 Book one, sections fifteen through seventeen, of King Cole. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. King Cole by Upton Sinclair. Book one, the domain of King Cole. Section fifteen. Old Mike boarded at Remonitsky's, and after supper was over, House sought him out. He was easy to know and proved an interesting acquaintance. With the help of his eloquence, Hal wondered through a score of camps in the district. The old fellow had a temper that he could not manage, and so he was always on the move. But all places were alike, he said. There was always some trick by which a miner was cheated of his earnings. A miner was a little business man, a contractor who took a certain job with its expenses and its chance of profit or loss. A place was assigned to him by the boss, and he undertook to get out the coal from it, being paid at the rate of fifty-five cents a ton for each ton of clean coal. In some places a man could earn good money, and in others he could work for weeks and not be able to keep up with his store account. It all depended upon the amount of rock and slate that was found with the coal. If the vein was low, the man had one or two feet of rock to take off the ceiling, and this had to be loaded on separate cars and taken away. This work was called brushing, and for it the miner received no pay. Or perhaps it was necessary to cut through a new passage and clean out the rock, or perhaps to grade the bottom and lay the ties and rails over which the cars were brought in to be loaded. Or perhaps the vein ran into a fault, a broken place where there was rock instead of coal, and this rock must be hewed away before the miner could get at the coal. All such work was called dead work, and it was the cause of unceasing war. In the old days the company had paid extra for it. Now, since they had got the upper hand of the men, they were refusing to pay. And so it was important to the miner to have a place assigned him where there was not so much of this dead work, and the place a man got depended upon the boss. So here, at the very outset, was endless opportunity for favoritism and graft, for quarreling or keeping in with the boss. What chance did a man stand who was poor and old and ugly, and could not speak English good, inquired Old Mike with bitterness? The boss stole his cars and gave them to other people. He took the weight off the cars and gave them to fellows who boarded with him or treated him to drinks or otherwise curried favor with him. I work five days in the southeastern, said Mike, and when I work them five days, so help me, Godbrother, if I don't get up out of this chair, fifteen cents I will still in the hole yet, fourteen inches of rock. And the Mr. Bishop, that is the superintendent, I says, do you pay something for that rock? Huh? Says he. Well, I says, if you don't pay nothing for the rock, I don't go ahead with it. I ain't got no place to put that rock. Get the hell out of here, says he, and when I start to fight he pulled gun on me. And then I go to Cedar Mountain, and the super give me work there, and he says, you go number four. And he says, rail is in number three, and the ties. And he says, I pay you for it when you put it in. So I take it away, and I put it in, and I work till twelve o'clock. Carried the three pair of rails and the ties, and I pulled all the spikes. Pulled the spikes, asked how. Got no good spikes, got to use old spikes, what you pull out of them old ties. So then I says, what is my half day, what you promise me? Says he, you ain't dug no coal yet. What mister, says I, you promise me to pay to pull them spikes and put in them ties. Says he, company pay nothing for dead work. You know that, says he, and that is all the satisfaction I get. And you didn't get your half day's pay? Sure I get nothing. Boss do just as he please in coal mine. End of section fifteen. Section sixteen. There was another way, old Mike explained, in which the miner was at the mercy of others. This was the matter of stealing cars. Each miner had brass checks with his number on them, and when he sent up a loaded car he hung one of these checks on a hook inside. In the course of the long journey to the tipple, someone would change the check and the car was gone. In some mines the number was put on the car with chalk, and how easy it was for someone to rub it out and change it. It appeared to Hal that it would have been a simple matter to put a number padlock on the car instead of a check, but such an equipment would have cost the company one or two hundred dollars, he was told, and so the stealing went on year after year. You think it's the bosses steal these cars? Asked Hal. Sometimes bosses, sometimes bosses friend, sometimes company himself steal them from miners. In North Valley it was the company, the old Slovak insisted. It was no use sending up more than six cars in one day, he declared. You could never get credit for more than six. Nor was it worthwhile loading more than a ton on a car. They did not really weigh the cars, the boss just ran them quickly over the scales, and had orders not to go above a certain average. Mike told of an Italian who had loaded a car for a test, so high that he could barely pass it under the roof of the entry, and went up on the tipple and saw it weighed himself, and it was sixty-five hundred pounds. They gave him thirty-five hundred, and when he started to fight they arrested him. Mike had not seen him arrested, but when he had come out of the mine the man was gone and nobody ever saw him again. After that they put a door onto the way room, so that no one could see the scales. The more Hal listened to the men and reflected upon these things, the more he came to see that the miner was a contractor who had no opportunity to determine the size of the contract before he took it on, nor afterwards to determine how much work he had done. More than that he was obliged to use supplies, over the price and measurements of which he had no control. He used powder and would find himself docked at the end of the month for a certain quantity, and if the quantity was wrong he would have no redress. He was charged a certain sum for blacksmithing, the keeping of his tools in order, and he would find a dollar or two deducted from his account each month, even though he had not been near the blacksmith's shop. Let any business man in the world consider the proposition, thought Hal, and say if he would take a contract upon such terms. Would a man undertake to build a dam, for example, with no chance to measure the ground in advance, nor any way of determining how many cubic yards of concrete he had to put in? Would a grocer sell to a customer who proposed to come into the store and do his own weighing, and meantime locking the grocer outside? Merely to put such questions was to show the preposterousness of the thing, yet in this district were fifteen thousand men working on precisely such terms. Under the state law, the miner had a right to demand a check wayman to protect his interest at the scales, paying this check wayman's wages out of his own earnings. Whenever there was any public criticism about conditions in the coal mines, this law would be triumphantly cited by the operators, and one had to have actual experience in order to realize what a bitter mockery this was to the miner. In the dining room, Hal sat next to a fair-haired Swedish giant named Johansen, who loaded timbers ten hours a day. This fellow was one who indulged in the luxury of speaking his mind, because he had youth and huge muscles and no family to tie him down. He was what is called a blanket stiff, wandering from mine to harvest field and from harvest field to lumber camp. Someone broached the subject of check wayman to him, and the whole table heard his scornful laugh. Let any man ask for a check wayman. You mean they would fire him? Asked Hal. Maybe, was the answer. Maybe they make him fire himself. How do you mean? They make his life one damn misery till he go. So it was with check wayman, as with script and with company stores and with all the provisions of the law to protect the miner against accidents. You might demand your legal rights, but if you did, it was a matter of the boss's temper. He might make your life one damn misery till you went of your own accord. Or you might get a string of curses and an order down the canyon, and likely is not the toe of a boot in your trouser's seat or the muzzle of a revolver under your nose. End of section 16. Section 17. Such conditions made the coal district a place of despair, yet there were men who managed to get along somehow and to raise families and keep decent homes. If one had the luck to escape accident, if he did not marry too young or did not have too many children, if he could manage to escape the temptations of liquor to which overwork and monotony drove so many, if, above all, he could keep on the right side of his boss, why then he might have a home and even a little money on deposit with the company. Such a one was Jerry Minetti, who became one of Howell's best friends. He was a Milanese, and his name was Girolamo, which had become Jerry in the melting pot. He was about 25 years of age, and what is unusual with the Italians was a good stature. Their meeting took place, as did most of Howell's social experiences, on a Sunday. Jerry had just had a sleep and a wash and had put on a pair of new blue overalls so that he presented a cheering aspect in the sunlight. He walked with his head up and his shoulders square, and one could see that he had few cares in the world. But what caught Howell's attention was not so much Jerry as what followed at Jerry's heels. A perfect reproduction of him, quarter size, also with a newly washed face and a pair of new blue overalls. He too had his head up and his shoulders square, and he was an irresistible object, throwing out his heels and trying his best to keep step. Since the longest strides he could take left him behind, he would break into a run, and getting close under his father's heels would begin keeping step once more. Howell was going in the same direction, and it affected him like the music of a military band. He too wanted to throw his head up and square his shoulders and keep step, and then other people, seeing the grin on his face, would turn and watch, and grin also. But Jerry walked on gravely, unaware of this circus in the rear. They went into a house, and Howell, having nothing to do but enjoy life, stood waiting for them to come out. They returned in the same procession, only now the man had a sack of something on his shoulder, while the little chap had a smaller load poised in imitation. So Howell grinned again, and when they were opposite him he said, Hello. Hello, said Jerry, and stopped. Then seeing Howell's grin, he grinned back, and Howell looked at the little chap and grinned, and the little chap grinned back. Jerry, seeing what Howell was grinning at, grinned more than ever. There stood all three in the middle of the road, grinning at one another for no apparent reason. Gee, but that's a great kid, said Howell. Gee, you bet, said Jerry, and he sat down his sack. If someone desired to admire the kid, he was willing to stop any length of time. Yours, asked Howell. You bet, said Jerry again. Hello, Buster, said Howell. Hello, yourself, said the kid. One could see in a moment that he had been in the melting pot. What's your name, asked Howell. Jerry was the reply. And what's his name, Howell nodded towards the man? Big Jerry. Got any more like you at home? One more, said Big Jerry, baby. He ain't like