“Point out to them that, in the cases of some trades, I may have to enlist the majority of the Unionists in the country; and that I am not going to tie their hands by any previous arrangements: they shall settle the matter for themselves. If that doesn’t satisfy them, you may tell them definitely--and put it in writing if they wish--that under no circumstances will I expect my employés to work for longer hours or less pay than any other Trades Unionist in the country.” I jotted the phrase down in my pocket-book. “I may as well tell you, Flint, that I have given instructions to the recruiting offices. No Trades Union Leader will be engaged by me under any circumstances whatever. It’s real working men that I want; and I don’t think much of the Union leaders from the point of view of actual work.” He looked at me for a moment and I saw a faint smile on his face. “It seems to me, Flint, that even yet you haven’t managed to see this thing in perspective. You must really get into your mind the fact that there is going to be a clean break between the old system and the new one we are making. Look at the thing in all its bearings. Once we are up North, men shall work for me as I choose and for what I choose. There will be no Factory Acts and Trades Union regulations or any other hindrance to our affairs. They come here and try to put a spoke in my wheel? I don’t mind that at all. But I do see that they are trying, whether wilfully or through sheer ignorance, to hamper this work which is essential to the race. Therefore I propose to meet them with fair words. It’s not for me to enlighten their ignorance if it has persisted up to now in the face of all this. I make them that promise, and if they can’t understand its meaning, that is no affair of mine. _We_ know, if they’re too dense to see it, that in a few months there won’t be a Trades Unionist left in the country, outside the colony! There will be no wages drawn outside our frontier; so even if I paid our men nothing, still I should be keeping my promise to the strict letter.” “I see your point,” I said; “all’s fair and so forth?” “Also, we shall have trouble, up there, I have no doubt. Probably there will be a ca’ canny party among our recruits. They will have every chance at first. I won’t interfere with them. But once the situation clears up a little, I shall deal with them--and I shall do it by the hand of their own fellows. They won’t last long. Now get along and promise these officials exactly what I have told you.” I offered no criticisms of his methods. His brain was far better than mine. When I remember that he must have drafted the outlines of his scheme and arranged most of the preliminaries of its execution in less time than it would have taken me to decide upon a new factory-site, I am still lost in amazement at the combination of wide outlook and tremendous concentration of thought which the task involved.