 Section 1 of Mother Earth No. 3. The month of May is a grinning satire on the mode of living of human beings of the present day. The May sun, with its magic warmth, gives life to so much beauty, so much value. The dead grayish brown of the forests and woods is transformed into a rich intoxicating, delicate fragrant green. Golden sun rays lure flowers and grass from the soil, and kiss branch and tree into blossom and bloom. Tillers of their soil are beginning their activity with plough, shovel, rake, breaking the firm grip of grim winter upon the earth, so that the mild spring warmth may penetrate her breast and coax into growth and maturity the seeds lying in her womb. A great festival seems at hand for which Mother Earth has adorned herself with garments of the richest and most beautiful hues. What does civilized humanity do with all this wonder? It speculates with it. Users who gamble with the necessities of life will take possession of nature's gifts, of wheat and corn, fruit and flowers, and will carry on a shameless trade with them, while millions of toilers both in country and city will be permitted to partake of the earth's riches only in medicinal doses and at exorbitant prices. Today's generous promise to mankind that they were to receive in abundance is being broken and undone by the existing arrangements of society. The spring sins it's glad tidings to man through the jubilant songs that stream from the throats of her feathered messengers. Behold, they sing, I have such wealth to give away, but you know not how to take. You count and bargain and weigh and measure rather than feast at my heavily laden tables. You crawl about on the ground, bent by worry and dread, rather than drink in the free balmy air. The irony of May is neither cold nor hard. It contains a mild yet convincing appeal to mankind to finally break the power of the winter not only in nature but in our social life, to free itself from the hard and fixed traditions of a dead past. Section 1 of Mother Earth No. 3. Mother Earth No. 3, Section 2, N.V. by Walt Whitman. When I pursue the conquered fame of heroes and the victories of mighty generals, I do not envy the generals, nor the president in his presidency, nor the rich in his great house. But when I hear of the brotherhood of lovers, how it was with them, how through life, through dangers, odium unchanging, long and long through youth, and through middle and old age, how unfaltering, how affectionate and faithful they were. Then I impensive. I hastily walk away, filled with a bitter Stenvy. Section 3 of Mother Earth No. 3. A young man had an ideal which he cherished as the most beautiful and greatest treasure he had on earth. He promised himself never to part with it, come what might. His surroundings, however, repeated from more until night, that one cannot feed on ideals, and that one must become practical if he wishes to get on in life. When he attempted the practical, he realized that his ideal could never become reconciled to it. This at first caused him deep suffering, but he soon conceived a pleasant thought. Why should I expose my precious jewel to the vulgarity, coarseness and filth of a practical life? I will put it into a jewel case, and hide it in a secluded spot. From time to time, especially when business was bad, he stole over to the case containing his ideal, to delight in its splendor. Indeed, the world was shabby compared with that. Meanwhile, he married and his business began to improve. The members of his party had already begun to discuss the possibility of putting him up as a candidate for alderman. He visited his ideal at longer intervals now. He had made a very unpleasant discovery. His ideal had lessened in size and weight in proportion to the practical opulence of his mind. It grew old and full of wrinkles, which aroused his suspicions. After all, the practical people were right in making light of ideals. Did he not observe, with his own eyes, how his ideal had faded? It had been overlooked for a long time. Once more he stole over to the safety vault containing his ideal. It was at this time when he had suffered a severe business loss. With great yearning in his breast he lifted the cover of the case. He was worn from practical life and his heart and head felt heavy. He found the case empty. His ideal had vanished, evaporated. It dawned upon him that he had proven false to the ideal and not the ideal to him. Pity and sympathy have been celebrating a great feast within the last few weeks. When they look into the mirror of public opinion, they find their own reflex touchingly beautiful, big, very human. Want was about to commit self-destruction in abolishing poverty, tears and despair of suffering humanity forever. The heart of New York, the heart of the country, the heart of the entire world throbs for San Francisco. The press says so, at least. No doubt a large amount in checks and banknotes was sent to the city of the Golden Gate. Money in these days is the criterion of emotions and sentiments, so that the pity of one who gives ten thousand dollars must appear incomparably greater than the pity of one who contributes a small sum which was perhaps intended to buy shoes for the children or to pay the grocery bill. A large sum is always loud and boastful in the way it appears in the newspapers. The delicate tact and fine taste of the various editors see to it that the names of the donors of large sums be printed in heavy type. After all, not one every day, and in every large city observe the same phenomenon that has followed the disaster in San Francisco. Surely there were homeless, starved, disbared, wretched beings in San Francisco before the earthquake and the fire, yet the public's pity and sympathy hotly passed them by. An official sympathy and compassion had nothing but the police station and the workhouse to give them. And now, what is really being done now? Humanitarianism is exhibiting itself in a low and vulgar manner and superficiality and bad taste are stalking about in peacock fashion. The newspapers are full of praise for the bravery of the militia in their defensive property. A man was instantly shot as he walked out of a saloon with his arms full of champagne bottles, and another was shot for carrying off a sack of coffee, etc. How strange that the brave boys of the militia, who by the way had to be severely disciplined because of their beastly drunkenness, showed so much noble indignation against a few clumsy thieves. During the strikes and labor conflicts it is usually their mission to protect the property of skillful thieves. Legal thieves, of course. Only what is going to be the end of the great display of superficial sentimentality for this stricken city, and all around good deal, moneyed people, contractors, real estate speculators will make large sums of money. Indeed, it is not at all unlikely that within a few months good Christian capitalists will secretly thank their lord that he sent the earthquake. As an employer, the United States government is certainly tolerant and liberal, especially so far as the highly-immunative offices are concerned. The President, for instance, loves to deliver himself a moral sermons. Recently he spoke of the people who criticize government and society and breed discontent. He considers them dangerous and entertains little regard for them. He ought not to be blamed for that, since as the first clerk of the state it is his duty to represent its interests and dignity. The most ordinary business agent, though he may be convinced of the corruption of his firm, will take good care to keep this fact from the public. Business morals demand it. Besides, no one will expect or desire that the President should become a revolutionist. This would certainly be no gain of ours, nor would the state suffer harm. Surely there are enough professional politicians who do not lack talent for the calling of doorkeepers on a large scale. As to the moral sermons against the undesirable and obnoxious element, all that can be said from a practical standpoint is that their originality and wisdom are in no proportion to the salary the sermonizer receives. Competition among preachers of penitence and servility is almost as great as among patent medicine quacks. Four or five thousand a year can easily buy the services of a corpulent reverend gentleman of some prominence. The dangers of the first May, when France was to be ruined by the mob of socialists and anarchists, was very fantastically described by the Paris correspondents of the American newspapers. These gentlemen seem to have known everything. They discovered that the cause of the threatened revolution was to be found in the irresponsible good nature and kindness of the French government. Just show Satan anarchy a finger, and straight way he will seize the entire arm, especially M. Clemenceau was severely censured as being altogether too good a fellow to make a reliable minister. There he is with France near the abyss of a social revolution. That is the manner in which history is being manufactured for boarding school young ladies. The social revolution may come, but surely not because of the kindness or good nature of the government. France needed a newspaper boom for her elections. The Republic is in danger. For goodness sake, give us your vote on election day. In order that the citizens might feel the proper horror, trade union leaders, anarchists, and even a few royalistic scarecrows were arrested. At the same time the sympathy and devotion of the government for its people manifested itself in the reign of the military terror in the strike regions. The real seriousness of the situation, the correspondents failed to grasp. How could they, since they got their wisdom in the antechamber of the ministry? The revolutionary labour organisations care little for the good will or the Jesuit kindness of the authorities. They continue with their work, propagate the idea of direct action, and strengthen the anti-military movement, the result of which is already being felt among the soldiers and officers. The officer who jumped upon the platform at the birth du travail, expressing his solidarity with the workers and declaring that he would not fire on them, was immediately arrested. But this will only influence others to follow the good example. In the old fables the line is described as supreme judge and not the mule or the weather. In Cleveland things are different. Several weeks ago Olga Nether Sol gave a performance of Saffo there, whereupon the police felt moved to perform an operation on the play for moral reasons of course. The staircase scene was ordered to be left out altogether. Ye poor, deraved artists. How low ye might sink! Were the police in Comstock not here to watch over the moral qualities of your productions? If one observes one of these prosaic fellows on the corner, terribly bored, and with his entire intellect concentrated on his club, and how out of pure ennui he is constantly recapitulating the number of his brass buttons, one can hardly realise that such an individual has been entrusted with the power to decide the fate of an artistic production. 