me, said little Jerry. He's little. And you're big, said Howell. He can't walk. Where can you walk, laughed Howell, and caught him up and slung him onto his shoulder? Come on, we'll ride. So Big Jerry took up his sack again, and they started off. Only this time it was Howell who fell behind and kept step, squaring his shoulders and flinging out his heels. Little Jerry caught on to the joke, and giggled and kicked his sturdy legs with delight. Big Jerry would look round, not knowing what the joke was, but enjoying it just the same. They came to the three-room cabin, which was both Jerry's home. And Mrs. Jerry came to the door, a black-eyed Sicilian girl who did not look old enough to have even one baby. They had another bout of grinning, at the end of which Big Jerry said, you come in? Sure, said Howell. You stay supper, added the other. Got spaghetti? Gee, said Howell. All right, let me stay and pay for it. Hell no, said Jerry. You no pay? No, no pay, cried Mrs. Jerry, shaking her pretty head energetically. All right, said Howell, quickly, seeing that he might hurt their feelings. I'll stay if you sure you have enough. Sure, plenty, said Jerry. Hey, Rosa? Sure, plenty, said Mrs. Jerry. Then I'll stay, said Howell. You like spaghetti, kid? Jesus, cried little Jerry. Howell looked about him at this day-go home. It was a home in keeping with its pretty occupant. There were lace curtains in the windows, even shinier and whiter than at the Rafferty's. There was an incredibly bright-colored rug on the floor, and bright-colored pictures of Mount Vesuvius and of Garbaldi on the walls. Also there was a cabinet with many interesting treasures to look at. A bit of coral and a conch shell, a shark's tooth and an Indian arrowhead, and a stuffed linnet with a glass cover over him. A while back, Howell would not have thought of such things as especially stimulating to the imagination, but that was before he had begun to spend five, six of his waking hours in the bowels of the earth. He ate supper, a real-day-go supper. The spaghetti proved to be real-day-go spaghetti, smoking hot with tomato sauce and a rich flavor of meat juice. And all through the meal, Howell smacked his lips and grinned at little Jerry, who smacked his lips and grinned back. It was also different from feeding at Ramanitsky's pig trough that Howell thought he had never had such a good supper in his life before. As for Mr. and Mrs. Jerry, they were so proud of their wonderful kid, who could swear in English as good as a real American, that they were in the seventh heaven. When the meal was over, Howell leaned back and exclaimed, just as he had at the Rafferty's, Lord, how I wish I could board here. He saw his host look at his wife. All right, said he, you come here. I board you. Hey, Rosa? Sure, said Rosa. Howell looked at them, astonished. You're sure they'll let you? He asked. Let me? Who stopped me? I don't know. Maybe Ramanitsky. You might get into trouble. Jerry grinned. I know Frade, said he. Got friends here. Carmino, my cousin. You know Carmino? No, said Howell. Pit boss in number one. He stand by me. Old Ramanitsky, go hang. You come here. I give you bunk in that room. Give you good grub. What you pay Ramanitsky? Twenty-seven a month. All right, you pay me twenty-seven. You get everything good. Can't get much stuff here, but Rosa, good cook. She fix it. Howell's new friend, besides being a favorite of the boss, was a shot-fireer. It was his duty to go about the mine at night, setting off the charges of powder which the miners had got ready by day. This was dangerous work, calling for a skilled man, and it paid pretty well. So Jerry got on in the world and was not afraid to speak his mind within certain limits. He ignored the possibility that Howell might be a company spy, and astonished him by rebellious talk of the different kinds of graft in North Valley and at other places he had worked since coming to America as a boy. Manetti was a socialist, Howell learned. He took an Italian socialist paper, and the clerk at the post office knew what sort of paper it was, and would josh him about it. What was more remarkable, Mrs. Manetti was a socialist also. That meant a great deal to a man, as Jerry explained, because she was not under the domination of a priest. THE DOMAIN OF KING COLE Howell made the move at once, sacrificing part of a month's board which Remonitsky would charge against his account with the company. But he was willing to pay for the privilege of a clean home and clean food. To his amusement he found that in the eyes of his Irish friends he was losing caste by going to live with the Manettis. There were most rigid social lines in North Valley, it appeared. The Americans in English and Scotch looked down upon the Welsh and Irish. The Welsh and Irish looked down upon the Degos and Frenchies. The Degos and Frenchies looked down upon Pollocks and Hunkies, these in turn upon Greeks, Bulgarians and Montenegroes, and so on through a score of races of Eastern Europe, Lithuanians, Slovaks and Croatians, Armenians, Romanians, Rumelians, Ruthenians, ending up with greasers, niggers, and last and lowest, Japs. It was when Hal went to pay another call upon the Rafferty's that he made this discovery. Mary Burke happened to be there, and when she caught sight of him, her gray eyes beamed with mischief. "'How do you do, Mr. Manetti?' she cried. "'How do you do, Miss Rosetti?' he countered. "'You like a dispaget?' "'You know like a dispaget?' "'I told you once,' laughed the girl, "'the good old potatoes is good enough for me.' "'And you remember?' said he, what I answered. "'Yes, she remembered.' Her cheeks took on the color of the rose-leaves he had specified as her probable diet. And then the Rafferty children, who had got to know Hal well, joined in the teasing. "'Mr. Manetti, like a dispagetti!' Hal, when he had grasped the situation, was tempted to retaliate by reminding them that he had offered to board with the Irish and been turned down. But he feared that the elder Rafferty might not appreciate this joke. So instead he pretended to have supposed all along that the Rafferty's were Italians. He addressed the elder Rafferty gravely, pronouncing the name with the accent on the second syllable, Signore Rafferty, and this so amused the old man that he chuckled over it at intervals for an hour. His heart warmed to this lively young fellow. He forgot some of his suspicions, and after the youngsters had been sent away to bed, he talked more or less frankly about his life as a coal miner. Old Rafferty had once been on the way to High Station. He had been made tipple-boss at the San Jose mine, but had given up his job because he had thought that his religion did not permit him to do what he was ordered to do. It had been a crude proposition of keeping the men's score at a certain level, no matter how much coal they might send up. And when Rafferty had quit rather than obey such orders, he had had to leave the mine altogether, for of course everybody knew why he had quit, and his mere presence had the effect of keeping discontent alive. You think there are no honest companies at all, how asked? The old man answered, There be some, but is not so easy as you might think, to be honest. They have to meet each other's prices, and when one shortweights, the others have to. There is a way of cutting wages without the men finding it out, and there be people that do not like to fall behind with their profits. Howe found himself thinking of old Peter Harrigan, who controlled the general fuel company, and had made the remark, I am a great clamorer for dividends. The trouble with the minor, continued old Rafferty, is that he has no one to speak for him, he stands alone. During this discourse Howe had glanced at Red Mary, and noticed that she sat with her arms on the table, her sturdy shoulders bowed in a fashion which told of a hard day's toil. But here she broke into the conversation. Her voice came suddenly alive with scorn. The trouble with the minor is that he is a slave. Ah, now, put in the old man, protestingly. He has the whole world against him, and he hasn't got the sense to get together, to form a union and stand by it. There fell a sudden silence in the Rafferty home. Even Howe was startled, for this was the first time during his stay in the camp that he had heard the dread word Union spoken above a whisper. I know, said Mary, her gray eyes full of defiance, you'll not have the word spoken, but some will speak it in spite of you. Tis all very well, said the old man, when you're young and a woman too. A woman? Is it only the women can have courage? Sure, said he, with a writhe smile. Tis the women that have the tongues, and it can't be stopped from using them. Even the boss must know that. Maybe so, replied Mary, and maybe tis the women have the most to suffer in a cold camp, and maybe the boss knows that. The girl's cheeks were red. Maybe so, said Rafferty, and after that there was silence while he sat puffing his pipe. It was evident that he did not care to go on, that he did not want Union speeches made in his home. After a while Mrs. Rafferty made a timid effort to change the course of the talk by asking after Mary's sister, who had not been well, and after they had discussed remedies for the ailments of children, Mary rose, saying, I'll be going along. Howl rose also. I'll walk with you if I may, he said. Sure, said she, and it seemed that the cheerfulness of the Rafferty family was restored by the sight of a bit of gallantry. End of Section 18. Section 19. They strolled down the street, and Howl remarked, That's the first word I've heard here about a Union. Mary looked about her nervously. Hush, she whispered. But I thought you said you were talking about it. She answered, Tis one thing, talking in a friend's house, and another outside, what's the good of throwing away your job? He lowered his voice. Would you seriously like to have a Union here? Seriously, said she, didn't she see Mr. Rafferty what a coward he is? That's the way they are, no, it was just a burst of my temper. I'm a bit crazy tonight, something happened to set me off. She thought she was going on, but apparently she changed her mind. Finally he asked, What happened? O, to do no good to talk, she answered, and they walked a bit farther in silence. Tell me about it, won't you? He said, and the kindness in his tone made its impression. Tis not much, she know, of a cold camp, Joe Smith, she said. Can she imagine what it's like being a woman in a place like this, and a woman they think good looking? O, so it's that, said he, and was silent again. Someone's been troubling you, he ventured after a while. Sure, someone's always troubling us women, always, never a day but we hear it, winks and nudges everywhere you turn. Who is it? The bosses, the clerks, anybody that has a chance to wear a stiff collar and thinks he can offer money to a girl. It begins before she's out of short skirts, and there's never any peace afterwards. And you can't make them understand? I've made them understand me a bit, now they go after my old man. What? Sure, do you suppose they'd not try that? Him that's so crazy for liquor and can never get enough of it? And your father? But Hal stopped, she would not want that question asked. She had seen his hesitation, however. He was a decent man once, she declared. Tis the life here that turns a man into a coward. Tis everything you need, everywhere you turn, you have to ask favors from some boss. The room you work in, the dead work they pile on you, or maybe tis more credit you need at the