine is laid on the nation, and a tax levied on our subsistence, I name David Leach as another of the transgressors. He has collected $100,000,000, in sums of one and two cents from the millions of men, women and children of this country. He stands between us and our daily bread.

"I need not portray the sufferings that are inflicted on the nation by the presence of the Coal Trust. From the miners to the consumers the tale is one of ever-increasing awfulness. Man to-day, who must live in the northern and temperate regions of our country, cannot endure the cold of winter without artificial heat. He cannot go to the virgin forests, for the land is owned by private individuals; he cannot go to the mines, for they are the property of the coal barons. He must purchase the coal that is needed to heat his home.

"This makes coal not a luxury, but one of the necessities of life.

"In the hands of the Trust the price is raised to the highest possible point. The monopoly is complete; the demand perpetual.

"Every home where coal is consumed is a witness to the rapacity of the Coal Trust. I therefore name as one of the transgressors, Gorman Purdy, President of the Coal Trust, the man who ordered the ma.s.sacre of the miners at Hazleton; who has driven widows and orphans from the mining towns to let them starve on the highways. He is the possessor of $160,000,000, the equivalent of the earnings of 10,000 miners for forty-five years.

"I name as a transgressor, Ebenezer J. Sloat, President of the Leather Combine. His single fortune is $80,000,000. This man succeeded in effecting a consolidation of all of the leather producers; now the nation pays the Trust a royalty on every pair of shoes that is sold.

"He has driven the cobbler out of existence and has set children and women at the machines which turn out completed shoes, on which not a single part has to be made by skilled labor.

"It is not in the trades alone that the Transgressors are to be found.

They have developed in high places.

"I name as one of the proscribed, ex-Supreme Court Justice Elias M.

Turner, who, at the demand of the Magnates, recanted his judgment on the question of const.i.tutional taxation, and left the humble citizens to bear the burden of taxes while the Trusts and Monopolies go practically exempt. This act of betrayal to the public weal is the more atrocious as it was done by a man who had been invested with the highest honor that the nation could bestow upon the ermine.

"If the wearer of the robe of justice outrages his garment is it to remain an invulnerable shield against our righteous condemnation? He who doles justice, must himself be its chief exemplar.

"Another of the high servants of the people who has betrayed his fellow countrymen, is ex-Attorney General Lax. It was his masterful policy of inaction that permitted the trusts and monopolies to intrench themselves during the four years that he stood as their buffer, against all efforts of the several states to curb them.

"Entering the office as a man of moderate means he left it possessed of a fabulous fortune--the bribe money of the Magnates. And not content to retire from office, and cease his nefarious trade, he is to-day the counsel for the Money Trust. It is his mind that conceives the interminable means for forcing the Government to issue bonds for the benefit of the Banking Syndicate?"

"It was Herbert Lax who made me a bankrupt," exclaims one of the committee. "He caused my brother to commit suicide. If ever there was a cold-blooded villain, Lax is the man."

"His acts were those of charity compared to some of the Transgressors,"

observes Nevins, before he continues to announce the list. "Is the bankrupting of men to be compared with the heinous crime of enslaving children?

"The Cotton King, Herod Butcher of Fall River, who thrives on the life's blood of ten thousand minors--pitiable slaves of his looms, is one of the transgressors who must atone for a life-long career as a merciless infanticide.

"No man is so base that he would stand by and see a child ruthlessly slain. Yet the nation stands supinely in the presence of a system of factory labor which tolerates the inhuman employment of children. The hazy halo of legality is between the transgressor and the people; and men remain unmoved.

"It was for humanity's sake that our countrymen gave their life ungrudgingly on the battle-fields of Cuba. But what of the inhumanity at home? A word spoken against an American manufacturer is a crime in the eyes of the Magnates, and the offender is chastised accordingly."

"I have three sons who grew to manhood, stunted and untutored, who had to work for their daily bread in the mills of Herod Butcher," declares Martin Stark, the Rhode Island committeeman.

"Judas D. Savage is another of the transgressors. A hundred flaming oil wells lit by the torch of the incendiary, hired by his gold, wrote his proscription on the scroll of high heaven.

"And Roger Q. Alger, of the defaulting Savings Bank dynasty comes to you recommended by the cries of anguish that have been uttered by thousands of widows, orphans, struggling husbands and provident wives, who have awakened to find their savings distributed as booty to the Barons.

"But what need have I to recount the misdeeds of this list of men. If the first man or woman whom you meet on the street cannot give you a description of them that will stand as an indictment, then consider the men I name innocent!"

He then completes the reading of the list. There is a painful silence when he ceases to speak. The Forty seem absorbed in deep thought. The chairman finally speaks:

"You have heard the reading of the list," he says. "If it is your desire to subst.i.tute names for those mentioned, now is the time to propose the change."

"I move that the list be adopted as read," Carl Metz suggests.

"I second the motion," says Professor Talbot.

Every committeeman votes for the adoption of the list.

The names are written on slips of paper and placed in a hat. As each committeeman pa.s.ses the table he draws a slip.

"You have all signified your willingness to carry out the terms of the edict of annihilation," the chairman explains. "It now remains for you to redeem your pledges. If there is one of you who regrets the step he has taken it is not too late to withdraw."

There is profound silence, and the men stand immovable.

"Two months from to-day then, October 13th, our Syndicate of Annihilation will declare its dividend; this will require the summary taking off of the Forty Transgressors and our self-immolation." Chadwick p.r.o.nounces these words slowly, impressively:

"We will separate to-night never to meet again in this life.

"If we are true to our purpose we will not have died in vain." Without formal partings the men leave the store-house.

Nevins is the last to depart; he draws the remaining slip. It bears the name of "James Golding, Bond King; capital, $400,000,000; occupation, United States Treasury Looter."

BOOK III.

The Syndicate Declares a Dividend.

CHAPTER XIV.

BIRTH OF A NEW PARTY.

"You will soon find that my a.s.sertion was based on absolute knowledge, for your nomination will be unanimous," Nevins declares to Trueman as they sit in private conference, on the eve of the Independence Party's convention.

"Then you do not credit the statement that the Eastern delegations have become disaffected?"

"That's only one of the rumors which the Plutocrats have set afloat since they unearthed the fact that you are to be a candidate for the vice-presidential nomination. Gorman Purdy is the instigator of all these adverse stories. He has not forgotten that you were once his most promising pupil."

The President-maker and his intended candidate are in daily communication; they have become firmly attached to each other in the short period of their acquaintanceship. This is not to be wondered at, for there is a striking similarity in their temperaments. Each is endowed with keen perception and wonderful magnetism. Their combined influence has brought to their support the most contumacious of the delegates. On the issue of the following day the hopes of each are centered. Nevins has asked his young champion to visit him at his rooms in an unpretentious hotel on Clark street; there are details for the work of the morrow that have to be carefully planned.

"In your speech you must dwell upon the causes which led to the formation of the new party," Nevins explains. "This must be done briefly; but it will pave the way for your demonstration that a new, a young man must be called upon to make the fight against the intrenched robbers.