1792 The French people marched through the streets singing. Oh, what is it the people cry? They ask for all equality. The poor no more shall be the slavish misery the idle rich shall flee. Oh, what is it the people need? They ask for bread and iron and lead. The iron to win our pay, the lead our foes to slay, and bread our freads to feed. The soldiers at Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, who were ordered by their superiors to fire into a crowd of strikers, and wounded and killed innocent men and women, do not sing the carmenol. They sing, My country, tis of thee, sweet land of liberty. If the ruling powers continue to maintain peace and order with iron and blood, it may happen that the meaningless national hymn may be drowned by the carmenol, peeling forth like thunder from the throats of the masses. To the credit of human nature, be it said, it is not altogether hopeless. Since tyranny has existed, human nature has ever rebelled against it. Real slavery exists only when the oppressed consider their fate as something normal, something self-evident. There is greater security for tyranny in slavish thoughts, indifference, and pettiness than in cannons and weapons. The women of America are aroused as never before. They always are aroused to the defense of their firesides. Even those women who live in flats are awake to the need for defending the radiators or their gas stoves. It is inherent in the nature of women, it seems. Most of the women societies and clubs have spoken in no uncertain terms concerning the outrage that has been put upon the civilisation of this great country by the conduct of this man Gorky. And in fact, it is a thing not to be borne. As for me, I belong to the Women's Association for the Regulation of the Morals of Others, a society which is second to none in its activity and usefulness, but which has seen feet to defer its own discussion of this man Gorky's conduct until most of the other women societies have spoken. We have just had our meeting, and I think that if this man Gorky should read an account of our proceedings, he would certainly get out of this outraged country with all the solidarity of which he is capable. But, of course, he is only a foreigner, after all, and probably will not comprehend the exquisite purity of our morals. I want to say that in our meetings we do not slavishly follow those parliamentary rules which men have made for their guidance, but allow ourselves some latitude in discussion, and we do not invite some man to come and do all the talking, as is the case in some women's clubs. Mrs. Blonderocks was in the chair. We began with an informal discussion of the best way of preventing the common people from dressing so as not to be distinguished from the upper classes. But there was no heart in the talk, for we all felt that it was only preliminary. It was my friend, Sarah Warner, who changed the subject. The Women's State Republican Association held its annual meeting at Delmonico's yesterday. She said, quietly drawing a newspaper clipping from her pocketbook, and had some men there to amuse them and to tell them what to do, said Mrs. Blonderocks with cutting irony. We all laughed heartily. We met at Mrs. Blonderocks's house, and she always provides a beautiful luncheon. But Mrs. Flynn said some things that I would like to read to you, said Sarah. It won't take long. I cut this out of the times this morning. What is it about? Someone asked. Gorky, Sarah answered, closing her eyes in a way to express volumes. You could hear all the members catch their breath. This was what they had come for. I broke the oppressive silence. I foresee, I said, that in the discussion of this subject there will be said things likely to bring a blush to the chick of innocence, and I move that all unmarried women under the age of twenty-five be excluded from the meeting for as long as this man is under discussion. A fierce cry of rage rose from all parts of the crowded room. I did not understand. I could see no one who could be affected by the rule. Mrs. Blonderocks raised her hand to command silence and said coldly, The motion is out of order. By a special provision of our constitution, it is the inalienable right of all unmarried women to be under twenty-five. We will be as careful in our language as the subject will permit. Mrs. Warner will please read the words of Mrs. Flint. I was shocked to think I had made such a mistake. Sarah rose and read in a clear, sharp voice from the clipping. Should not we as women take some action against this man, people of such character should not be allowed in this country. Of course, when he arrived it was not known how he was living, but he came here and expected to be received, and I think he should be deported. Gorky is the embodiment of socialism. Everybody applauded violently. I was puzzled and asked a question as soon as I could make myself heard. Suppose Gorky is a socialist, I said. What has that to do with his morals? Everything, replied Mrs. Blonderocks hotly. Socialists don't believe in marriage, said Sarah Warner, taking another clipping from her pocketbook and reading, Mrs. Cornelia Robinson said. When the question of uniform divorce law is taken up, we shall find that the socialists are against it as a body. It is not that they are opposed to divorce, but they do not believe in marriage. And does she know? I asked. Would she say it publicly if it were not true? Demanded Mrs. Blonderocks, glaring disapprovingly at me. I rose to my feet. I will say for myself that my desire for knowledge is greater even than my shyness, and usually overcomes it. I want to make a motion, I said, that this man Gorky be deported. Loud applause. But before doing so, I would like someone to explain in us plain words as the nature of the subject will permit, just what he has been guilty of. Dead silence, broken by a voice saying, He's a foreigner. I'll tell you what he has done, cried Sarah Warner. He came into this country pretending that the woman who was with him was his wife. He allowed her to be registered at the hotel as his wife. He permitted her to sleep under the same roof with pure men and women I would like to ask Mrs. Warner, said the lady in a remote corner of the room, if she will vouch for the purity of the men. Perhaps, said Mrs. Blonderocks gravely, it will be better if the word man be stricken from the record. Do you object, Mrs. Warner? It was a slip of the tongue, Sarah answered, and I am grateful to the member who called attention to it, though I will say that I think there are some pure men. We are discussing Gorky now, said Mrs. Blonderocks with an indulgent smile. True, answered Sarah, beaming back at the chairwoman, and I was saying that he had subjected the pure women of the hotel to the unspeakable indignity of having to sleep under the same roof with a woman he called his wife. I would like to ask, I interposed timidly, if it is right for a woman to sleep under the same roof with an impure man, or is it only an impure woman who is injurious? A woman has to sleep under some roof, gave me in the voice of the woman in the corner. I think Mrs. Grant would show better taste if she did not press such a question, said another voice. Will Mrs. Warner be good enough to describe the exact status, I think status is right, of the woman he tried to pass as his wife? She was his, Sarah had a fit of cuffing. She was not his wife, I do not care to be more explicit. Perhaps, I said, groping for light, it would be better if I made my emotion read that she should be deported from the country since it is here immorality that counts. And let those republican association women stand for more morality than we do? cried Mrs. Blonderocks. No, you cannot make your emotion too strong. Oh, then, I said with a sigh of relief, I will move that Gorky and all other men, immoral in the same way, shall be deported from the country. Then who is to take care of us women? demanded the voice in the corner. Do be reasonable Margaret, said Sarah Warner. We can't drive all the men out of the country, and don't want to, but we can fix a standard of morals to astonish the world, and there could be no better way than by making an example of this man Gorky. Don't you see that he's a foreigner, and can't very well know that our men are just as bad as he is? Besides, isn't he a socialist? We would have been willing to condone his relations with that woman if only he'd hid them respectively, as our men do, but to come here with his free ideas. Well, I'm willing to let the Russians have all the freedom they want, and I would have given my might towards stirring up trouble over there, but we have all the freedom we want over here, and a little more too, if I know anything about it. Very well, I replied. I will withdraw the motion, and make one to have a committee appointed to investigate the matter and find out the whole truth about it. What is there to find out? demanded Sarah aghast. Well, you know he insists that she's his wife. Maybe she is by Russian law or custom. Perfectly absurd, his own wife and he separated because they couldn't be happy together. Was ever anything more ridiculous? As if happiness has anything to do with marriage, said the voice from the corner. Everybody laughed and applauded, as if something very funny had been said. Well, anyhow, I insisted, for I can be obstinate when the thing isn't clear to me. If they both thought they were justified in calling themselves men and wife, and if the people in Russia thought so too, why would we make any fuss about it? Pardon me, Mrs. Grant, said Mrs. Blunderhock's wavely. If I say that your words are very silly. In the first place, the Russians are barbarians. As we all know, and in the next place, the law is the law, and the law says that a man may not have two wives. A man who does is a bigamist. A man who has a wife and yet lives with another woman is an adulterer. Pardon me for using such a word, but it was forced from me. Now, this man Gorky, who may be a very great genius for all I know, I never read any of his stuff. But he isn't above the law, not above the moral law anyhow, and the moral law is the same all over the world. He says he and his wife parted because they were unhappy together, which is a very flimsy excuse for immorality. Then he says that his wife is living now with a man she loves and is happy with. Which makes a bad mother worse, interposed Sarah Warner. No one has any business to be happy in immorality. What is immorality for, demanding the voice from the corner, if it isn't to make people unhappy? Everybody screamed with laughter over that, and Mrs. Blunderrocks went so far as to raise her eyebrows at Sarah Warner who bit her lip to keep from smiling. But, said I, for I had been reading the papers too, he says the reason they were not divorced was because the church would not permit it. If the laws of his country were opposed to this divorce, said Mrs. Blunderrocks triumphantly, all the more reason why he should be ashamed of living with this actress in such an open, defined way. The church has nothing to do with divorces in this country, I said, yet many of our best people are divorced. The law permits it, said Mrs. Blunderrocks curtly. Who makes the law, I asked, determined to get at the bottom of the thing if I could. The people through the legislature was the prompt answer. Well, I said, very timidly, not knowing, but I was quite in the wrong, it seems that the people of Russia not being able to make laws, nevertheless, recognize the separation of a man and his wife as proper, and permit them to take other husbands and wives without loss of standing. A law's a law, said Sarah sternly, and a law should be sacred. The very idea of anybody pretending to be above the law, like this man Gorky, I would like to know what would become of the whole institution of matrimony, if it could be trifled with in such a fashion. You want Russia to be free from the rule of the Tsar, don't you? I asked. Certainly, he is a tyrant and an irresponsible weakling, unfit to govern a great people. Of course we want Russia to be free. The people of Russia are entitled to be free, to govern themselves. Do you think they ought to be allowed to make their own laws? I asked. Of course. Then why do you say that Gorky is not properly divorced from his first wife and married to his second? The people of Russia approve. Margaret Grant, cried Sarah, outraged and voicing the horror of the other members. I sometimes wonder if you have any respect at all for the law. How can you speak as you do? If men and women could dispense with the law in that way, what would become of society? But this state used to permit men and women to live together without any ceremony and so become man and wife, I said. Well, we don't permit it now, retorted Sarah grimly. If they want to live together now, cried the voice from the corner, they must pretend they don't, even if everybody knows they do. Some of the members laughed at that, but Mrs. Blunderhock thought that was going too far and said so in her coldest manner. I see nothing funny in that. We cannot change the natures of men, but we can insist upon their