store, or maybe the doctor to come when you're sick. And now tis our roof that leaks, so bad we can't find a dry place to sleep when it rains. I see, said Hal, who owns the house? Sure, there's none but company houses here. Who's supposed to fix it? Mr. Koseji, the house agent, but we gave him up long ago, if he does anything he raises the rent. Today my father went to Mr. Cotton, he's supposed to look out for the health of the place, and it seems hardly healthy to keep people wet in their beds. And what did Cotton say? Asked Hal when she stopped again. Well, don't you know Jeff Cotton? Can't you guess what he'd say? That's a fine girl you got, Burke. Why don't you make her listen to reason? And then he laughed, and told me, old father, he'd better learn to take a hint. Tis bad for an old man to sleep in the rain. He might get carried off by pneumonia. Hal could no longer keep back the question. What did your father do? I'd not have you think hard of my old father, she said quickly. He used to be a frightened man in the days before O'Callaghan had his way with him, but now he knows what a camp-martial can do to a minor. End of Section 19. Section 20. Mary Burke had said that the company could stand breaking the bones of its men. And not long after No. 2 started up again, Hal had a chance to note the truth of this assertion. A miner's life depended upon the proper timbering of the room where he worked. The company undertook to furnish the timbers, but when the miner needed them he would find none at hand, and would have to make the mile-long trip to the surface. He would select timbers of the proper length and would mark them, the understanding being that they were to be delivered to his room by some of the laborers. But then someone else would carry them off. Here was more graft and favoritism, and the miner might lose a day or two of work, while meantime his account was piling up at the store, and his children might have no shoes to go to school. Sometimes he would give up waiting for timbers and go on taking out coal. So there would be a fall of rock, and the coroner's jury would bring in a verdict of negligence, and the coal operators would talk solemnly about the impossibility of teaching caution to miners. Not so very long ago Hal had read an interview which the president of the General Fuel Company had given to a newspaper, in which he set forth the idea that the more experience a miner had, the more dangerous it was to employ him, because he thought he knew it all, and would not heed the wise regulations which the company laid down for his safety. In number two mind there were some places being operated by the room and pillar method, the coal being taken out as from a series of rooms, the portion corresponding to the walls of the rooms being left to uphold the roof. These walls are the pillars, and when the end of the vein is reached the miner begins to work backwards, pulling the pillars, and letting the roof collapse behind him. This is a dangerous task, as he works the man has to listen to the drumming sounds of the rock above his head, and has to judge just when to make his escape. Sometimes he is too anxious to save a tool, or sometimes the collapse comes without warning. In that case the victim is seldom dug out, for it must be admitted that a man buried under a mountain is as well buried as a company could be expected to arrange it. In number two mind a man was caught in this way. He stumbled as he ran, and the lower half of his body was pinned fast. The doctor had to come and pump opiates into him, while the rescue crew was digging him loose. The first howl knew of the accident was when he saw the body stretched out on a plank with a couple of old sacks to cover it. He noticed that nobody stopped for a second glance. Going up from work he asked his friend Madvik, the mule driver, who answered, Lyctuanian feller, got mash. And that was all. Nobody knew him, and nobody cared about him. It happened that Mike Secoria had been working nearby, and was one of those who helped to get the victim out. Mike's negro buddy had been in too great haste to get some of the rock out of the way, and had got his hand crushed and would not be able to work for a month or so. Mike told howl about it in his broken English. It was a terrible thing to see a man trapped like that, gasping, his eyes almost popping out of his head. Fortunately he was a young fellow and had no family. Howl asked what they would do with the body. The answer was they would bury him in the morning. The company had a piece of ground up the canyon. "'But won't they have an inquest?' he inquired. "'Inquest?' repeated the other. "'What's he?' "'Doesn't the coroner see the body?' The old Slovak shrugged his bowed shoulders. If there was a coroner in this part of the world, he had never heard of it, and he had worked in a good many mines, and seen a good many men put under the ground. "'Put him in a box and dig a hole,' was the way he described the procedure. "'And doesn't the priest come? Priest too far away!' Afterwards Howl made inquiry among the English-speaking men, and learned that the coroner did sometimes come to the camp. He would impanel a jury consisting of Jeff Cotton, the Marshal, and Petrovich, the Galician Jew who worked in the company store, and a clerk or two from the company's office, and a couple of Mexican laborers who had no idea what it was all about. This jury would view the corpse and ask a couple of men what had happened, and then bring in a verdict. We find that the deceased met his death from a fall of rock caused by his own fault. In one case they had added the picturesque detail. No relatives and damned few friends. For this service the coroner got a fee, and the company got an official verdict which would be final in case some foreign consul should threaten a damage suit. So well did they have matters in hand that nobody in North Valley had ever got anything for death or injury. In fact, as Howe found later, there had not been a damage suit filed against any coal operator in that county for 23 years. This particular accident was a consequence to Howe, because it got him a chance to see the real work of mining. Old Mike was without a helper, and made the proposition that Howe should take the job. It was better than a stableman's, for it paid two dollars a day. But will the boss let me change? Asked Howe. You give him ten dollars, he changed you, said Mike. Sorry, said Howe, I haven't got ten dollars. You give him ten dollar credit, said the other. And Howe laughed. They take script for graft, do they? Sure, they take him, said Mike. Suppose I treat my mules bad, continued the other, so I can make him change me for nothing. He changed you to hell, replied Mike. You get him cross, he put us in bad room, cost us ten dollar a week. No, sir, you give him drink, say fine feller, make him feel good. You talk American, give him jolly. CHAPTER XXX Howe was glad of this opportunity to get better acquainted with his pit-boss. Eric Stone was six feet high and built in proportion, with arms like hams, soft with fat, yet possessed of enormous strength. He had learned his manner of handling men on a sugar plantation in Louisiana, a fact which, when Howe heard it, explained much. Like a stage manager who does not heed the real names of his actors, but calls them by their character names, Stone had the habit of addressing his men by their nationality You, Polot, get that rock into the car. Hey, Jack, bring them tools over here. Shut your mouth now, dago, and get to work, or I'll kick the breeches off you sure as you're alive. Howe had witnessed one occasion when there was a dispute as to whose duty it was to move timbers. There was a great two-handled cross-cut saw lying on the ground, and Stone seized it and began to wave it like a mighty broadsword in the face of a little bohemian miner. Load them timbers, hunky, or I'll carve you into bits. And as the terrified man shrunk back, he followed until his victim was flat against a wall, the weapon swinging to and fro under his nose after the fashion of the pit in the pendulum. Carve you into pieces, hunky, carve you into stew-meat. When it last the boss stepped back the little bohemian leaped to load the timbers. The curious part about it to Howe was that Stone seemed to be reasonably good-natured about such proceedings. Hardly one time in a thousand did he carry out his bloodthirsty threats, and like it's not he would laugh when he had finished his tirade, and the object of it would grin and turn, but without slackening his frightened efforts. After the broadsword-waving episode, seeing that Howe had been watching, the boss remarked — that's the way you have to manage them, wops — Howe took this remark as a tribute to his American blood and was duly flattered. He sought out the boss that evening and found him with his feet upon the railing of his home. Mr. Stone said he, I've something I'd like to ask you. Fire away, kid, said the other. Won't you come up to the saloon and have a drink? Want to get something out of me, hey? You can't work me, kid. But nevertheless he slung down his feet from the railing and knocked the ashes out of his pipe and strolled up the street with Howe. Mr. Stone said Howe, I want to make a change. What's that? Got a grouch on them mules? No, sir, but I got a better job in sight. Like Sicoria's buddy is laid up and I'd like to take his place, if you're willing. Why, that's a nigger's place, kid. Ain't you scared to take a nigger's place? Why, sir? Don't you know about who-dos? What I want, said Howe, is the nigger's pay. No, said the boss abruptly. You stick by them mules. I got a good stableman and I don't want to spoil him. You stick, and by and by I'll give you a raise. You go into them pits, the first thing you know you'll get a fall of rock on your head, and the nigger's pay won't be no good to you. They came to the saloon and entered. Howe noted that a silence fell within, and everyone nodded and watched. It was pleasant to be seen going out with one's boss. O' Callahan the proprietor came forward with his best society's smile and joined them, and at Howe's invitation they ordered whiskies. No, you stick to your job, continued the pit-boss. You stay by it, and when you've learned to manage mules, I'll make a boss out of you and let you manage men. Some of the bystanders tittered. The pit-boss poured down his whisky and set the glass on the bar. That's no joke, said He, in a tone that everyone could hear. I learned that long ago about niggers. They'd say to me, for God's sake, don't talk to our niggers like that. Some night you'll have your house set afire. But I said, Pet a nigger, and you've got a spoiled nigger. I'd say, nigger, don't you give me any of your imp, or I'll kick the breeches off you. And they knew I was a gentleman, and they stepped lively. Have another drink, said Howe. The pit-boss drank, and, becoming more sociable, told nigger stories. On the sugar plantations there was a rush season, when the rule was twenty hours work a day. When some of the niggers tried to shirk it, they would arrest them for swearing or crapshooting, and work them as convicts without pay. The pit-boss told how one buck had been brought before the justice of the peace, and the charge read, Being Cross-eyed, for which offense he had been sentenced to sixty days hard labor. This anecdote was enjoyed by the men in the saloon, whose race feelings seemed to be stronger than their class feelings. When the pair went out again it was late, and the boss was cordial. Mr. Stone, began Howe, I don't