“In your place, Mr. West, I would not endorse those sentences of Dr. Leete”, said Forest with a smile, “for the Doctor has had frequent occasions to change his mind on this subject and persists in repeating his erroneous statements, although I and others have disproved them until further repetitions of our arguments became tedious. Strikes are not, as Dr. Leete pretends to believe, comparatively late appearances on the battle fields of national economy. One of the biggest strikes that ever occurred, the “secessio in montem sacrum”, took place in Rome as early as 494 before Christ, and, during the centuries of the middle ages, strikes for higher wages frequently occurred, although in those days labor was much better organized (in trades unions, guilds and “Zuenfte”) and more powerful than capital. And as for the impossibility of laborers ever becoming employers, I can show you in the college library a copy of the German paper, the “Freie Presse”, published in the city of Chicago anno 1888, where the editor, in contradicting similar statements of the communists of those days, points to the fact, that in 1888 there were 12,000 German house owners, manufacturers and well to do or rich business men in Chicago, who all had come to the city poor. When these Germans came to Chicago only a very few of them spoke English, still they were able to accumulate fortunes. This disproves the statement, that the people at the end of the last century were in the clutches of capital and unable to free themselves.--It is the easiest thing in the world to make wild statements, but it is sometimes difficult to substantiate them. And Dr. Leete is an adapt at making statements”. “But are you not getting along in good style?” I asked, hoping to stop Forest’s complaints, by pointing to an undisputable fact. “Are you not enjoying an unprecedented prosperity and is not this general result, the definite annihilation of poverty, an achievement worth small sacrifices?” “We are not getting along in good style. We are not enjoying an unprecedented prosperity. You will discover very soon, that you are overestimating the character and the fruits of our civilization. And so far as the annihilation of poverty is concerned, it amounts practically to nothing but the enrichment of the awkward, stupid and lazy people, with the proceeds of the work of the clever and industrious women and men. You could have done that 113 years ago, but you were not foolish and unjust enough to commit such a robbery.” “If the people don’t like the present organization of society, why do they not change it?” I asked. “From your remarks, I have drawn the conclusion, that you have no opposition party worth speaking of, for you said, there are only a few opposition papers published in the country. This seems to prove that the people are satisfied with the present state of affairs”.