hiding, their baser conduct, and their degraded portions of their lives from our view. But, said I, Gorky evidently considers this woman his wife and had no idea that anybody would think otherwise. The point is, said Sarah Warner in exasperation, and I think I voiced the sentiments of this organisation that she was not legally divorced from his first wife and that therefore he cannot be legally married to this woman. A law is a law no matter who makes it. The law is sacred and must not be tampered with. How about the Supreme Court and divorces in Dakota? Demanded the voice from the corner. A dead silence fell on the meeting. Some of the members looked at each other and showed signs of hysterics. Mrs. Blunderhock flushed a withering glance at the corner, but rose to the occasion. Ladies, she said in a solemn tone. I deeply regret that this subject has been touched upon in a spirit of levity. It was my intention, at the proper time, to introduce the resolution of sympathy for those ladies who have been so summarily, and I may say brutally unmarried, by the unfilling wretches who seat upon the bench of the Supreme Court. It is awful to think that our highly respected sisters, whose wealth alone should have protected them, have been told by the highest court in the land that they have been living in shame all this time and that their children are not legitimate. Ladies, I call your attention to the fact that many of our own members are thus branded by those judges. It is infamous. It is more than infamous. It is a reason why women should sit on the judicial bench. Yes, I said. It seems impossible for men to comprehend the mental or emotional processes of women. True? Too true, murmured our president, giving me a look of gratitude. I remember how the men of this country cried out against us a few years ago, because they could not understand why we sent flowers and tender letters to a poor, handsome negro who had first outraged and then murdered a woman. Yes, I said. And no doubt they will pretend not to understand our indignation against this man, Gorky, who thinks the customs of his own country justify him his terrible conduct. But we must be careful how we word our condemnation of this man, that he should somehow learn of what our Supreme Court has so wickedly done and retort on us that these are wealthiest and most respected citizens. Not being legally divorced, and hence, not being legally married again, are no better than he and his so-called wife. The ladies looked at each other in consternation. Evidently, the thought had not suggested itself to them. Mrs. X, Y, Z, Osterbilt, Ney Klubel, Rose, and in a voice choked with emotion, said, Speaking for myself, as well as for some of the other ladies, members of this organization, who are temporarily Declassee, so to speak, by this decree of the Supreme Court, I beg that you will do nothing to call undue attention to us until we have arranged matters so that our wealth will enable us to have that legislation, which is necessary to make us respectable women again. Is it true, I asked, that you have sent an invitation to Madame Andreyeva to meet you to discuss the steps to be taken to reinstate yourselves? It is true, but the extraordinary creature returned word that as a lady of good standing in her own country, she did not feel that she could afford to associate with women whom the courts of this country held to be living in shame. Did you ever, cried Mrs. Blunderhox, but it shows us that we must be careful. Mrs. Grant, you have had experience in such matters. Suppose you retire and draw up a set of resolutions that will not expose us to the ribbed and unsimely comments of the light-minded. Of course I accepted the task, fully realizing its gravity, and following is the resolution I brought back with me. Whereas Maxim Gorky recognized in the world of letters as a man of genius, and in the world at large as a man of great soul, high purpose and pure nature, having come to this country accompanied by a lady whom he considers and treats as his wife, and whereas they're wealthy and therefore the better classes tumbled all over themselves in order to exploit him as a lion, and whereas he had not the wisdom and craft and sense of puritanical respectability to pretend that he did not know the lady he believed his wife, and to whom he believes himself united by a law higher than that of man, and whereas he was guileless enough to believe he had come to a free country where purity of motive and of conduct would take precedence of hollow and rotten forms, and whereas he did not know that the American people practiced polygamy secretly while condemning it in words, and that the United States Senate has been nearly two years in pretending to try to find a polygamist in their midst, and whereas he was so in judicious as to come here with a defective divorce just at a time when our Supreme Court was making the divorce of some of us the gilded favorites of fortune defective and whereas he had the audacity to proclaim himself a socialist which is the same thing as saying that he is opposed to special privilege and is in favor of the abolition of property in land and in the tools of labor in other and plainer words is against us and whereas he is only a foreigner anyhow and no longer available as a toy and plaything for us therefore be it resolved that this man Gorky be used as a means of proclaiming our extraordinary virtue to the world at large as a robber cries stop thief in order to direct attention from himself that accordingly he be treated with the atmosphere tragedy's discordancy and hounded from hotel to hotel on the ground that such places by no chance harbor men and women unless they have passed through the matrimonial mill that we withdraw our patronage from the revolution in Russia not being seriously interested in it anyhow and that we will show our contempt for revolutionary patriots by entertaining the rottenest grudge juke in Russia if only he will come over to us bringing his whole harm if he wish that he is a reproach to us while he remains in this country and that it is the sense of this great organization that he and the lady who is his wife in the highest sense shall be deported the resolution was not passed i have been expelled from the association end of section four section five of mother earth number three this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Larry Wilson mother earth number three section five comrade by Maxim Gorky translated from the french translation by S. Persky published in Laure Paris all in that city was strange incomprehensible churches in great number pointed their many tinted steeples toward the sky in gleaming colors but the walls and the chimneys of the factories rose still higher and the temples were crushed between the massive facades of commercial houses like marvelous flower sprung up among the ruins out of the dust and when the bells called the faithful to prayer their brazen sounds sliding along the iron roofs vanished leaving no traces in the narrow gaps which separated the houses they were always large and sometimes beautiful these dwellings deformed people ciphers ran about like gray mice in the tortuous streets from morning till evening and their eyes full of covetousness looked for bread or for some distraction other men placed at the crossways watched with a vigilant and ferocious air that the weak should without murmuring submit themselves to the strong the strong were the rich everyone believed that money alone gives power and liberty all wanted power because all were slaves the luxury of the rich begot the envy and hate of the poor no one knew any finer music than the ring of gold that is why each was the enemy of his neighbor and cruelty reigned mistress sometimes the sun shone over the city but life therein was always one and the people like shadows at night they lit a mass of joyous lights and then famishing women went out into the streets to sell their caresses to the highest bidder everywhere floated in odor of victuals and the sullen and voracious look of the people grew over the city hovered a groan of misery stifled without strength to make itself heard everyone led an irksome and quiet life a general hostility was the rule a few citizens only considered themselves just but these were the most cruel and the ferocity provoked that of the herd all wanted to live but no one knew or could follow freely the pathway of his desires like an insatiable monster the present enveloped in its powerful and vigorous arms the man who marched toward the future and in that slimy embrace sapped away his strength full of anguish and perplexity the man paused powerless before the hideous aspect of this life with its thousands of eyes infinitely sad in their expression it looked into his heart asking him for it knew not what and then the radiant images of the future died in his soul a groan out of the powerlessness of the man mingled in the discordant chorus of lamentations and tears from poor human creatures tormented by life tedium and in quietude reigned everywhere and sometimes terror and the dull and somber city the stone buildings atrociously lined one against the other shutting in the temples were four men of prison rebuffing the rays of the sun and the music of life was smothered by the cry of suffering and rage by the whisper a disimulated hate by the threatening bark of cruelty by the voluptuous cry of violence in the solan agitation caused by trial and suffering in the feverish struggle of misery in the vile slime of egoism in the subsoils of the houses where invigilated poverty the creator of riches solitary dreamers full of faith in man strangers to all prophets of seditions moved about like sparks issued from some far off hearthstone of justice secretly they brought into these wretched holes tiny fertile seeds of a doctrine simple and grand and sometimes rudely with lightnings in their eyes and sometimes mild and tender they sewed this clear and burning truth in the somber hearts of these slaves transformed into mute blind instruments by the strength of the rapacious by the will of the cruel and these solan beings these oppressed ones listened without much belief to the music of the new words the music for which their hearts had long been waiting little by little they lifted up their heads and tore the meshes of the web of lies wherewith their oppressors had unwound them in their existence made up of silent and contained rage in their hearts envenomed by a numberless wrongs in their consciences encumbered by the dupings of the wisdom of the strong in this dark and laborious life all penetrated with the bitterness of humiliation had resounded a simple word comrade it was not a new word they had heard it and pronounced it themselves but until then it had seemed to them void of sense like all other words dulled by usage and which one may forget without losing anything but now this word strong and clear had another sound a soul was singing in it the facets of it shown brilliant as a diamond the wretched accepted this word and at first uttered it gently quaddling it in their hearts like a mother rocking her newborn child and admiring it and the more they searched the luminous soul of the word the more fascinating it seemed to them comrade they said and they felt that this word had come to unite the whole world to lift all men up to the summits of liberty and bind them with new ties the strong ties of mutual respect respect for the liberties of others in the name of one's own liberty when this word had engraved itself upon the hearts of the slaves they ceased to be slaves and one day they announced their transformation to the city in this great human formula I will not then life was suspended for it is they who are the motor force of life they and no other the water supply stopped the fire went out the city was plunged in darkness the masters began to tremble like children fear invaded the hearts of the oppressors suffocating in the fumes of their own dejection disconcerted and terrified by the strength of the revolt they dissimulated the rage which they felt against it the phantom of famine rose up