want to bother you, but I'd like first rate to get more pay. If you could see your way to let me have that buddy's job, I'd be more than glad to divide with you. Divide with me, said Stone. How do you mean? Howe waited with some apprehension, for if Mike had not assured him so positively, he would have expected a swing from the pit-boss's mighty arm. It's worth about fifteen a month more to me. I haven't any cash, but if you'd be willing to charge off ten dollars for my store-account, it would be well worth my while. They walked for a short way in silence. Well, I'll tell you, said the boss at last. That ol' Slovak is a kicker, one of these fellas that thinks he could run the mine if he had a chance, and if you get to listen into him and think you can come to me and grumble, by God, that's all right, sir, put in Howe quickly. I'll manage that for you. I'll shut him up. If you'd like me to, I'll see what fellows he talks with, and if any of them are trying to make trouble, I'll tip you off. Now that's the talk, said the boss promptly. You do that, and I'll keep my eye on you and give you a chance. Not that I'm afraid of the old fella. I told him last time that if I heard from him again, I'd kick the breeches off him. But when you got half a thousand of this foreign scum, some of them anarchists and some of them bulgers and Montenegro's that's been fighting each other at home, I understand, said Howe. You have to watch them. That's it, said the pit-boss. And by the way, when you tell the store clerk about that fifteen dollars, just say he lost it at poker. I said ten dollars. Put in Howe quickly. Yes, I know, responded the other. But I said fifteen. End of Section 21 Section 22 Howe told himself with satisfaction that he was now to do the real work of coal-mining. His imagination had been occupied with it for a long time, but as so often happens in the life of man, the first contact with reality killed the results of many years' imagining. It killed all imagining, in fact. Howe found that his entire stock of energy, both mental and physical, was consumed in enduring torment. If anyone had told him the horror of attempting to work in a room five feet high, he would not have believed it. It was like some of the dreadful devices of torture which one saw in European castles, the iron maiden and the spiked collar. Hall's back burned as if hot irons were being run up and down it. Every separate joint and muscle cried aloud. It seemed as if he could never learn the lesson of the jagged ceiling above his head. He bumped it and continued to bump it, until his scalp was a mass of cuts and bruises, and his head ached till he was nearly blind, and he would have to throw himself flat on the ground. Then Old Mike Secoria would grin. I know, like Green Mule, some day get tough. Hall recalled the great thick calluses on the flanks of his former charges where the harness rubbed against them. Yes, I'm a Green Mule, all right. It was amazing how many ways there were to bruise and tear one's fingers, loading lumps of coal into a car. He put on a pair of gloves, but these wore through in a day. And then the gas and the smoke of powder, stifling one, and the terrible burning of the eyes from the dust and the feeble light. There was no way to rub these burning eyes, because everything about one was equally dusty. Could anybody have imagined the torment of that? Any of those ladies who rode in softly upholstered parlor cars, or reclined upon the decks of steamships and gleaming tropic seas? Old Mike was good to his new buddy. Mike's spine was bent, and his hands were hardened by forty years of this sort of toil, so he could do the work of two men, and entertain his friend with comments into the bargain. The old fellow had the habit of talking all the time, like a child. He would talk to his helper, to himself, to his tools. He would call these tools by obscene and terrifying names, but with entire friendliness and good humor. Get in there, you son of a gun! He would say to his pick. Come along here, you wop! He would say to his car. In with you now, you old buster! He would say to a lump of coal. And he would lecture Howe on the details of mining. He would tell stories of successful days, or of terrible mishaps. Of all, he would tell about rascality, cursing the GFC, its foremen and superintendents, its officials, directors and stockholders, and the world which permitted such a criminal institution to exist. Noontime would come, and Howe would lie upon his back, too worn to eat. Old Mike would sit munching. His abundant whiskers came to a point on his chin, and as his jaws moved, he looked for all the world like an aged billy-goat. He was a kind-hearted and anxious old billy-goat, and sought to tempt his buddy with a bit of cheese or a swig of cold coffee. He believed in eating. No man could keep up steam if he did not stoke the furnace. Failing in this, he would try to divert Howe's mind, telling stories of mining life in America and Russia. He was most proud to have an American feller for a buddy, and try to make the work as easy as possible, for fear lest Howe might quit. Howe did not quit. But he would drag himself out towards night, so exhausted that he would fall asleep in the cage. He would fall asleep at supper, and go in and sink down on his cot and sleep like a log, and owe the torture of being routed out before daybreak, having to shake the sleep out of his head and move his creaking joints and become aware of the burning in his eyes and the blisters and sores on his hands. It was a week before he had a moment that was not pain, and he never got fully used to the labor. It was impossible for anyone to work so hard and keep his mental alertness, his eagerness, and sensitiveness. It was impossible to work so hard and be an adventurer, to be anything, in fact, but a machine. Howe had heard that phrase of contempt, the inertia of the masses, and had wondered about it. He no longer wondered, he knew. Could a man be brave enough to protest to a pit-boss when his body was numb with weariness? Could he think out a definite conclusion as to his rights and wrongs, and back his conclusion with effective action when his mental faculties were paralyzed by such weariness of body? Howe had come here, as one goes upon the deck of a ship in mid-ocean to see the storm. In this ocean of social misery, of ignorance and despair, one saw upturned, tortured faces, writhing limbs and clutching hands. In one's ears was a storm of lamentation. Upon one's cheek a spray of blood and tears. Howe found himself so deep in this ocean that he could no longer find consolation in the thought that he could escape whenever he wanted to. That he could say to himself, It is sad, it is terrible, but thank God I can get out of it when I choose. I can go back into the warm and well-lighted saloon and tell the other passengers how picturesque it is, what an interesting experience they are missing. End of Section 22 Section 23 During these days of torment, Howe did not go to see Red Mary. But then one evening, the Manetti's baby having been sick, she came in to ask about it, bringing what she called a bit of a custard in a bowl. Howe was suspicious enough of the ways of men, especially of businessmen, but when it came to women he was without insight. It did not occur to him as singular that an Irish girl with many troubles at home should come out to nurse a Dago woman's baby. He did not reflect that there were plenty of sick Irish babies in the camp, to whom Mary might have taken her bit of a custard. And when he saw the surprise of Rosa, who had never met Mary before, he took it to be the touching gratitude of the poor. There are, in truth, many kinds of women, with many arts, and no man has time to learn them all. Howe had observed the shot-girl type, who dressed themselves with many frills and cast side-long glances and indulge in fits of giggles to attract the attention of the male. He was familiar with the society-girl type, who achieved the same end with more subtle and alluring means. But could there be a type who hold little Dago babies in their laps and call them pretty Irish names and feed them custard out of a spoon? Howe had never heard of that kind, and he thought that Red Mary made a charming picture, a Celtic Madonna with a Sicilian infant in her arms. He noticed that she was wearing the same faded blue calico dress with a patch on the shoulder. Man though he was, he realized that dress is an important consideration in the lives of women. He was tempted to suspect that this blue calico might be the only dress that Mary owned, but seeing it newly laundered every time he concluded that she must have at least one other. At any rate here she was, crisp and fresh-looking, and with the new shining costume she had put on the long-promised, company-manner, high spirits and batonage precisely like any bell of the world of luxury, who powders and bedecks herself for a ball. She had been grim and complaining in former meetings with this interesting young man. She had frightened him away, apparently. Perhaps she could win him back by womanliness and good humor. She rallied him upon his battered scalp and his creaking back, telling him he looked ten years older, which he was fully prepared to believe. Also, she had fun with him for working under a slovak, another loss of caste it appeared. This was a joke the Manettis could share in, especially Little Jerry, who liked jokes. He told Mary how Joe Smith had had to pay fifteen dollars for his new job, beside several drinks at O'Callaghan's. Also he told how Mike Secoria had called Joe his green mule. Little Jerry complained about the turn of events, for in the old days Joe had taught him a lot of fine new games, and now he was sore and would not play them. Also in the old days he had sung a lot of jolly songs, full of the most fascinating rhymes. There was a song about a monkey-puzzle tree. Had Mary ever seen that kind of tree? Little Jerry never got tired of trying to imagine what it might look like. The day-goe urchin stood and watched gravely while Mary fed the custard to the baby, and when two or three spoonfuls were held out to him, he opened his mouth wide and afterwards licked his lips. Gee, that was good stuff! When the last taste was gone he stood gazing at Mary's shining coronet. Say, said he, was your hair always like that? Hal and Mary burst into laughter, while Rosa cried, Hush! She was never sure what this youngster would say next. Sure, did you think I painted it? Asked Mary. I didn't know, said Little Jerry. It looked so nice and new. And he turned to Hal. Ain't it? You bet, said Hal, and added, Go on and tell her about it. Girls like compliments. Compliments? Echoed Little Jerry. What's that? Why, said Hal, that's when you say that her hair is like the sunrise, and her eyes are like twilight, or that she's a wild rose on a mountainside. Oh, said the dago urchin, somewhat doubtfully. Anyhow, he added, she make nice custard. End of Section 23. Book 1. Sections 24-26 of King Cole. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. King Cole by Upton Sinclair. Book 1. The Domain of King Cole. Section 24. The time came for Mary to take her departure, and Hal got up, wincing with pain, to escort her home. She regarded him gravely, having not realized before how seriously he was suffering. As they walked along, she asked, Why do you do such work when you don't have to? But I do have to. I have to earn a living. You don't have to earn it that way. A bright young fellow like you, an American? Well, said Hal, I thought it would be interesting to see coal mining. Now you've seen it, said the girl, now quit. But it won't do me any harm to go on for a while. Won't it? How can he know when any day they may carry you out on a plank? Her company manner was gone. Her voice was full of bitterness, as it always was when she spoke of North Valley. I know what I'm telling you, Joe Smith. Didn't I lose two brothers in it? As fine lads as you'd find anywhere in the world. And many another lad I've seen go in, laughin' and come out of corpse, or what is worse, for workin' people, a cripple. Sometimes I'd like to go and stand at the pit mouth in the mornin' and cry to them, Go back, go back, go down the canyon this day, starve if you have to, beg if you have to, only find some other work but coal mining. Her voice had risen to a passion of protest. When she went on, a new note came into it, a note of personal terror. It's worse now, since she came, Joe, to see he settin' out on the life of a minor, you that are young and strong and different. Oh, go away, Joe, go away while you can. He was astonished at her intensity. Don't worry about me, Mary, he said. Nothing will happen to me. I'll go away after a while. The path was irregular, and he had been holding her arm as they walked. He felt her trembling, and went on again quickly. It's not I that should go away, Mary, it's yourself. You hate the place. It's terrible for you to have to live here. Have you never thought of going away? She did not answer at once, and when she did, the excitement was gone from her voice. It was flat and dull with despair. Tis no use to think of me. There's nothing I can do. There's nothing any girl can do when she's poor. I've tried, but tis like being up against a stone wall. I can't even save the money to get on a train with. I've tried it. I've been savin' for two years. And how much do you think I got, Joe? Seven dollars. Seven dollars in two years. No, you can't save money in a place where there's so many things that ring the heart. You may hate them for being cowards, but you must help when you see a man killed and his family turned out without a roof to cover them in the wintertime. You're too tender-hearted, Mary. No, tis not that. Should I go off and leave my own brother and sister that need me? But you could earn money and send it to them. I earn a little here. I do cleanin' and nursein' for some that need me. But outside, couldn't you earn more? I could get a job in a restaurant for seven or eight a week, but I'd have to spend more. And what I sent home would not go so far with me away. Or I could get a job in some other woman's home and work 14 hours a day for it. But, Joe, tis not more drudgery I want, tis something fair to look upon, something of my own. She flung out her arms suddenly, like one being stifled. Oh, I want something that's fair and clean. Again he felt her trembling. Again the path was rough, and having an impulse of sympathy, he put his arm about her. In the world of leisure one might indulge in such considerateness, and he assumed it would not be different with a minor's daughter. But then, when she was close to him, he felt, rather than heard, a sob. Mary, he whispered, and they stopped. Almost without realizing it, he put his other arm about her, and in a moment more he felt her warm breath on his cheek, and she was trembling and shaking in his embrace. Joe, Joe, she whispered, you take me away. She was a rose in a mining-camp, and Howe was deeply moved. The primrose path of dalliance stretched fair before him, here in the soft summer night, with a moon overhead which bore the same message as it bore in the Italian gardens of the leisure class. But not many minutes passed before a cold fear began to steal over Howe. There was a girl at home waiting for him, and also there was the resolve which had been growing in him since his coming to this place, a resolve to find some way of compensation to the poor, to repay them for the freedom and culture he had taken, not to prey upon them, upon any individual among them. There were the Jeff Cottons for that. Mary, he pleaded, we mustn't do this. Why not? Because I'm not free, there is someone else. He felt her start, but she did not draw away. Where, she asked, in a low voice? At home, waiting for me. And why didn't she tell me? I don't know. Howe realized in a moment that the girl had ground of complaint against him. According to the simple code of her world, he had gone some distance with her. He had been seen to walk out with her. He had been accounted her fellow. He had led her to talk to him of herself. He had insisted upon having her confidences. And these people who were poor did not have subtleties. There was no room in their lives for intellectual curiosities, for Platonic friendships or philanderings. Forgive me, Mary, he said. She made no answer, but a sob escaped her, and she drew back from his arms, slowly. He struggled with an impulse to clasp her again. She was beautiful, warm with life, and so much in need of happiness. But he held himself in check, and for a minute or two they stood apart. Then he asked, humbly, We can still be friends, Mary, can't we? You must know I'm so sorry. But she could not endure being pitied. Tis nothing, she said, Only I thought I was going to get away. That's what she meant to me. End of Section 24 Section 25 Hal had promised Alex Stone to keep a lookout for troublemakers, and one evening the boss stopped him on the street and asked him if he had anything to report. Hal took the occasion to indulge his sense of humor. There's no harm in Mike's sacoria, said he. He likes to shoot off his head, but if he's got somebody to listen, that's all he wants. He's just old and grouchy. But there's another fellow that I think would bear watching. Who's that? asked the boss. I don't know his last name. They call him Gus, and he's a cajure, fellow with a red face. I know, said Stone, Gus Durking. Well, he tried his best to get me to talk about unions. He keeps bringing it up, and I think he's some kind of troublemaker. I see, said the boss, I'll get after him. You won't say I told you, said Hal anxiously. Oh no, sure not. And Hal caught the trace of a smile on the pit boss's face. He went away smiling in his turn. The red-faced feller, Gus, was the person Madvick had named as being a spotter for the company. There were ins and outs to this matter of spotting, and sometimes it was not easy to know what to think. One Sunday morning Hal went for a walk up the canyon, and on the way he met a young chap who got to talking with him, and after a while brought up the question of working conditions in North Valley. He had only been there a week, he said, but everybody he had met seemed to be grumbling about short-weight. He himself had a job as an outside man, so it made no difference to him, but he was interested and wondered what Hal had found. Straightway came the question, was this really a working man, or had Alec Stone set someone to spying upon his spy? This was an intelligent fellow, an American, which in itself was suspicious, for most of the new men the company got in were from somewhere east of Suez. Hal decided to spar for a while. He did not know, he said, that conditions were any worse here than elsewhere. You heard complaints no matter what sort of job you took. Yes, said the stranger, but matters seemed to be especially bad in the coal camps. Probably it was because they were so remote, and the companies owned everything in sight. Where have you been? asked Hal, thinking that this might trap him. But the other answered straight. He had evidently worked in half a dozen of the camps. In Mateo he had paid a dollar a month for wash-house privileges, and there had never been any water after the first three men had washed. There had been a common wash-tub for all the men, an unthinkably filthy arrangement. At Pine Creek, Hal found the very naming of the place made his heart stand still. At Pine Creek he had boarded with his boss, but the roof of the building leaked, and everything he owned was ruined. The boss would do nothing, yet when the boarder moved he lost his job. At East Ridge, this man and a couple of other fellows had rented a two-room cabin and started to board themselves in spite of the fact that they had to pay a dollar fifty a sack for potatoes and eleven cents a pound for sugar at the company store. They had continued until they made the discovery that the water supply had run short, and that the water for which they were paying the company a dollar a month was being pumped from the bottom of the mine, where the filth of mules and men was plentiful. Hal forced himself to remain noncommittal. He shook his head and said it was too bad, but the workers always got it in the neck and he didn't see what they could do about it. So they strolled back to the camp, the stranger evidently baffled, and Hal, for his part, feeling like the reader of a detective story at the end of the first chapter, was this young man the murderer or was he the hero? One would have to read on in the book to find out. End of Section 25. Section 26. Hal kept his eye upon his new acquaintance and perceived that he was talking with others. Before long the man tackled old Mike, and Mike, of course, could not refuse an invitation to grumble, though it came from the devil himself. Hal decided that something must be done about it. He consulted his friend Jerry, who, being a radical, might have some touchstone by which to test the stranger. Jerry sought him out at noontime, and came back and reported that he was as much in the dark as Hal. After the man was an agitator, seeking to start something, or else he was a detective sent in by the company, there was only one way to find out, which was for someone to talk freely with him and see what happened to that person. After some hesitation Hal decided that he would be the victim. It reawakened his love of adventure, which digging in a coal mine had subdued in him. The mysterious stranger was a new sort of miner, digging into the souls of men. Hal would countermine him, and perhaps blow him up. He could afford the experiment better than some others, better, for example, than little Mrs. David, who had already taken the stranger into her home, and revealed to him the fact that her husband had been a member of the most revolutionary of all miners' organizations, the South Wales Federation. So next Sunday Hal invited the stranger for another walk. The man showed reluctance, until Hal said that he wanted to talk to him. As they walked up the canyon, Hal began, I've been thinking about what you said of conditions in these camps, and I've concluded it would be a good thing if we had a little shaking up here in North Valley. Is that so? said the other. When I first came here I used to think the men were grouchy, but now I've had a chance to see for myself, and I don't believe anybody gets a square deal. For one thing, nobody gets full weight in these mines, at least not unless he's some favorite of the boss. I'm sure of it, for I've tried all sorts of experiments with my partner. We've loaded a car extra-light, and got 1,800 weight. And then we've loaded one high and solid, so that we'd know it had twice as much in it, but all we ever got was 22 and 23. There's just no way you can get over that, though everybody knows those big cars can be made to hold two or three tons. Yes, I suppose they might, said the other. And if you get the smallest piece of rock in, you get a double O, sure as fate, and sometimes they say you got rock in when you didn't. There's no law