There
is a rustling of paper.] Wait'll I see if I got light enough and
I'll read you. Listen. [He reads:] "There is a menace existing in
this country to-day which threatens the vitals of our fair
Republic--as foul a menace against the very life-blood of the
American Eagle as was the foul conspiracy of Cataline against the
eagles of ancient Rome!"
VOICE [Disgustedly.] Aw hell! Tell him to salt de tail of dat
eagle!
VOICE--[Reading:] "I refer to that devil's brew of rascals,
jailbirds, murderers and cutthroats who libel all honest working
men by calling themselves the Industrial Workers of the World; but
in the light of their nefarious plots, I call them the Industrious
WRECKERS of the World!"
YANK--[With vengeful satisfaction.] Wreckers, dat's de right dope!
Dat belongs! Me for dem!
VOICE--Ssshh! [Reading.] "This fiendish organization is a foul
ulcer on the fair body of our Democracy--"
VOICE--Democracy, hell! Give him the boid, fellers--the
raspberry! [They do.]
VOICE--Ssshh! [Reading:] "Like Cato I say to this senate, the I.
W. W. must be destroyed! For they represent an ever-present dagger
pointed at the heart of the greatest nation the world has ever
known, where all men are born free and equal, with equal
opportunities to all, where the Founding Fathers have guaranteed
to each one happiness, where Truth, Honor, Liberty, Justice, and
the Brotherhood of Man are a religion absorbed with one's mother's
milk, taught at our father's knee, sealed, signed, and stamped
upon in the glorious Constitution of these United States!" [A
perfect storm of hisses, catcalls, boos, and hard laughter.
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