before them and their children wailed plaintively in the darkness the houses and the temples enveloped in shadow melted into an inanimate chaos of iron and stone a menacing silence filled the streets with the clammyness as of death life ceased for the force which created it had become conscious of itself an enslaved humanity had found the magic and invincible word to express its will it had enfranchised itself from the yoke with its own eyes it had seen its night the night of the creator these days were days of anguish to the rulers to those who considered themselves the masters of life each night was as long as thousands of nights so thick was the gloom so timidly shown the few fires scattered through the city and then the monster city created by the centuries gorge with human blood showed itself in all its shameful weakness it was but a pitiable mass of stone and wood the blind windows of the houses looked upon the street with a cold and sullen air and out on the highway marched with valiant step the real masters of life they too were hungry more than the others perhaps but they were used to it and the suffering of their bodies was not so sharp as the suffering of the old masters of life it did not extinguish the fire in their souls they glowed with the consciousness of their own strength the presentiment of victory sparkled in their eyes they went about in the streets of the city which had been their narrow and somber prison wherein they had been overwhelmed with contempt wherein their souls had been loaded with abuse and they saw the great importance of their work and thus was unveiled to them the sacred right they had to become the masters of life its creators and its law-givers and the life-giving word of union presented itself to them with a new face with a blinding clearness comrade there among lying words it rang out boldly as the joyous harbinger of the time to come of a new life open to all in the future far or near they felt that it depended upon them whether they advanced towards liberty or themselves deferred its coming the prostitute who by the evening before was but a hungry beast sadly waiting on the muddy pavement to be accosted by someone who would buy her caresses the prostitute too heard this word but was undecided whether to repeat it a man the like of whom she had never seen till then approached her laid his hands upon her shoulder and said to her in an affectionate tone comrade and she gave a little embarrassed smile ready to cry with the joy her wounded heart experienced for the first time tears of pure gaiety shown in her eyes which the night before had looked at the world with a stupid and insolent expression of a starving animal in all the streets of the city the outcast celebrated the triumph of their reunion with the great family of workers of the entire world and the dead eyes of the houses looked on with an air more and more cold and menacing the beggar to whom the night before an elbow was thrown price of the compassion of the well fed the beggar also heard this word and it was the first alms which aroused a feeling of gratitude in his poor heart gnawed by misery a coachman a great big fellow whose patron struck him that their blows might be transmitted to his thin flanked weary horse this man embroidered by the noise of wheels upon the pavement said smiling to the passerby well comrade he was frightened at his own words he took the reins in his hands ready to start and looked at the passerby the joyous smile not yet a face from his big face the other cast a friendly glance at him and answered shaking his head thanks comrade i will go on foot i am not going far ah the fine fellow exclaimed the coachman enthusiastically he stirred in his seat winking his eyes gaily and started off somewhere with a great clatter the people went in groups crowded together on the pavements and the great word destined to unite the world burst out more and more often among them like a spark comrade a policeman bearded fierce and filled with consciousness of his own importance approached the crowd surrounding an old orator at the corner of the street and after having listened to the discourse he said slowly assemblages are interdicted disperse and after a moment silence lowering his eyes he added in a lower tone comrades the pride of young combatants was depicted in the faces of those who carried the word in their hearts who had given it flesh and blood and the appeal to union one felt that the strength they so generously poured into this living word was indestructible inexhaustible here and there blind troops of armed men dressed in gray gathered informed ranks in silence it was the fury of the oppressors preparing to repulse the wave of justice and in the narrow streets of the immense city between the cold and silent walls raised by the hands of ignored creators the noble belief in man and in fraternity grew and ripened comrade sometimes in one corner sometimes in another the fire burst out soon this fire would become the conflagration destined to incandle the earth with the ardent sentiment of kinship uniting all its peoples destined to consume and reduce to ashes the rage hate and cruelty by which we are mutilated the conflagration which will embrace all hearts melt them into one the heart of the world the heart of beings noble and just into one united family of workers in the streets of the dead city created by slaves in the streets of the city where cruelty reigned faith in humanity and in victory over south and over the evil of the world grew and ripened and in the vague chaos of a dull and troubled existence a simple word profound as the heart shown like a star like a light guiding toward the future comrade into section five section six of mother earth number three this is a libravox recording all libravox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org mother earth number three section six alexander berkman by e g on the 18th of this month the workhouse at hoboken pennsylvania will open its iron gates for alexander berkman one buried alive for 14 years will emerge from his tomb that was not the intention of those who indicted berkman in the kindness of their christian hearts they saw to it that he be sentenced to 21 years in the penitentiary and one year in the workhouse hoping that that would equal a death penalty only with a slow refined execution to achieve the feat of sending a man to a gradual death the authorities of pittsburgh at the command of mammon trampled upon their much beloved laws and the legality of court proceedings these laws in pennsylvania call for seven years imprisonment for the attempt to kill but that did not satisfy the law abiding citizen hc frick he saw to it that one indictment was multiplied into six he knew full well that he would meet with no opposition from petrified injustice and the servile stupidity of the judge and jury before whom alexander berkman was tried in looking over the events of 1892 and the causes that led up to the act of alexander berkman one beholds mammon seated upon a throne built of human bodies without a trace of sympathy on its gorgon brow for the creature it controls these victims bent and worn with the reflex of the glow of the steel and iron furnaces in their haggard faces carry their sacrificial offerings to the ever insatiable monster capitalism in its greed however it reaches out for more it neither sees the gleam of hate in the sunken eyes of its slaves nor can it hear the murmurs of discontent and rebellion coming forth from their heaving breasts yet discontent continues until one day it raises its mighty voice and demands to be heard human conditions higher pay fewer hours in the inferno at homestead the stronghold of the philanthropist carnage he was far away however enjoying a much needed rest from hard labor in scotland his native country besides he knew he had left a worthy representative in hc frick who could take care that the voice of discontent was strangled in a fitting manner and mr carnage had judged rightly frick who was quite experienced in the art of disposing of rebellious spirits he had had a number of them shot in the coke regions in 1890 immediately issued an order for pinkerton men the vilest creatures in the human family who are engaged in the trade of murder for two dollars per day the strikers declared that they would not permit these men to land but money and power walk shrewd and cunning paths the pinkerton bloodhounds were packed into a boat and were to be smuggled into homestead by way of water in the stillness of night the amalgamated steelworkers learned of this contemptible trick and prepared to meet the foe they gathered by the shores of the monongahela river armed with sticks and stones but ere they had time for an attack a violent fire was opened from the boat that neared the shore and within an hour eleven strikers lay dead from the bullets of fricks hirelings every beast is satisfied when it has devoured its prey not so the human beast after the killing of the strikers hc frick had the families of the dead evicted from their homes which had been sold to the working men on the installment plan and at the exorbitant prices usual in such cases out of these homes the wives and children of the men struggling for a living wage were thrown into the street and left without shelter there was one exception only a woman who had given birth to a baby two days previous and who regardless of her delicate condition defended her home and succeeded in driving the sheriff from the house with a poker everyone stood aghast at such brutality at such inhumanity to man in this great free republic of ours it seemed as if the cup of human endurance had been filled to the brim as if out of the ranks of the outraged masses someone would rise to call those to account who had caused it all and someone rose in mighty indignation against the horrors of wealth and power it was alexander berkman a youth with a vision of a grand and beautiful world based upon freedom and harmony and with boundless sympathy for the suffering of the masses one whose deep sensitive nature could not endure the barbarisms of our times such was the personality of the man who staked his life as a protest against tyranny and iniquity and such has alexander berkman remained all these long dreary fourteen years nothing was left undone to crush the body and spirit of this man but sorrow and suffering make for sacred force and those who have never felt it will fail to realize how it is that alexander berkman will return to those who loved and esteemed him to those whom he loved so well and still loved so well the oppressed and downtrodden millions with the same intense sweet spirit and with a clearer and grander vision of a world of human justice and equality end of section six recording by steven harvey section seven of mother earth number three this is a libravox recording all libravox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org recording by larry wilson mother earth number three section seven utsintimentum faceris itemetes bivolterine de claire to the czar on a woman a political prisoner being flogged to death in cyberia how many drops must gather to the skies before the cloudburst comes we may not know how hot the fires under hell's must glow air the volcano scalding lavas rise can none say but all what the hour is sure who dreams of vengeance has but to endure he may not say how many blows must fall how many lives be broken on the wheel how many corpses stiffened beneath the pawl how many martyrs fix the blood red seal but certain is the harvest time of hate and when weak moans by an indignant world re-echoed to a throne or backward hurled who listens hears the mutterings of fate into section seven section eight of mother earth number three this is a libravox recording all libravox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org recording by rob marland mother earth number three section eight the white terror one the flogging of a student by an eyewitness m kirilov of the russ december 18th near the gorbatty bridge moscow a group of soldiers of various arms and an officer great animation jokes cries gesticulation