to make them prove it. No, I suppose not. What it comes to is simply this. They make you think they are paying fifty-five a ton, but they've secretly cut you down to thirty-five. And yesterday at the company's store I paid a dollar and a half for a pair of blue overalls that I'd priced in Pedro for sixty cents. Well, said the other, the company has to haul them up here, you know. So gradually Hal made the discovery that the tables were turned. The mysterious personage was now occupied in holding him at arm's length. For some reason Hal's sudden interest in industrial justice had failed to make an impression. So his career as a detective came to an inglorious end. Say, man, he exclaimed, what's your game, anyhow? Game? said the other quietly. How do you mean? I mean what are you here for? I'm here for two dollars a day, the same as you, I guess. Hal began to laugh. You and I are like a couple of submarines trying to find each other under water. I think we'd better come to the surface to do our fighting. The other considered the simile and seemed to like it. You come first, said he, but he did not smile. His quiet blue eyes were fixed on Hal with deadly seriousness. All right, said Hal. My story isn't very thrilling. I'm not an escaped convict. I'm not a company spy, as you may be thinking. Nor am I a natural born coal miner. I happen to have a brother and some friends at home who think they know about the coal industry. And it got on my nerves, and I came to see for myself. That's all, except that I found things interesting and wanted to stay on a while, so I hope you aren't a dick. The other walked in silence, weighing Hal's words. That's not exactly what you'd call a usual story, he remarked at last. I know, replied Hal. The best I can say for it is that it's true. Well, said the stranger, I'll take a chance on it. I have to trust somebody, if I'm ever to get anywhere. I picked you out because I liked your face. He gave Hal another searching look as he walked. Your smile isn't that of a cheat. But you're young, so let me remind you of the importance of secrecy in this place. I'll keep mum, said Hal, and the stranger opened a flap inside his shirt and drew out a letter which certified him to be Thomas Olson, an organizer for the United Mine Workers, the great national union of the coal miners. End of Section 26. Book 1, Sections 27-29 of King Cole. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. King Cole by Upton Sinclair. Book 1, The Domain of King Cole. Section 27. Hal was so startled by this discovery that he stopped in his tracks and gazed at the man. He had heard a lot about troublemakers in the camps, but so far the only kind he had seen were those hired by the company to make trouble for the men. But now here was a union organizer. Jerry had suggested the possibility, but Hal had not thought of it seriously. An organizer was a mythological creature, whispered about by the miners, cursed by the company and its servants, and by Hal's friends at home. An incendiary, a firebrand, a loudmouthed, irresponsible person, stirring up blind and dangerous passions. Having heard such things all his life, Hal's first impulse was of distrust. He felt like the one-legged old switchman who had given him a place to sleep after his beating at Pine Creek and who had said, Don't you talk no union business to me. Seeing Hal's emotion, the organizer gave an uneasy laugh. While you're hoping I'm not a dick, I trust you understand I'm hoping you're not one. Hal's answer was to the point. I was taken for an organizer once, he said, and his hands sought the seed of his ancient bruises. The other laughed. You got off with a beating? You were lucky. Down in Alabama, not so long ago, they tarred and feathered one of us. Dismay came upon Hal's face. But after a moment he too began to laugh. I was just thinking about my brother and his friends, what they'd have said if I'd come home from Pine Creek in a coat of tar and feathers. Possibly ventured the other. They'd have said you got what you deserved. Yes, that seems to be their attitude. That's the rule they apply to all the world. If anything goes wrong with you, it must be your own fault. It's a land of equal opportunity. And you'll notice, said the organizer, that the more privileges people have had, the more boldly they talk that way. Hal began to feel a sense of comradeship with this stranger who was able to understand one's family troubles. It had been a long time since Hal had talked with anyone from the outside world, and he founded a relief to his mind. He remembered how, after he had got his beating, he had lain out in the rain and congratulated himself that he was not what the guards had taken him for. Now he was curious about the psychology of an organizer. A man must have strong convictions to follow that occupation. He made the remark, and the other answered, You can have my pay any time you'll do my work, but let me tell you, too, it isn't being beaten and kicked out of camp that bothers one most. It isn't the camp marshal and the spy and the blacklist. Your worst troubles are inside the heads of the fellows you're trying to help. Have you ever thought what it would mean to try to explain things to men who speak twenty different languages? Yes, of course, said Hal. I wonder how you ever get a start. Well, you look for an interpreter, and maybe he's a company spy, or maybe the first man you try to convert reports you to the boss, for, of course, some of the men are cowards, and some of them are crooks. They'll sell out the next fellow for a better place, maybe for a glass of beer. That must have a tendency to weaken your convictions, said Hal. No, said the other, in a matter of fact tone. It's hard, but one can't blame the poor devils. They're ignorant, kept so deliberately. The bosses bring them here and have a regular system to keep them from getting together. And of course, these European peoples have their old prejudices, national prejudices, religious prejudices that keep them apart. You see two fellows, one you think is exactly as miserable as the other, but you find him despising the other because back home he was the other's superior. So they play into the boss's hands. End of section 27. Section 28. They had come to a remote place in the canyon and found themselves seats on a flat rock where they could talk in comfort. Put yourself in their place, said the organizer. They're in a strange country, and one person tells them one thing and another tells them something else. The masters and their agents say, don't trust the union agitators. They're a lot of grafters. They live easy and don't have to work. They take your money and call you out on strike, and you lose your jobs and your home. They sell you out, maybe, and go on to some other place to repeat the same trick. And the workers think maybe that's true. They haven't the wit to see that if the union leaders are corrupt it must be because the bosses are buying them. So you see, they're completely bedeviled. They don't know which way to turn. The man was speaking quietly, but there was a little glow of excitement in his face. The company is forever repeating that these people are satisfied, that it's we who are stirring them up. But are they satisfied? You've been here long enough to know. There's no need to discuss that, Hal answered. Of course they're not satisfied. They've seemed to me like a lot of children crying in the dark, not knowing what's the matter with them or who's to blame or where to turn for help. Hal found himself losing his distrust of this man. He did not correspond in any way to Hal's imaginary picture of a union organizer. He was a blue-eyed, clean-looking young American, and instead of being wild and loud-mouthed, he seemed rather wistful. He had indignation, of course, but it did not take the form of ranting or florid eloquence, and this repression was making its appeal to Hal, who, in spite of his democratic impulses, had the habits of thought of a class which shrinks from noisiness and overemphasis. Also Hal was interested in his attitude towards the weaknesses of working people, the inertia of the poor, which caused so many people to despair for them, their cowardice and instability. These were things about which Hal had heard all his life. You can't help them, people would say. They're dirty and lazy. They drink and shirk. They betray each other. They've always been like that. The idea would be summed up in a formula. You can't change human nature. Even Mary Burke, herself one of the working-class, spoke of the workers in this angry and scornful way. But Olson had faith in their manhood, and went ahead to awaken and teach them. To his mind the path was clear and straight. They must be taught the lesson of solidarity, as individuals there helpless in the power of the great corporations, but if they stand together, if they sell their labor as a unit, then they really count for something. He paused and looked at the other inquiringly. How do you feel about unions? Hal answered, They're one of the things I want to find out about. You hear this and that. There's so much prejudice on each side. I want to help the underdog, but I want to be sure of the right way. What other way is there? And Olson paused. To appeal to the tender hearts of the owners? Not exactly, but might one appeal to the world in general, to public opinion? I was brought up in American, and learned to believe in my country. I can't think, but there's some way to get justice. Maybe if the men were to go into politics. Politics! cried Olson. My God, how long have you been in this place? Only a couple of months. Well, stay till November and see what they do with the ballot boxes in these camps. I can imagine, of course, no, you can't, any more than you could imagine the graft and the misery. But if the men should take to voting together, how can they take to voting together, when anyone who mentions the idea goes down the canyon? Why, you can't even get naturalization papers, unless you're a company man. They won't register you, unless the boss gives you an OK. How are you going to make a start, unless you have a union? It sounded reasonable, how had to admit, but he thought of the stories he had heard about walking delegates, all the dreadful consequences of union domination. He had not meant to go in for unionism. Olson was continuing. We've had laws passed, a whole raft of laws about coal mining, the eight-hour law, the anti-script law, the company store law, the mind-sprinkling law, the check-wayman law. What difference has it made in North Valley that there are such laws on the statute books? Would you ever even know about them? Ah, now, said Hal, if you put it that way, if your movement is to have the law enforced, I'm with you. But how will you get the law enforced, except by a union? No individual man can do it. It's down the canyon with him, if he mentions the law. In Western City, our union people go to the state officials, but they never do anything, and why? They know we haven't got the men behind us. It's the same with the politicians as it is with the bosses. The union is a thing that counts. Hal found this an entirely new argument. People don't realize that idea, that men have to be organized to get their legal rights. And the other threw up his hands with a comical gesture. My God, if you want to make a list of the things that people don't realize about us miners. End of Section 28 Section 29 Olsen was eager to win Hal and went on to tell all the secrets of his work. He sought men who believed in unions and were willing