Eliminating himself as much as possible, Farr described the operations of the Co-operative Spring Water a.s.sociation. But he could not eliminate the man on the box-seat of the jigger-wagon. When Farr had finished his brief explanation that loyal admirer gave in some enthusiastic testimony in regard to the man who had devised the plan and had sacrificed his time in efforts to extend the system. He kept on until Farr checked him.
"I will say, Mr. Converse, before you leave, that I"d like to have you carry away a right opinion of me. I was not trying to drag you to a mere political gathering. There are some poor men a.s.sembled just now in this quarter who need a sympathetic listener and a little good advice. They are also trying to get justice from the Consolidated and all the general oppression it represents."
"Where are those men?" asked Converse, after a pause during which he wrinkled his brows and tapped his cane.
Farr pointed down the street. Not far away a low-hung transparency heralded "The Square Deal Club."
Mr. Converse gazed in that direction and hesitated a few moments longer.
"You a.s.sure me that it"s not a mere political rally?"
"I do, sir!"
Then the son of General Converse gallantly extended his arm.
"I"ll be glad to be escorted by you, Mr. Farr," he said. "Now that I understand this thing a bit better, I am going to break one of my rules." As they walked along he remarked: "A man"s affairs are sometimes directed and controlled for him in a most singular fashion. Little things change preconceived notions very suddenly."
"They do, sir," agreed Walker Farr.
XIX
CONSCIENCE ENLISTING A RECRUIT
A man who stood at the head of the stairs, an outpost, saw them coming and ran and opened a door ahead of them. The door admitted to a hall which was packed with men who were ranged on settees and stood in the aisles and at the sides of the big room.
"Make way for the Honorable Archer Converse," shrieked their _avant courier_, excitedly.
"Three cheers for the Honorable Archer Converse," called a voice, and all the men came on to their feet and yelled l.u.s.tily.
The distinguished guest climbed upon the platform--Farr close at his heels. The young man placed a chair for the lawyer and remained standing. He raised his hand to command silence.
"This is rather unexpected, boys. But this distinguished man happened to be pa.s.sing our hall to-night and has dropped in on us in a purely informal manner. It"s a great honor, and I want to say to him for all of us that the old Square Deal Club is mighty grateful. I ask you to rise, gentlemen of the club."
All came to their feet again.
"Bow your heads and for thirty seconds of deep silence pay your respect and veneration to the memory of our great war governor, General Aaron Converse."
The Honorable Archer Converse looked forth over those bowed and bared heads. The most of them were gray heads, and toil-worn hands were clasped in front of those men. And when at last the faces were raised to his there was an appealing earnestness in their gaze which touched him poignantly.
"Boys, the son of that great man is present. How will you express your admiration and respect for him?"
They cheered again tumultuously.
Farr walked to the edge of the platform.
"It is kind and generous of Mr. Converse to consent to step in here for a few moments this evening. I will leave the meeting in his hands."
There was a hush for a moment. Then the guest carried his chair to the extreme front edge of the platform.
"I don"t know just what sort of meeting this is--I have not been fully informed," he said, very crisply. "But I want it distinctly understood that I am not here to make any speech. Your faces indicate that you are very much in earnest in regard to the business you are met to consider.
I am a.s.sured that this is no mere political rally?"
"No," somebody replied.
"I"m glad of that. I am not in politics. The political mess grows to be nastier every year. But what are you here for? Come, now! Come! Let"s talk it over." He was a bit brusque, but his tone was kindly.
A man who stood up in the middle of the hall was rather shabby in his attire, but he had the deep eyes of one who thinks.
"Honored sir," he said, "I don"t stand up as one presuming to speak for all the rest. But I have talked with many men. I know what some of us want. We don"t expect that laws or leaders will make lazy men get ahead in the world or that victuals can be legislated into the cupboard without a man gets out and hustles for "em. I have worked at a bench ever since I was fourteen. I expect to work there until I drop out. I don"t want any political office. I couldn"t fill one. But why is it that the only men who get into office are the kind who turn around and get rich selling off property which belongs to all of us--I mean the franchises for this, that, and the other?" He sat down.