contented faces a student has fallen into their hands well boys make room says the officer the performance begins take off your trousers says the officer turning to the student the latter is pale silent and doesn't move trousers off cries the officer in rage but the student without a drop of blood in his face whiter than the snow doesn't move but only looks around in silence with horrified eyes and meets everywhere the triumphant faces of his tormentors he drops his head and remains silent as before well then boys we must assist our dear student his hands poor thing of frost bitten and do not obey the voice of the officer changes it becomes sweet and smooth he looks at the student with pleasure take off his dear little trousers he orders his soldiers the latter unbuttoned and tear down his trousers the student doesn't resist then he's thrown on the ground give him beans boys two powerfully built soldiers step forward holding whips in their hands the flogging begins it lasts a long time accompanied by loud laughter jokes and noise the student is silent all the time and lies with his face buried in the snow he is constantly being asked whether he feels all right and is kicked with the boots on his head halt cries the officer at last when the whole body of the student has been covered with blood the excited soldiers don't leave off at once but continue for some time at last they stop please sir won't you allow us too to have a little game smilingly ask a couple of artillery soldiers saluting the officer well have a go at him says the officer kindly the second shift gets to work and turning up their sleeves takes over the bloody whips and resumes the flogging of the student who still as before is lying in the snow without uttering a word only his body still thrills instinctively as the soldiers get more and more excited and the blows become more and more frequent sir we too want some of the lark impatiently interfered some of the dragoons and having received the permission of the officer substituted themselves for the artillery men and with new force and zeal began to flog the student who still lay strictly as before only his body scarcely moving well here you are you got your higher education all the three faculties somebody joked as the flogging at last stopped and the student lay motionless in the snow but he was not flogged to death he was taken to the other side of the river and their shot two lieutenant schmidt of the savastopol mutiny after being captured from a letter received by professor meliakov from a lady correspondent who saw schmidt in the fortress and had the tail from his own lips he only remembers how the officers of the rosty slavle posted him naked with a broken leg between two centuries in their mess room and approached him in turns shaking their fists in his face and abusing him in the vilest terms schmidt's son who for some unaccountable reason had been kept in fortress for two months said to me i cannot tell you how they abused my father the terms are unpronounceable schmidt himself spoke to me sobbingly of the painful treatment meted out to him by the officers for 24 hours the two of them father and son were kept stark naked and without food under a fierce electric light on the open deck they lay together pressing against each other so as to warm themselves and everyone who passed looked at them and those who wanted abused them when schmidt being wounded asked for a drop of water the senior officer shouted at him silence or i'll stop your gullet with my fist end of section eight section nine of mother earth number three this is a libravox recording all libravox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org recording by larry wilson mother earth number three section nine paternalistic government by theodore schroeder history serves no purpose to those who cannot are do not avail themselves of it as a means of learning helpful lessons for present use from a few sources not readily accessible to the masses i have copied a partial summary of paternalistic legislation which even the most devout devotees to mass or ruling class wisdom would now decline to defend it is helpful perhaps to look back to the persistent fallacious assumption that men can be made frugal and useful members of society by laws and edicts every thoughtful student feels sure that future generations will look upon our present efforts to regulate the self-regarding activities of humans with the same cynical leer as that which now flits over our faces as we read the following the earliest sumptuary law was passed 215 bc enacted that no woman should own more than half an ounce of gold or wear a dress of different colors or ride in a carriage in the city or in any town or within a mile of it unless on occasion of public sacrifices this law was repealed in 20 years in 181 bc a law was passed limiting the number of guests at entertainments in 161 bc it was provided that at certain festivals named the expense of entertainments should not exceed 100 asses and on 10 other days of each month should not exceed 10 asses later on it was allowed that 200 asses valued at about $300 be spent upon marriage days a statute under julian extended the privileges of extravagance on certain occasions to the equivalent of $10 and $50 upon marriage feasts under tiberius $100 was made the limit of expense for entertainments julia caesar proposed another law by which actual magistrates or magistrates elect should not dine abroad except at certain prescribed places sumptuary laws that is to say laws which profess to regulate minutely what people shall eat and drink what guests they shall entertain what clothes they shall wear what armor they shall possess what limit shall be put to their property what expense they shall incur at their funerals were considered by the early and middle ages as absolutely necessary for the proper government of mankind tiberius issued an edict against people kissing each other when they met and against tavern keepers selling pastry laya sirgus even prohibited finely decorated ceilings and doors in england the statutes of laborers residing the pestilence and scarcity of servants made it compulsory on every person who had no merchandise craft or land on which to live to serve at fixed wages otherwise to be committed to gale till he found assurities at a latter day all men between 12 and 60 not employed were compelled to hire themselves as servants in husbandry and unmarried women between 12 and 40 were also liable to be hired otherwise to be imprisoned all this of course was to compel people of modest wealth to remain among the laboring class purely for their own good but they were quite impartial in enforcing benefits since the star chamber also assumed to find persons for not accepting knighthood compulsion was also used at the time of the reformation to uphold the Protestant faith and keep people in the right way refusing to confess or receive the sacrament was first made subject to fine or imprisonment and a second offense was a felony punishable by death and involve forfeiture of land and goods those who having no lawful excuse failed to attend the parish church in the time of Elizabeth were fined 12 pence at that time a considerable sum this penalty was afterwards altered to 20 pounds a month but those were exempted who did not obstinately refuse the penalty on all above 16 who neglected to go for a month was abjuration of the realm and to return to the realm thereafter was felony and two-thirds of the rent of the offender's lands might also be seized till he conformed an ordinance of Edward III in 1336 prohibited any man having more than two courses at any meal each mess was to have only two sorts of victuals and it was prescribed how far one could mix sauce with his potage except on feast days when three courses at most were allowable the licensing law limited the quantity of meat to be used the Orsian law limited the expense of a private entertainment and the number of guests and for like reasons the censors degraded a senator because 10 pounds weight of silver plate was found in his house Julius Caesar was almost as good a reformer as our modern Puritans he restrained certain classes from using litters embroidered robes and jewels limited the extent of feasts enabled bailiffs to break into the houses of rich citizens and snatched the forbidden meats from off the tables and we are told that the markets warned with informers who profited by providing the guilt of all who bought and sold there so and Carthy Jalaw was passed to restrain the exorbitant expense of marriage feasts it having been found that the great Hanno took occasion of his daughter's marriage to feast and corrupt the Senate and the populace and gain them over to his designs the Venek court established by Charlemagne in Westphalia put every Saxon to death who broke his fast during Lent James II of Aragon in 1234 ordained that his subject should not have more than two dishes and each dressed in one way only unless it was game of his own killing the Statue of Deity in 1363 enjoined that servants of lords should have once a day flesh or fish and remnants of milk butter and cheese and above all plowmen were to eat moderately and the proclamations of Edward IV and Henry VIII used to restrain excess in eating and drinking all previous statutes as to abstaining from meat and fasting were repealed in the time of Edward VI by new enactments and in order that fishermen might live all persons were bound under penalty to eat fish on Fridays or Saturdays or in Lent the old in the sick accepted the penalty in Queen Elizabeth's time was no less than three pounds or three months imprisonment but at the same time added that whoever preached or taught that eating a fish was necessary for the saving of the soul of man or was the service of God was to be punished as a spreader of false news and care was taken to announce that the eating of fish was enforced not out of superstition but solely out of respect to the increase of fishermen and mariners the exemption of the sick from these penalties was abolished by James I and justices were authorized to enter victualing houses and search and forfeit the meat found there all these preposterous enactments were swept away in the reign of Victoria of all the petty subjects threatening the cognizance of the law none seems to have given more trouble to the ancient and medieval legislatures than that of dress yet views of morality of repressing luxury and vice of benefiting manufacturers of keeping all degrees of mankind in their proper places have induced the legislature to interfere where interference in order to be thorough would require to be as endless as it would be objectless so lone prohibitive women from going out of the town with more than three dresses zealocus is said to have invented an ingenious method of circuitously putting down what he thought bad habits namely by prohibiting things with an exception so that the exception should in the guise of an exemption really carry out the sting and operate as a deterrent thus he forbade a woman to have more than one maid unless she was drunk he forbade her to wear jewels or embroidered robes or go abroad at night except she was a prostitute he forbade all but panders to wear gold rings or fine cloth and it was said that he succeeded admirably in his legislation the Spartans had such a contempt for cowards that those who fled in battle were compelled to wear a low dress of patches and shape and moreover to wear a long beard half shaved so that anyone meeting them might give them a stroke the opium law of Rome restricted women in their dress and extravagance and the roman knights had the privilege of wearing a gold ring the ancient Babylonians held it to be indecent to wear a walking stick without an apple a rose or an eagle engraved on the top of it the first Inca of Peru is said to have made himself popular by allowing his people to wear earrings a distinction formerly confined to the royal family by the code of china the dress of the people was subject to minute regulation and any transgression was punished by 50 blows of the bamboo and he who omitted