STRIKE AT GORDON'S MINE 243 



either in his generation or in some preceding 

 one. Any man with a sound mind and a sound 

 body can become a capitalist. When the laborer 

 has saved one dollar he is a capitalist, he has 

 money to lend at interest or to invest in some- 

 thing that will bring a return. The second 

 dollar is easier saved than the first, and every 

 dollar saved is earning something on its own ac- 

 count. All persons who have money to invest or 

 to lend are capitalists. Of course, some are great 

 and some are small, but all are independent, for 

 they have more than they need for immediate 

 personal use. 



I am going to tell you how you may all 

 become capitalists ; but first I want to point out 

 your real enemies. The employer is not your 

 enemy, capital is not your enemy, but the saloon- 

 keeper is, and the most deadly enemy you can 

 possibly have. In that fringe of shanties over 

 yonder live the powers that keep you down ; 

 there are the foes that degrade you and your 

 families, forcing you to live little better than 

 wild beasts. Your food is poor, your clothing 

 is in rags, your children are without shoes, your 

 homes are desolate, there are no schools and no 

 social life. Year follows year in dreary mono- 

 tone, and you finally die, and your neighbors 

 thrust you underground and have an end of you. 

 Misery and wretchedness fill the measure of your 

 days, and you are forgotten. 



"This dull, brutish condition is self-imposed, 



