ASHER. William? William who?
DR. JONATHAN. William Hohenzollern.
ASHER. You compare me to the Kaiser!
DR. JONATHAN. Only in so far as you have in common a certain benevolence, Asher. Wouldn"t your little plan, if your workmen accepted it, keep you in as a benevolent autocrat?
ASHER. Me? an autocrat?
DR. JONATHAN. You are preparing to give your men more privileges, and perhaps more money on the condition that they will renounce rights to which they are ent.i.tled as free men. You are ready to grant anything but a const.i.tution. So is William.
ASHER. Do you seriously suggest that I give labour a voice in my business?
DR. JONATHAN. Doesn"t George suggest it, when he pleads for industrial democracy? He seems to think that he is ready to give his life for it.
And Bert Farrell has already given his life for it.
ASHER (agitatedly). What? Timothy"s boy, Bert? Is he dead? Why didn"t you tell me?
DR. JONATHAN (gently). I"ve had no chance. Minnie and Timothy were here just before you came in.
ASHER. Oh G.o.d, I"m sorry--I"m sorry for Timothy. It might have been--I"ll go and see Timothy. Where is he?--at his house.
DR. JONATHAN. No, at the shops. He wanted to keep working until they close down.
ASHER (who has started for the door, right, turns). What do you mean?
(There is a knock at the door.)
DR. JONATHAN. I mean that the moment has come, Asher, to remember George. That your opportunity is here--heed it.
ASHER. I can"t, I won"t desert my principles
(The knock is repeated. DR. JONATHAN goes to the door and opens it.
Enter, in the order named, HILLMAN, RENCH and FERSEN.)
HILLMAN. Beg your pardon, Mr. Pindar, we"ve been waiting for you at the office, and we heard you was here.
ASHER ( facing them with a defiance almost leonine). Well, what is it?
HILLMAN (glancing at DR. JONATHAN). There"s a matter we"d like to talk over with you, Mr. Pindar, as soon as convenient.
ASHER. This is as convenient as any time, right now.
HILLMAN. The men voted to strike, last night. Maybe Dr. Jonathan has told you.
ASHER. Voted to strike behind my back while I was in Washington attending to the nation"s business!
RENCH. It ain"t as if this was anything new, Mr. Pindar, as if we hadn"t been discussing this here difference for near a year. You"ve had your warning right along.
ASHER. Didn"t I raise your wages last January?
HILLMAN. Wait a minute, Mr. Pindar. (He looks at DR. JONATHAN.) It oughtn"t to be only what you say--what capital says. Collective bargaining is only right and fair, now that individual bargaining has gone by. We want to be able to talk to you as man to man,--that"s only self-respecting on our part. All you"ve got to do is to say one word, that you"ll recognize the union, and I"ll guarantee there won"t be any trouble.
RENCH. If you don"t, we walk out at noon.
HILLMAN (with an attempt at conciliation). I know if we could sit down and talk this thing out with you, Mr. Pindar, you"d see it reasonable.
ASHER. Reasonable? Treasonable, you mean,--to strike when the lives of hundreds of thousands of your fellow countrymen depend on your labour.
RENCH. We ain"t striking--you"re striking!
FERSEN (nodding). That"s right!
RENCH. We"re ready to go back to work this afternoon if you treat us like Americans. (FERSEN nods.) You say we"re obstructing the war by not giving in,--what"s the matter with you giving in? Ain"t the employers just as much traitors as we?
HILLMAN. Hold on, Sam,--we won"t get nowhere by calling names. Let"s discuss it cool!
ASHER. I refuse to discuss it.
(He takes the paper out of his docket and holds it up.)
Do you see this paper? It"s a plan I had made, of my own free will, for the betterment and advancement of the working cla.s.s. It was inspired by the suggestion of my son, who is now fighting in France. I came back to Foxon Falls this morning happy in the hope that I was to do something to encourage what was good in labour--and how have I been met? With a demand, with a threat. I was a fool to think you could stand decent treatment!
(He seizes the paper, and tears it in two.)
HILLMAN. Wait a minute, Mr. Pindar. If you won"t listen to us, maybe Dr.
Jonathan would say a word for us. He understands how we feel.
ASHER (savagely tearing the paper in two, and then again in four).
That"s my answer! I won"t have Dr. Pindar or anyone else interfering in my private affairs.
RENCH. All right--I guess we"re wasting time here, boys. We walk out and stay out. (Threateningly.) Not a shaft"ll turn over in them shops until you recognize the union. And if that"s treason, go back to Washington and tell "em so. Come on boys!
(He walks out, followed by FERSEN, nodding, and lastly by HILLMAN, who glances at DR. JONATHAN. ASHER stares hard at them as they leave. Then an expression of something like agony crosses his face.)
ASHER. My G.o.d, it"s come! My shops shut down, for the first time in my life, and when the government relies on me!
(DR. JONATHAN stoops down and picks up the fragments of the doc.u.ment from the floor.)
What are you doing?
DR. JONATHAN. Trying to save the pieces, Asher.
ASHER. I"ve got no use for them now.
DR. JONATHAN. But history may have.
ASHER. History. History will brand these men with shame for all time.
I"ll fix "em! I"ll go back to Washington, and if the government has any backbone, if it"s still American, they"ll go to work or fight!