to go into mourning on the death of a relation or laid it aside too soon was similarly punished don edward of portugal in 1434 passed a law to suppress luxury in dress and diet and with his noble set an example in Florence alike law was passed in 1471 and in venice laws regulating nearly all the expenses of families in table clothes gaming and traveling a law of the muscovites obliged the people to crop their beards and shorten their clothes in Zurich a law prohibited all except strangers to use carriages and a basal no citizen or inhabitant was allowed to have a servant behind his carriage about 1292 philip the fair of France by edick ordered how many suits of clothes and at what price and how many dishes at tables should be allowed and that no woman should keep a cure the irish laws regulated the dress and even its colors according to the rank and station of the wearer and the beyond laws forbade men to wear brooches so long as to project and be dangerous to those passing near in scotland a statute enacted that women should not come to kirk or market with their faces covered and that they should dress according to their estate in the city of london in the 13th century women were not allowed to wear in the highway or the market a hood furred with other than lamb skin or rabbit skin in the middle ages it was not infrequent to compel prostitutes to wear a particular dress so that they might not be mistaken for other women and this was the law in the city of london as appears from records of 1351 and 1382 the views and objects of english legislators as to the general subject of dress however preposterous and our eyes were grave and serious enough they were so confident of their ground that it was recited that wearing inordinate and expensive apparel was a displeasure to god was an impoverishing of the realm and enriching of other strange realms and countries to the final destruction of the husbandry of the realm and leading to robberies the statue of diet and apparel in 1363 and the latter statues minutely fixed the proper dress for all classes according to their estate and the price they were to pay handy craftsmen were not to wear clothes above 40 shillings and their families were not to wear silk or velvet and so with gentlemen and esquires merchants knights and clergy according to graduations plowin were to wear a blanket and a linen girdle no female belonging into the family of a servant in husbandry was to wear girdle garnished with silver every person beneath the lord was to wear a jacket reaching to his knees and none but a lord was to wear pikes to his shoes exceeding two inches 1463 nobody but a member of the royal family was to wear cloth of gold or purple silk and none under a night to wear a velvet damask or satin or foreign wool or fur of sable it is true notwithstanding all these restrictions that a license of the king enabled the licensee to wear anything for one whose income was under 20 pounds to wear silk in his nightcap was to incur three months imprisonment or a fine of 10 pounds a day and above all the age of six except ladies and gentlemen were bound to wear on the Sabbath day a cap of knitted wool these statues of apparel were not repealed until the reign of james the first sometimes though rarely a legislature has gone the length of suddenly compelling an entire change of dress among the people for reasons at the time thought urgent in china a law was passed to compel the tartars to wear chinese clothes and to compel the chinese to cut their hair with a view to unite the two races and it was said that there were many who preferred martyrdom to obedience so late as 1746 a statute was passed to punish with six months imprisonment and on a second offense with seven years transportation the scottish highlanders men or boys who wore their national costume or tartan plaid it being conceived to be closely associated with a rebellious disposition after 36 years the statute was repealed while the act was in force it was evaded by people carrying their clothes in a bag over their shoulders the prohibition was hateful to all as impeding their agility in scaling the craggy steeps of their native fastnesses in 1748 the punishment assigned by the act of 1746 was changed into compulsory service in the army plato says it is one of the unwritten laws of nature that a man shall not go naked into the marketplace or wear women's clothes the mosaic law forbade men to wear women's clothes which was thought to be a mode of discontent and seen the assyrian rights of venus the early christians following a passage of saint paul first corinthians 11 treated the practice of men and women wearing each other's clothes as confounding the order of nature and as liable to heavy censure of anathema there was formerly rigorous punishment of persons poaching game with blackened faces those who hunted in forest with faces disguised were declared to be felons and as disguises led to crime and mummers often were pretenders all who assumed disguise or visors as mummers and attempted to enter houses or committed assaults on highways were liable to be arrested and committed to prison for three months without bail the mosaic law prohibited the practice of using al henna or putting an indelible color on the skin as was done on occasions of mourning or in resemblance of the dead or in honor of some idol and two fashions of wearing the beard and hair were prohibited as has been supposed on account of idolatrous association even bacon said he wondered there was no penal law against painting the face to be continued end of section nine section 10 of mother earth number three this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox.org recording by betty b mother earth number three section 10 liberty in common life by bolton hall it seems to me that none of us see how far reaching freedom will be the socialists have abundantly shown that if only the wastes of production and distribution were saved two or three hours labor per day would produce all that we produce now if in addition to the saving the land including all the resources of nature were open to labor so that all workers would use the best parts of the earth to the best advantage wealth would be so abundant that interest would disappear even now with increased production and notwithstanding the restrictions on the issue of money and our crazy banking system interest is decreasing so that we find it hard to get four percent here suppose today the mortgages and railroad bonds which are forms of ownership of land were taken out of the market what interest could we get certainly not one percent were the restrictions on production of the tariff taxes on products of labor patent monopolies hindrances to the making of money through franchise privileges done away with and above all were private appropriation of rent abolished wealth would not be so abundant and so easy to obtain that it would not be worth any one's while to keep account of what he had lent to another with the disappearance at once of interest and of the fear of poverty the motive for accumulations of more than would be sufficient to provide against disability or old age will disappear while such small but universal accumulations made available by a system of mutual banking will provide ample capital for all needed enterprises cooperation will spring up as a labor saving device and the great abilities of the trust managers will be turned to public service instead of public plunder henry george is wrong in thinking that the increased demand for capital due to free opportunities for labor would increase interest if it did it would perpetuate a form of slavery he omits to notice that the very use of the capital would reproduce wealth and capital so much more abundantly that it would destroy the motive for accumulation the time will come it is even now at hand when dollars and meals and goods will be given to those who ask these as freely as candies or water or cigars are offered to visitors if i am wrong in this then i am wasting my efforts as far as sincere efforts can be wasted if socialism or anarchism is needed to ensure voluntary communism of goods then it is for socialism or anarchism that we should work and for me if i could see i would turn from single tax to either of them as readily as i would turn downhill if i found that uphill was the wrong road at present hardly anyone favors these views of course not plutocrats because the doctrine is dangerous not socialists because they think that its words turn socialists into land reformers nor anarchists because they regard compulsory payment of a fair price for the land one uses as a form of tax not even single tax payers as yet because they are wedded to the theory of henry george my only fear if there be room for fear is that the new liberty and leisure will come too soon for the sordid people to make a wise use of it yes such a fear is like that of a man who should fear that his jaw would grind so hard as to destroy his teeth the world is moved by one spirit whichever lastingly adjusts action against reaction so that all is and always must be well do not shy at truth for fear of its logical consequence end of section 10 section 11 of mother earth number three this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox.org recording by betty b mother earth number three section 11 statistics by h kelly special cable dispatch to the sun london the result of the first organized census of the british empire is issued in a blue book it shows that the empire consists of an approximate area of 11,908,378 square miles or more than one fifth of the entire land area of the world the population is about 400 million of whom 54 million are whites the population is roughly distributed as follows in asia 300 million africa 43 million europe 42 million america 7,500,000 and australia 5 million the most populous city after london is calcutta the highest proportion of married persons is in india natal cyprus and canada the lowest is in the west indies depression in the birth rate is general almost everywhere but is most remarkable in australia the proportion of insane persons in the colonies is much below that in the united kingdom insanity is markedly decreasing in india despite consanguineous marriages indeed the theory that such marriages produce mental and soundness is little supported by these statistics for those who read without preconceived notions the figures given above show how history repeats itself the british empire is decaying at the center and the census just taken proves it conclusively the proportion of insane in the colonies even in poor famine stricken india is much below that in the united kingdom striking as these figures on insanity are they convey but a part of the truth as to the real condition of the people of england ireland scotland and wales as all reference to their material well-being if we were christians we would add and spiritual for over one million people in these countries never heard of god is carefully omitted charles booth author of that truly great work life and labor in london 17 volumes estimates that 30 of the population of the united kingdom live in a state of poverty and c bome roundtree author of poverty a study of town life puts it at 27.84 percent mr roundtree also states that an average of one person in five or 20 of the population die in some public institution i.e prison or house hospital or insane asylum these statements are depressing enough as they are but they become worse when we learn that the standard of living upon which they are based are those enjoyed we use the word advisedly by poor house inmates think of this he Pharisees christian and otherwise 30 of the population of the british isles living under such conditions these are not the idle statements of long-haired reformers or yellow journalists but of two very estimable christian gentlemen both of them manufacturers and successful businessmen they are different from the ordinary exploiter only in the sense of being honest and humane enough to recognize that something is radically wrong with modern civilization and make an earnest attempt to remedy