A thin man in the front row got up.
"Honorable Archer Converse, one franchise that was given away by those men years ago was the right to furnish water to this city. A private concern got hold of that franchise. It holds the right to-day. It saves money by pumping its water out of the Gamonic River. Saves money and wastes lives. The Board of Health"s reports show that there were eleven hundred cases of typhoid fever in this city last year. In my family my mother and two of my children died. I shiver every time I touch a tap--but spring-water that can be depended on costs us at the grocer"s a dollar for a five-gallon carboy--and my wages are only ten dollars a week. There are lakes twenty miles from this city. Pure water there for all of us! But every tap drips sewage from the Gamonic River. Haven"t we got any leaders who will make that water company pump health instead of death?"
"They sent "Tabulator" Burke up for ballot frauds," said a voter who stood up in a far corner. "But anybody in this city understands well enough that the judge who sent him to state prison knew who the real chaps were, knew how much the real ones paid "Tabulator" to take the whole blame. And the governor knows it all and has just reappointed that judge."
The Honorable Archer Converse sat very straight in his chair and listened to those men. He continued to sit straight and listened to others. The men dealt in no diatribe. There was no raving, there was no anarchistic sentiments. They arose, uttered their grievances gloomily but without pa.s.sion, and sat down.
One elderly man stood up and raised both hands.
"I came across the sea to this country, sir. I came because I could have my little share in the government where I paid taxes and labored--I could vote here. It"s the only public privilege I have. But, O G.o.d, give us some one to vote for!"
"I sympathize with your feelings," replied Mr. Converse. "But you are talking to the wrong man. I"m not in politics."
"By the G.o.ds, you will be if my nerve only holds out," Farr told himself.
Another man sprang to his feet. He spoke quietly, but his very repression made him more effective.
"What"s the good of voting till men like you do get into politics, Mr. Converse, and give us leaders who will use their power to help the people who voted for them? I"m sick of voting. I"m teamed up to the polls by ward workers--and I know just why those men are in the game and who they"re working for. What do you suppose Colonel Dodd cares which side carries this city, or which side carries the state? He and his crowd stand to win, whatever party gets in. You can"t beat "em. Business is business, no matter what politics may be! The city money is wasted just the same, the policy game is let run for the benefit of the rich men who back it, all the grafts go right on. You can"t fool me any longer. They stir us poor chaps up at election-time, we rush to the polls and vote, and sometimes think we are accomplishing something. But what we"re doing is simply boosting out some fellow who has made his pile and putting in another who wants office so that he can fill his own pockets by selling our common rights out to the same men. I say, you can"t beat it!"
The Honorable Archer Converse seemed to find his position on the platform uncomfortable. He rose suddenly and stepped down on the floor.
He went among the men. He grasped the hands that were outstretched to him. He realized that he had scant encouragement for these men. The meeting had given him new light. He knew considerable about the old days, and in the old days of politics men flocked to rallies. They harkened humbly to speeches from their leaders, and swallowed the sugar-coated facts, and listened to bands, and joined the torch-light parades, and voted according to party lines, and thought they had done well; the surface of things was nicely slicked over.
He understood that out of the ease with which the mob could be herded, with others doing their thinking for them, had grown politics as a business--with the big interests dominating both parties--and no one realized how it had all come about better than Converse. This new spirit, however, rather surprised him, for he had been keeping aloof from politics. These men who crowded about him were not mere dumb, driven voters in the ma.s.s--they were individuals who were thinking, who were demanding, who were seeking a leader that would consider them as citizens to be served, not chattels to be sold to the highest bidder.
His keen lawyer"s insight understood all this!
"I"m a butcher down in the stock-yards, Mr. Converse," said one man, who pressed forward. "We"ve got trained bulls there who tole the cattle along into the slaughter-pens. I"ve got tired of being a steer in politics and following these old trained bulls."
Converse worked his way through the press to the door, Farr at his heels.
When they were on the street the honorable gentleman turned sharply toward the Boulevard.
"I haven"t any spirit or taste to-night for moonlight in the park, sir!
A nice trick you played on me."
"I wanted you to get a first-hand notion of a state of affairs, Mr.