to take the risk of trying to convert others. In each place he visited he would get a group together and would arrange some way to communicate with them after he left, smuggling in propaganda literature for distribution. So there would be the nucleus of an organization. In a year or two they would have such a nucleus in every camp, and then they would be ready to come into the open, calling meetings in the towns and in places in the canyons to which the miners would flock. So the flame of revolt would leap up. Men would join the movement faster than the companies could get rid of them and they would make a demand for their rights, backed with the threat of a strike throughout the entire district. You understand, added Olsen, we have a legal right to organize, even though the bosses disapprove. You need not stand back on that score. Yes, said Hal, but it occurs to me that as a matter of tactics it would be better here in North Valley if you chose some issue there's less controversy about, if, for instance, you'd concentrate on getting a checkwayman. The others smiled. We'd have to have a union to back the demand, so what's the difference? Well, argued Hal, there are prejudices to be reckoned with. Some people don't like the idea of a union. They think it means tyranny and violence. The organizer laughed. You aren't convinced, but that it does yourself, are you? Well, all I can tell you is, if you want to tackle the job of getting a checkwayman in North Valley, I'll not stand in your way. Here was an idea, a real idea. Life had grown dull for Hal since he had become a buddy, working in a place five feet high. This would promise livelier times. But was it a thing he wanted to do? So far he had been an observer of conditions in this cold camp. He had convinced himself that conditions were cruel, and he had pretty well convinced himself that the cruelty was needless and deliberate. But when it came to a question of an action to be taken, then he hesitated, and old prejudices and fears made themselves heard. He had been told that labor was turbulent and lazy, that it had to be ruled with a strong hand. Now was he willing to weaken the strong hand, to ally himself with those who fomented labor troubles? But this would not be the same thing, he told himself. This suggestion of Olsen's was different from trade unionism, which might be a demoralizing force leading the workers from one demand to another, until they were seeking to dominate industry. This would be merely an appeal to the law, a test of that honesty and fair dealing to which the company everywhere laid claim. If, as the bosses proclaimed, the workers were fully protected by the Czech Wayman law, if, as all the world was made to believe, the reason there was no Czech Wayman was simply because the men did not ask for one, why then there would be no harm done. If, on the other hand, a demand for a right that was not merely a legal right, but a moral right as well, if that were taken by the bosses as an act of rebellion against the company, well, how would understand a little more about the turbulence of labor? If, as Old Mike and Johansson and the rest maintained, the bosses would make your life one damn misery till you left, then he would be ready to make a few damn miseries for the bosses in return. "'It would be an adventure,' said Hal, suddenly. And the other laughed. It would that. "'You're thinking I'll have another Pine Creek experience,' Hal added. "'Well, maybe so, but I have to try things out for myself. You see, I've got a brother at home, and when I think about going in for revolution, I have imaginary arguments with him. I want to be able to say, I didn't swallow anybody's theories, I tried it for myself, and this is what happened.' "'Well,' replied the organizer, that's all right, but while you're seeking education for yourself and your brother, don't forget that I've already got my education. I know what happens to men who ask for a Czech wayman, and I can't afford to sacrifice myself proving it again.' "'I never asked you to,' laughed Hal. "'If I won't join your movement, I can't expect you to join mine. But if I can find a few men who are willing to take the risk of making a demand for a Czech wayman, that won't hurt your work, will it?' "'Sure not,' said the other. "'Just the opposite. They'll give me an object lesson to point to. There are men here who don't even know they have a legal right to a Czech wayman. There are others who know they don't get their weights, but aren't sure it's the company that's cheating them. If the bosses should refuse to let anyone inspect the weights, if they should go further and fire the men who ask it, well, there'll be plenty of recruits for my union local.' "'All right,' said Hal, "'I'm not setting out to recruit your union local, but if the company wants to recruit it, that's the company's affair.' And on this bargain the two shook hands. End of Section 29. Book 2. Sections 1 through 3 of King Cole. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. King Cole by Upton Sinclair. Book 2. The Serfs of King Cole. Section 1. Hal was now started upon a new career. Or full of excitements than that of stableman or buddy, with perils greater than those of falling rock or the hind feet of mules in the stomach. The inertia which overworked produces had not had time to become a disease with him. Youth was on his side, with its zest for more and yet more experience. He found it thrilling to be a conspirator, to carry about with him secrets as dark and mysterious as the passages of the mine in which he worked. But Jerry Minetti, the first person he told of Tom Olson's purpose in North Valley, was older in such thrills. The carefree look which Jerry was accustomed to wear vanished abruptly and fear came into his eyes. "'I know it comes some day,' he exclaimed. "'Trouble for me and Rosa.' "'How do you mean?' "'We get into it, get in sure. "'I say, Rosa, call yourself socialist. "'What good that do? No help any. "'No use to vote here. "'They don't count no socialist vote, only for joke. "'I say, got to have union, got to strike. "'But Rosa say, wait a little bit, save a little bit money, "'let children grow up. "'Then we help, no care if we no got any home.' "'But we're not going to start a union now,' objected Howe. "'I have another plan for the present.' Jerry, however, was not to be put at ease. "'No can wait,' he declared. "'Men no stand it. "'I say, it comes some day, quick, like blow up in mine. Somebody start fight, everybody fight.' And Jerry looked at Rosa, who sat with her black eyes fixed anxiously upon her husband. "'We get into it,' he said. Then Howe saw their eyes turn to the room where little Jerry and the baby were sleeping. Howe said nothing. He was beginning to understand the meaning of rebellion to such people. He watched with curiosity and pity the struggle that went on, a struggle as old as the soul of man, between the voice of self-interest, of comfort and prudence, and the call of duty, of the ideal. No trumpet sounded for this conflict, only the still small voice within. After a while Jerry asked what it was Howe and Olson had planned, and Howe explained that he wanted to make a test of the company's attitude toward the Czech Wayman law. Howe thought it a fine scheme. What did Jerry think?' Jerry smiled sadly. "'Yes, fine scheme for young feller, no-god family.' "'That's all right,' said Howe. "'I'll take the job. I'll be the Czech Wayman.' "'Got to have committee,' said Jerry. "'Commity, go see boss.' "'All right, but we'll get young fellows for that, too, men who have no families. Some of the fellows who live in the chicken-coups in Shantytown. They won't care what happens to them.' But Jerry would not share Howe's smile. No-god sense-nough them fellers. It makes sense to stick together. He explained that they would need a group of men to stand back of the committee. Such a group would have to be organized, to hold meetings in secret. It would be practically the same thing as a union, would be so regarded by the bosses and their spotters. And no organization of any sort was permitted in the camps. There had been some Serbians who had wanted to belong to a fraternal order back in their home country, but even that had been forbidden. If you wanted to ensure your life or your health, the company would attend to it and get the profit from it. For that matter you could not even buy a post office money order to send funds back to the old country. The post office clerk, who was at the same time a clerk in the company store, would sell you some sort of a store draft. So Howe was facing the very difficulties about which Olsen had warned him. The first of them was Jerry's fear. Yet Howe knew that Jerry was no coward. If any man had a contempt for Jerry's attitude it was because he had never been in Jerry's place. All I'll ask of you now is advice, said Howe. Give me the names of some young fellows who are trustworthy and I'll get their help without anybody suspecting you. You, my border, was Jerry's reply to this. So again, Howe was up against it. You mean that would get you into trouble? Sure. They know we talk. They know I talk socialism anyhow. They fire me, sure. How about your cousin, the pit boss, in number one? He no help. Maybe get fired himself. Say damn fool. Board check, wayman. All right, said Howe. Then I'll move away now, before it's too late. You can say I was a troublemaker and you turned me off. The Minettis sat gazing at each other, a mournful pair. They hated to lose their border, who was such good company and paid them such good money. As for Howe, he felt nearly as bad, for he liked Jerry and his girl-wife, and little Jerry, even the black-eyed baby, who made so much noise in interrupted conversation. No, said Jerry. I know run away. I do my share. That's all right, replied Howe. You do your share, but not just yet. You stay on in the camp and help Olson after I'm fired. We don't want the best men put out at once. So after further argument it was decided, and Howe saw little Rosa sink back in her chair and draw a deep breath of relief. The time for martyrdom was put off. Her little three-roomed cabin, her furniture and her shining pans, and her pretty white lace curtains, might be hers for a few weeks longer. End of section 1. Section 2. Howe went back to Remonitsky's boarding-house, a heavy sacrifice, but not without its compensations, because it gave him more chance to talk with the men. He and Jerry made up a list of those who could be trusted with the secret, the list beginning with the name of Mike Secoria. To be put on a committee and sent to interview a boss would appeal to old Mike as the purpose for which he had been put upon Earth. But they would not tell him about it until the last minute. For fear, less than his excitement, he might shout out the announcement the next time he lost one of his cars. There was a young Bulgarian miner named Resmok who worked near Howe. The road into this man's room ran up an incline, and he had hardly been able to push his empties up the grade. While he was sweating and straining at the task, Alex Stone had come along, and having a giant's contempt for physical weakness began to cuff him. The man raised his arm, whether in offense or to ward off the blow no one could be sure. But Stone fell upon him and kicked him all the way down the passage, pouring out upon him furious curses. Now the man was in another room, where he had taken out over forty carloads of rock and been allowed only three dollars for it. No one who watched his face when the pit-boss passed