The Transgressors. Story of a Great Sin. A Political Novel of the Twentieth CenturyAdams, Francis A. (Francis Alexandre)
General
The Transgressors. Story of a Great Sin. A Political Novel of the Twentieth Century
Adams, Francis A. (Francis Alexandre)
Political fiction
In the few minutes allotted to him, he reviews the industrial conditions
of a decade and shows where the insidious principle of class legislation
has undermined the prosperity of the people to bestow it upon the few.
In an unanswerable argument he pleads for the restoration of the rights
of the majority; by a rapid review of the causes that have led to the
downfall of the nations of the past, he shows that the unjust
distribution of the fruits of labor must inevitably lead to the
disintegration of the state.
His peroration is a fervent appeal to the delegates to reaffirm the
equality of man; it calls upon them to adopt resolutions advocating the
government control of all avenues of transportation and communication,
and for the strict regulation of all industries that affect the common
necessities of life.
"There is no law above that of the Creator. He did not fashion some of
his children to be damned with the brand of perpetual servitude; He did
not anoint some with omnipotence to place them as rulers over the many.
When He made mankind in His image, it was to have them live in fraternal
relationship. There should be no competition for the mere right to live.
Until God's design is declared to be wrong, I shall never cease to
counsel my brothers to live true to the Divine principles of liberty,
equality and fraternity."
With these words he closes his address.
There is no means for measuring the exact effect of his words. The
plaudits of an audience are an uncertain criterion.
In the final vote that is taken, after three other delegates have
spoken, a resolution is adopted calling for the appointment of a
standing committee of three to continue the investigation of the Trust
question until another year.
This result is not satisfactory to the radicals, yet they make no open
objection. To Trueman it is a source of gratification to know that the
heretical proposals of some of the delegates have been voted down.
The conference is on the point of closing when Delegate William Nevins
moves that the chairman of the special committee be empowered to
increase the number of the committee to forty at his own discretion.
This motion is adopted.
The conference ends. It has exemplified the old adage of the convention
of the mice to discuss the advisability of putting a bell on the cat.
All agreed that it would be for the good of micedom; yet no mouse had a
feasible method to advance for affixing the bell. The papers in every
city tell of the failure of the Anti-Trust conference to agree upon a
plan of action.
The millions of toilers bend lower under their burdens; the Magnates
tighten their grasp on the throat of labor.
In all the United States there is but one man who holds a solution of
the problem of emancipating mankind from commercial servitude. This man
has been a delegate. He has spoken but a few words; he has been present
as an auditor.
His hour for action is soon to come.
CHAPTER VIII.
A STARTLING PROPOSAL.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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