it in this connection it is worthy of note that when the proprietors of the london daily news had a systematic canvas and investigation made into the housing conditions in london some six or seven years ago it was found that 900 000 people one fifth of the population were living in violation of the law this was the case notwithstanding that the law says 400 cubic feet of airspace for each adult and 200 cubic feet for each child must be provided whereas professor huxley who at one time was a physician in the east end of london said at least 800 cubic feet for an adult and 400 cubic feet for a child was absolutely necessary to keep the air in a fair state of purity it was and is the proud boast of millions of people that they are co-inheritors of this glorious empire an empire the greatest the world has ever seen 400 million souls in an area so vast that the sun never sets on all its parts at one time pete curran the trade unionists and socialists once remarked he knew parts of the empire upon which the sun never shone and pete knew glory and a grandizement based upon injustice brings its own reward and when a people subjugate and exploit another they must inevitably pay the price of their own brutality and injustice the handwriting is on the wall in the shape of the present census report decaying at the center the british empire is rapidly going the way of the persian greek and roman empires and her name will be synonymous with injustice as theirs are nations no more than individuals can thrive expand and develop their best faculties unless their lives are based upon freedom and justice not freedom to exploit a weaker person or people not justice before the law which is a mockery and a sham but freedom for each to live his own life in his own way and justice to all in the shape of equal opportunity to the earth and all it may contain this lesson applies equally to america and if any of my countrymen are so blind as not to see it they deserve pity rather than censure and it is to be hoped their awakening will not long be delayed end of section 11 section 12 of mother earth number three this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox dot org mother earth number three section 12 gehrhard haubtman with weavers of sylesia by max beginski when i look at the last engraving in the illustrated edition of hanala at the angel of death with the impenetrable brow over whom hanala passes into the region of beauty i have the consciousness that that is gehrhard haubtman such is the inexhaustible wealth of his inner world the stress of the life effort and the certainty of death groping forth from delicate intimacies ripened the fineness and sweetness of this man's soul the picture contains transitoryness finiteness yet also a vista of new formation new land of gehrhard haubtman one can say his art has given meaning to the idea of human love which in this period is looked upon with suspicious eyes as a bad coin a new impetus the reality and symbolic depth of which grips the heart out of his books one can draw life more than literature a strong soul similarity with tollstoy might be observed i think if haubtman were a fighting spirit i met the poet among the weavers of the eulengeberge sylesia in the districts of greatest human misery february 1891 in langan bilau the large sylesian weaving village one evening on my return from a journey i was informed that a tall gentleman in black had inquired for me the name of the stranger was gehrhard haubtman who came to study the conditions of the weaving districts the visitor had taken lodgings in the praises shunhoff where i called on him the same evening with joyous expectation the name of gehrhard haubtman in those days seemed to contain a watchword a battle call not only against the unimportant thrones of literature at that time but also against social oppression prejudices and moral crippling haubtman's first drama for son and afgang had just appeared and had been produced by the free stage in berlin and had operated like an explosive it was followed by a flood of vicious and vile criticism the literary clique little imagined that the future held great success for such stuff both in book form and on the stage this lamentable lack of judgment misled the various pot boiler writers to attack the new tendency with the most repulsive arguments one leading paper of those days wrote of haubtman as an individual of a pronounced criminal physiognomy of whom one could expect nothing else but dirty appalling things such literary highway assaults made one feel doubly happy over the fact that together with haubtman were a few splendidly armed fighters like the aged fontaine with his great poise and fine exactness the first impression of haubtman was that he was not a man of easy social courage rather discreet almost shy and uncommunicative and absorbed deep dreamer yet a keen observer of the human all too human not easily led astray not gator rather holder lenn the guest room of the procession huff contained many empty benches the keeper thereof had ample time to meditate over the mission of the strange gentleman in the weaving district i learned the next morning that he had quite decided that haubtman was some government emissary entrusted with examining the prevailing distress of the weavers one thing however appeared suspicious the man associated with the reds who according to the government newspaper only exaggerated the need and poverty to incite the people for their own political ends whether or not the misery of the weavers that winter had reached such a point as to warrant an official investigation had been the topic of discussion for weeks the state attorney too had taken an active part in the matter the criticism and the labor paper the proletarian of which i was the editor that the exorbitant profit-making methods of the manufacturers which left the workers nothing to live on were met with a number of indictments against the paper on the following grounds it was indictable to incite the public at the moment when the prevailing poverty was in itself sufficient to arouse the people and cause danger that this was criminal and therefore punishable the distress was thereby officially acknowledged was that not sufficient why then hold the conditions up before the special attention of the people we mapped out a tour through the home weaving settlements at langen bilau the textile industry had to a large extent been carried on in mills and factories and at a higher wage misery was not so appalling and hopeless there as in the huts of the home weavers the following days unrolled a horrible picture before the eyes of the poet the figures of bauman and ansorga from his play the weavers became real with mute accusation on their lip they moved before the human eye in tangible shape yet one long to believe they were only phantoms they lived but how they lived was a burning shame to civilization huts standing deep in the snow like whitened sepulchres and despair staring from every nook in these days of paternal care just as at the time of the famine that swept across the district in 1844 strewn among the hills and valleys lay bits of industry that had been passed by technical progress as so many damned spook-like spots and yet those who vegetated worked and gradually perished here were compelled to compete with the great productive giants of steel and iron machinery the poet entered these homes not with the spirit of a cool observer nor as a samaritan he came as man to man with no appearance of one stooping to poor lazarus indeed it seemed as though hobtman walked with a much steadier gait in the path of human misery than on the road of conventionality stein ciphers dorth situated beyond peters valdau a bare snow field spread about huts of clay shingles and branches without a sign of life neither a cat dog nor sparrow not even chimney smoke to indicate the activity of the inhabitants heated dwellings in this stretch of land or luxuries difficult of achievement and how is one to prepare a warm meal out of nothing we attempted to enter one of the huts to the right there was no path leading to it so that we were compelled to work our way through the deep snow was it possible that human beings breathed within the old weather worn shanty looked as if the slightest breeze would tumble it over the few wooden steps leading to the entrance creaked underneath our steps and our knock was met with dead silence we knocked again and this time heard a faint step slowly moving toward the door a heavy wooden bolt was moved aside and we perceived a human face with the expression of a wounded frightened animal like a delinquent caught at the offense the human being at the door stared at the invaders not a ray of hope and livened the dead expression no doubt the man had long ceased to expect amelioration of his needs from his fellow beings the figure was covered with rags and what rags not the kind of rags that tramps wear and which they throw off when luck strikes them but eternal rags that seem to have grown to the skin to have mingled with it so long that they had become part of it disgustingly filthy but the only cover he had and that he could not throw away the man about fifty years of age was silent and led us through a dirty cold gray entry into a room in front of the loom we observed the drooping figure of a woman a cold oven four dirty wet walls at one of them a wooden bunk also covered with rags that served as bedding nothing else the man murmured something to the woman she rose both had inflamed eyes water dripping from them with the same monotony as from the walls helped man began to speak hesitatingly depressed by the sight of such misery he received a few harsh replies the last piece of cloth had been delivered sometimes since there was neither bread flour potatoes coal nor wood in the house in fact no food or fuel of any sort this was said in a subdued fearful voice as if they expected severe censure or punishment helped man gave the woman some money the thought of going without leaving sufficient for a supply of food at least for the next few days was agony on the widening of the roads stood the village in the guest room showed little comfort the innkeeper looked worn and in bad spirits no trade inkeepers of factory towns are better off they can afford guest rooms of a higher order since they enjoy the patronage of bookkeepers clerks and teachers in stein seifersdorf one had to depend on the weavers and that did not bring enough for a square meal especially in the winter the wife of the innkeeper assured us that the misery in kashbach a neighboring village was even greater even more awful it was getting late so we decided to go there the following day our conversation on our ride home were dwelt on the fate of these unfortunates condemned by modern industrialism to a life of the inferno i asked helped man what an effect an artistic dramatic representation of such a fate could possibly have he replied that his inclinations were more for summer nights dreams towards sunny vistas but that an impelling inner force urged him to use this appalling want as an object of his art as for the hoped for effect human beings are not insensible even the most satisfied the most comfortable or rich must be gripped in his innermost depths when pictures of such terrible human wretchedness are being unrolled before him every human being is related to another my remark that the right of possession has the tendency to blind those who are part of it helped man would not accept as generally true he was anxious to bring the sympathies of the wealthy into energetic activity sympathies that would of course bring to the poor real relief from their hideous conditions he added that the poverty of the masses had at times tortured him to such an extent that he was unable to partake of his meals which were meager enough especially during his student life in Zurich yet he had felt ashamed of partaking of such luxury as a cup of coffee even then i had to admit that i could not share his hopes of the influence of an artistic portrayal of the sufferings of the weavers upon the people of wealth self-satisfied virtue