240 THE FAT OF THE LAND 
the rest of you. He is, therefore, an interested 
party, and he is more than likely to be biassed by 
what seems to be his interest. He has made no 
argument; he has simply asserted things which 
are not true, and played upon your sympathies, 
emotions, and passions, by the use of the stale war- 
cries — ‘oppression,’ ‘down-trodden working- 
man,’ ‘bloated bond-holders,’ and, most foolish 
of all, «the conflict between Capital and Labor.’ 
You have not thought this matter out for your- 
selves at all. That is why I ask you to join 
hands for a little while with the Order of 
Thinkers and see if there is not some good 
way out of this dilemma. McGinnis said that 
the Company has no right to charge you for 
keeping your tools sharp. In one sense this is 
true. You have a perfect right to work with 
dull tools, if you wish to; you have the right to 
sharpen your own tools; and you also have the 
right to hire any one else to do it for you. You 
work ‘by the ton,’ you own your pickaxes and 
shovels from handle to blade, and you have the 
right to do with them as you please. 
«“ There are three hundred of you who use tools ; 
you each pay ten cents a week to the Company 
for keeping them sharp, — that is, in round num- 
bers, $1500 a year. There are two smiths at work 
at $50 a month (that is $1200), and a helper at 
$25 a month ($300 more), making just $1500 paid 
by the Company in wages. If you will think 
this matter out, you will see that there is a dead 
en an 