would doubt that this man would be ready to take his chances in a movement of protest. Then there was a man whom Jerry knew, who had just come out of the hospital, after contact with the butt-end of the camp-martial's revolver. This was a pole who, unfortunately, did not know a word of English. But Olsen, the organizer, had got into touch with another pole who spoke a little English and would pass the word on to his fellow countryman. Although there was a young Italian, rovetta, whom Jerry knew and whose loyalty he could vouch for. There was another person, Hal thought of, Mary Burke. He had been deliberately avoiding her of late. It seemed the one safe thing to do, although it seemed also a cruel thing, and left his mind ill at ease. He went over and over what had happened. How had the trouble got started? It is a man's duty in such cases to take the blame upon himself, but a man does not like to take blame upon himself, and he tries to make it as light as possible. Should Hal say that it was because he had been too officious that night in helping Mary where the path was rough? She had not actually needed such help. She was quite as capable on her feet as he. But he had really gone farther than that. He had had a definite sentimental impulse, and he had been a cad—he should have known all along that all this girl's discontent, all the longing of her starved soul, would become centered upon him, who was so different, who had had opportunity, who made her think of the poetry books. But here suddenly seemed a solution of the difficulty. Here was a new interest for Mary, a safe channel in which her emotions could run. A woman could not serve on a miner's committee, but she would be a good advisor, and her sharp tongue would be a weapon to drive others into line. Being aflame with this enterprise, Hal became impersonal, man-fashioned, and so fell into another sentimental trap. He did not stop to think that Mary's interest in the Czech Wayman movement might be conditioned in part by a desire to see more of him. Still less did it occur to him that he might be glad for a pretext to see Mary. No, he was picturing her in a new role, an activity more in-spiriting than cooking and nursing. His poetry book imagination took fire. He gave her a hope and a purpose, a pathway with a goal at the end. Had there not been women leaders in every great proletarian movement? He went to call on her and met her at the door of her cabin. "'Tis a cheer in sight to see, Joe Smith,' she said, and she looked him in the eye and smiled. "'The same to you, Mary Burke,' he answered. "'She was game,' he saw, she was going to be a good sport, but he noticed that she was paler than when he had seen her last. Could it be that these gorgeous Irish complexions ever faded? He thought that she was thinner, too. The old blue calico seemed less tight upon her.' Hal plunged into his theme. "'Mary, I had a vision of you today.' "'Of me, lad, what's that?' He laughed. "'I saw you with a glory in your face and your hair shining like a crown of gold. You were mounted on a snow-white horse and wore a robe of white, soft and lustrous, like Joan of Arc, or a leader in a suffrage parade. You were riding at the head of a host. I've still got the music in my ears, Mary.' "'Go on with, you lad. What's all this about?' "'Come in, and I'll tell you,' he said. So they went into the bare kitchen and sat in bare wooden chairs. Mary folding her hands in her lap like a child who has been promised a fairy story. "'Now, hurry,' said she, "'I want to know about this new dress you've given me. Are you tired of me old calico?' He joined in her smile. "'This is a dress you will weave for yourself, Mary, out of the finest threads of your own nature, out of courage and devotion and self-sacrifice. "'Sure, tis the poetry book again. But what is it you're really meaning?' He looked about him. "'Is anybody here?' "'Nobody.' But instinctively he lowered his voice as he told his story. There was an organizer of the big union in the camp, and he was going to rouse the slaves to protest. The laughter went out of Mary's face. "'Oh, it's that,' she said in a flat tone. The vision of the snow-white horse and the soft and lustrous robe was gone. "'You can never do anything of that sort here.' "'Why not?' "'Tis the men in this place. Don't you remember what I told you at Mr. Rafferty's? They're cowards.' "'Ah, Mary, it's easy to say that, but it's not so pleasant being turned out of your home. "'Do you have to tell me that?' She cried with sudden passion. "'Haven't I seen that?' "'Yes, Mary, but I want to do something.' "'Yes, and haven't I wanted to do something? Sure, I've wanted to bite off the noses of the bosses.' "'Well,' he laughed, "'we'll make that a part of our program.' But Mary was not to be lured into cheerfulness. Her mood was so full of pain and bewilderment that he had an impulse to reach out and take her hand again. But he checked that. He had come to divert her energies into a safe channel. We must waken these men to resistance, Mary. "'You can't do it, Joe, not the English-speaking men. The Greeks and the Bulgers, maybe, they're fighting at home, and they might fight here. But the Irish never, never. Them that had any backbone went out long ago. Them that stayed has been made into bootlicks. I know them, every man of them. They grumble and curse the boss, but then they think of the blacklist, and they go back and cringe at his feet. What such men want. Tis booze they want, and carousan with the rotten women in the cold towns, and sitting up all night winning each other's money with a greasy pack of cards. They take their pleasure where they find it, and tis nothing better they want. Then, Mary, if that's so, don't you see it's all the more reason for trying to teach them? If not for their own sakes, for the sake of their children. The children mustn't grow up like that. They're learning English at least. Mary gave a scornful laugh. Have you been up to that school? He answered no, and she told him there were a hundred and twenty children packed in one room, three in a seat, and solid all round the wall. She went on with swift anger. The school was supposed to be paid for out of taxes, but as nobody owned any property but the company, it was all in the company's hands. The school board consisted of Mr. Cartwright, the mine superintendent, and Jake Petrovich, a clerk in the store, and the preacher, the reverend Spraggs. Old Spraggs would bump his nose on the floor of the super, told him to. Now, now, said Howe, laughing, you're down on him because his grandfather was an orange man. End of section two. Section three. Mary Burke had been suckled upon despair, and the poison of it was deep in her blood. Howe began to realize that it would be as hard to give her a hope as to rouse the workers whom she despised. She was brave enough, no doubt, but how could he persuade her to be brave for men who had no courage for themselves? Mary, he said, in your heart you don't really hate these people. You know how they suffer, you pity them for it. You give their children your last scent when they need it. Ah, lad, she cried, and he saw tears suddenly spring into her eyes. Tis because I love them so that I hate them. Sometimes tis the bosses I would murder, sometimes tis the men. What is it you're wanting me to do? And then, even before he could answer, she began to run over the list of her acquaintances in the camp. Yes, there was one man Howe ought to talk to. He would be too old to join them, but his advice would be invaluable, and they could be sure he would never betray them. That was old John Edstrom, a swede from Minnesota, who had worked in this district from the time the mines had first started up. He had been active in the Great Strike eight years ago, and had been blacklisted, his four sons with him. The sons were scattered now to the four parts of the world, but the father had stayed nearby, working as a ranch hand and railroad laborer, until a couple of years ago, during a rush season, he had got a chance to come back into the mines. He was old, old, declared Mary, must be sixty. And when Howe remarked that that did not sound so frightfully aged, she answered that one seldom heard of a man being able to work in a coal mine at that age. In fact there were not many who managed to live to that age. Edstrom's wife was dying now, and he was having a hard time. To it not be fair to let such an old gentleman lose his job, said Mary, but at least he could give you good advice. So that evening the two of them went to call on John Edstrom, in a tiny unpainted cabin in Shantytown, with a bare earth floor and a half partition of rough boards to hide his dying wife from his callers. The woman's trouble was cancer, and this made calling a trying matter, for there was a fearful odor in the place. For some time it was impossible for Howe to force himself to think about anything else, but finally he overcame this weakness, telling himself that this was a war, and that a man must be ready for the hospital as well as for the parade ground. He looked about and saw that the cracks of Edstrom's cabin were stopped with rags, and the broken window panes mended with brown paper. The old man had evidently made an effort to keep the place neat, and Howe noticed a row of books on a shelf. Because it was cold in these mountain regions at night, even in September, the old man had a fire in the little cast-iron stove and sat huddled by it. There were only a few hairs left on his head, and his scrubby beard was as white as anything could be in a cold camp. The first impression of his face was of its pallor, and then of the benevolence in the faded dark eyes. Also his voice was gentle, like a caress. He rose to greet his visitors, and put out to Howe a trembling hand, which resembled the paw of some animal, horny and misshapen. He made a move to draw up a bench, and apologize for his unskillful housekeeping. It occurred to Howe that a man might be able to work in a coal mine at sixty, and not be able to work in it at sixty-one. Howe had requested Mary to say nothing about his purpose until after he had a chance to judge for himself. So now the girl inquired about Mrs. Edstrom. There was no news, the man answered. She was lying in a stupor, as usual. Dr. Barrett had come again, but all he could do was to give her morphine. No one could do any more, the doctor declared. Sure, he'd not know it if they could, sniffed Mary. He's not such a bad one when he's sober, said Edstrom, patiently. And how often is that, sniffed Mary again? She added, by way of explanation to Howe. He's a cousin of the super. Things were better here than in some places, said Edstrom. At Harvey's run, where he had worked, a man had got his eye hurt and had lost it through the doctor's instrument slipping. Broken arms and legs had been set wrong, and either the men had to go through life as cripples or go elsewhere and have the bones re-broken and reset. It was like everything else. The doctor was a part of the company machine, and if you had too much to say about him, it was down the canyon with you. You not only had a dollar a month taken out of your pay, but if you were injured and he came to attend you, he would charge whatever extra he pleased. And you have to pay, asked Howe. They take it off your account, said the old man. Sometimes they take it when he's done nothing at all, added Mary. They charged Mrs. Zamboni $25 for her last baby, and Dr. Barrett never set foot across her door till three hours after the baby was in my arms. End of section three.