is hard to move rather did i believe that a great work of art treating of the life of the masses was bound to rouse their consciousness to their own conditions at that time i believe helped man had already completed his weavers his journey into the weaving district was not to collect material for the structure of that tremendous play rather than it was devoted to details localities and landscapes he had already drawn up the outline for his other play college crumpton portraying a genial and joyous man of whom narrowness and miserableness of surroundings make a caricature and who is finally wrecked langen bilau after our journey through the golgotha of poverty seemed a place of relief the mills with the increasing noise of machines that dulls the ears and racks the nerves are by no means an elevating site but they bring the working men together and awaken their feeling and understanding of solidarity and the necessity for concerted action here in spite of sunken chests great fatigue poor nourishment one felt the breeze of the struggling proletarian mind that indicated a new land of regeneration beyond the misery of our times for one of the evenings a gathering of the older weavers was arranged helped man had a plate set for each one during the meal a lively discussion developed there was one weaver matias very bony and with a skin like parchment very poor but blessed with many children he related of a bet he had won the owner of the tavern where we were having our feast had expressed doubt as to the ability of matias to consume three pounds of pork at once he volunteered to do it if the meat would be paid for and a quantity of beer added to it a neighbor was interested with the preparation of the roast at the appointed hour matias appeared together with two other men as witnesses of the contest the prize eating began when matias was confronted by an obstacle five children belonging to the neighbor surrounded the table with their eyes widely opened at the unusual sight of a roast their little faces expressed great desire and their mouths began to water the prize eater felt very uncomfortable before the longing look of the children he imagined himself a hard hearted guzzler only concerned about his own stomach he forgot the bet cut up some of the meat and was about to place it before the children when a howl of protest arose this was not permitted if he wanted to win he would have to eat the entire roast himself matias submitted but dropped his eyes in shame before the children time had to gain he involuntarily passed portions of the meat to them but his attempts were frustrated by renewed protests he could not continue however until the little ones were taken out into the cold there was no other place since the only room was taken up by the parties concerned in the contest they might have been put into the cold dark garret but that would have been too cruel and would have made matias unable to carry out the feet the undertaking was finished but the winner felt quite wretched he was conscious of having committed a great sin against the simplest of human demands the conversation turned to the uprising of the weavers in 1844 many incidents of those days were related various legend-like and fantastic stories told also names of people of the neighborhood who had participated in that historic event the entire affair was very informal and simple and not an atom of the oppressive atmosphere one feels in the relations between the members of the upper and lower stations of life the next morning we started for kashbach the place looked even more dismal than the one we had visited the day previous in one of the huts a weaver with a swollen arm in a sling led us into a corner of the room on a bunk covered with straw and rags lay a woman with a little baby near her its body was covered with a terrible rash perfectly bare almost hidden within the floor rags the shy father himself in pain stood near the personification of helplessness if only there were food in the house the district physician he would have been compelled to prescribe food light warmth and sanitation for every hut he visited if he did not wish his science to prove a mockery he could not do that so he came but rarely humanitarianism thus far your name is impotency all that could be done was to leave money and hurry out into the air the next abode might be considered pleasant compared with the previous one two elderly people not so worn and one and not so ragged the man was weaving still having some work at times his wife very pleasant and amiable was almost ready to praise the good fortune of their home we are better off than our neighbors she said with some pride she pointed to a freshly cut loaf of bread to the fire in the oven to a table and a real bed a great fortune indeed the walls were covered with some colored prints representing virtue patience endurance to the end one picture showed the return of the prodigal son won the ejection of hagar from the house of abraham our hostess could boast of the luxury of a coffee mill even and after she had ground and brewed the coffee we were invited to partake of it which we gratefully did local and general affairs were talked over the man quite talkative but careful and reticent in his remarks especially when religious and political questions were approached his remarks were kept within careful lines so as not to offend haubt man said afterwards that he had noticed such cautiousness in all weavers no doubt it had grown out of the great poverty that often brought out diffidence and reticence towards strangers haubt man sat on a low stool and while we were sipping our coffee the woman petted him tenderly on the brow yes yes young man want the awfulness of want but we cannot complain at our departure she pointed to a hut nearby and said the people in there are nearly starved it was not exaggerated when we entered we saw a woman in the dismal gray of the room surrounded by a number of crying children two or three of the mature girls thin and pale and drawn out by the procrastin bed of poverty secretly wiped the last drops of tears from their suffering faces hunger reigned supreme within these walls the woman in the last stage of pregnancy suffered the keenest under the lamentations of the younger children to whom she could give no food the husband had been gone two days on a begging tramp he would surely bring home something though it was very difficult to get anything in this neighborhood one must tramp a long distance for a piece of bread yesterday they could still obtain a few potatoes but today she had nothing more to give nor did she know what to tell the children she had implored the minister to let her have something to eat if only a few morsels but he had nothing himself he said the tightly pressed lips of the older girls trembled violently every breath of the family was despair our presence had silenced the cries of the children with the frost bitten faces but when we left they again would tear the heart of their mother their weak little voices calling for bread no one could expect such fatalism from these starving little ones that they should coolly and philosophically analyze the economic necessity that had condemned their parents to a desperate battle with hunger the only thing that could perform miracles here was a coin the poor woman did not dare to believe that she actually held one in her hand that which was to secure these unfortunate relief from death at the same moment fostered elsewhere conceit corruption and extravagance and is being used for the conversion of heathen to brotherly love the terrible sight of this mother and her little ones conjured up the heartlessness and emptiness of all philanthropy and charity for dumb misery greatest of all social crimes that makes a possibility of stilling the hunger of the little children dependent on money one morning Hauptmann and I went on foot to Reichenbach where I introduced him to an old weaver a socialist who had participated in the cooperative scheme proposed by Bismarck the old man had much of interest to relate of this venture that had been very meagrely assisted by the government he said that the association could have survived had it not been for the conspiracy of the manufacturers who had a large capital at their disposal the result of this for the cooperative movement was the closing of the market at one time all the weaving products sent to the Leipzig fair had to be transported back a clandestine but effective boycott had made the sale thereof impossible with much more gusto he related the days of LaSalle's agitation that had brought life into the still limbs of the masses the great change had seemed to be at hand the wife of our old friend too had hoped for change but now she remarked somewhat resigned we old people would rejoice if we were confident that the young generation would live to bring about the change in this house we met a widow with a 13 year old daughter Hauptmann found the child very striking she had beautiful soft golden blonde hair deep set eyes a very delicate pale complexion I learned later that he had sent her occasional gifts and when I read Hanala I could not rid myself of the thought that the vision of this child from Reichenbach must have haunted him when he created this drama that was my last outing with Hauptmann in the textile regions a few months later I visited him at his home located in the woods close to the edge of a mountain still later when I was serving a term of imprisonment at the schweidnitzer prison for my sins in exercising too much freedom of the press I was overjoyed one morning by the news that Hauptmann had sent me a box of books through his kindness Gottfried Keller Conrad Ferdinand Meyer and other authors have illumined many dreary days of my cell life all the books reached me safely but the weavers which had just been published at that time and that I could not get hold of in spite of every effort the inspector had strict orders to consider that book as contraband every time I went into the office to change one book for another I saw the weavers on the table the temptation to shove the book under my jacket at an opportune moment was very great and trying but unfortunately the state attorney had instilled the idea into the head of the inspector that it was a very dangerous work he never took his eyes from it Gerhard Hauptmann remained to the schweidnitzer prison administration the most dangerous prohibited author end of section 12 recording by Stephen Harvey section 13 of Mother Earth number three this is a LibriVox recording a LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Betty B Mother Earth number three section 13 disappointed economists teachers and economists represent the bees as models of diligence behold how these little hard workers gather the honey together not a sign of obstinacy they never insist on a certain number of hours for their work day nor do they crave time for leisure meditation or rest indeed they employ all their energies so that the owner of the beehive shall gain high profits no matter if they gather a thousand fold as much honey as they can consume they never seek iniquity man takes all their wealth from them and in the spring in the beautiful month of may when the flower cups begin to fill the little hustlers resume their work again without complaint and without murmur probably some economists regret that workmen are not endowed by nature with such an instinct for work as would let them feel nothing but desire to accumulate wealth for others it is too bad indeed that house builders railroad workers miners garment workers and farmers are creatures with thinking faculties thus they should be able to analyze to compare to draw conclusions is really very fortunate for the captains of industry next to the bee the asiatic coolly is the favorite ideal of the everyday economist in one respect he surpasses the bee he does not destroy drones how smoothly everything might run along in this world of material supremacy if only the workers were made up of such a desirable mixture as the bees and coollies fortunately fate hath not willed it so end of section 13