I
thought you ought to know about them exactly as they are and not in a
vague, indefinite way as I knew about them before I went to see for
myself."
The man moved uneasily. "I do know about the condition of these people,
Helen. It is exactly what I expected would happen."
She was listening carefully. "You expected them to--to be hungry and
cold and sick like that, Jim?"
"Such conditions are always a part of every strike like this," he
returned. "There is nothing unusual about it, and it is the only thing
that will ever drive these cattle back to their work. They simply have
to be starved to it."
"But John says--"
He interrupted. "Please, Helen--I know all about what John says. I know
where he gets it, too--he gets it from the Interpreter who gave you
this crazy notion of going alone into the Flats to investigate
personally. And John's ideas are just about as practical."
"But the mothers and children, Jim?"
"The men can go back to work whenever they are ready," he retorted.
"At your terms, you mean?" she asked.
"My terms are the only terms that will ever open this plant again. The
unions will never dictate my business policies, if every family in
Millsburgh starves."
She waited a moment before she said, slowly, "I must be sure that I
understand, Jim--do you mean that you are actually depending upon such
pitiful conditions as I have seen to-night to give you a victory over
the strikers?"
The man made a gesture of impatience.
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