"Mr. Hapgood's portrayal of the American workingman is a
'moving picture' in two senses of this equivocal phrase. It
is kinetoscopic, first of all, in its lifelikeness and the
convincing reality of the actions it pictures. Then, again,
it is emotionally moving; for the character of Anton, the
big, honest, alert and energetic Chicago laborer, can hardly
fail to arouse in the reader intense admiration, lively
sympathy and not a little amusement free from all cynicism
and class feeling. In 'The Spirit of Labor' we are brought
into living contact with the men and women we meet on the
streets, the great American public with whom every business
man, every pastor and every politician has daily to reckon.
Teamsters, masons, unionists, saloonkeepers, policemen,
wash-women, newsboys, walking delegates, waitresses, ward
heelers, local bosses, anarchists--the procession seems
endless and the medley beyond all hope of disentanglement.
But it is real life and no parade of puppets."--_New York
Tribune._
"We cannot doubt, however, that Anton is a true type and
represents a large portion of the men of this land with whom
workers and students in social matters must meet. The book
deals intimately with the questions arising between labor
and capital, and is especially interesting in its analysis
of the Chicago spirit as it relates to these matters."--_The
Christian Advocate, New York._
"The story of Anton and his socialistic, anarchistic, and
trade union comrades is a faithful and photographic picture
of aspects of the urban activity of vast multitudes of
industrials combining to assist each one in his fellow in
the struggle for existence and fullness of life. The forces
revealed are full of danger, the temper is ugly, the manners
are always urbane, the judgment not always well informed,
the range of knowledge often limited; but there is wondrous
power, vigor, and the chaotic promise of a better and larger
morality than anything the churches yet have taught, or the
mere book students have ever dreamed. Miss Jane Addams has
discovered this larger morality in seeming coarseness and
evil, and Mr. Hapgood has given us glimpses of it in the
biography of his man of toil and rebellion. The Philistine
needs the Anarchist to wake him, as Hume did Kant, from his
dogmatic slumbers, and the Philistine may (let us hope
rarely) wear cap and gown."--_The Dial, Chicago._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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