It was
expected that the rise of the trusts and the syndicates would break the
unions, but somehow they haven't. The situation remains the same. The
unions are not cutting one another's throats now any more than we are. The
war is on a larger scale--that's all."
"Then let me see," said the Altrurian, "whether I clearly understand the
situation as regards the working-man in America. He is dependent upon the
employer for his chance to earn a living, and he is never sure of this. He
may be thrown out of work by his employer's disfavor or disaster, and his
willingness to work goes for nothing; there is no public provision of work
for him; there is nothing to keep him from want nor the prospect of
anything."
"We are all in the same boat," said the professor.
"But some of us have provisioned ourselves rather better and can generally
weather it through till we are picked up," the lawyer put in.
"I am always saying the working-man is improvident," returned the
professor.
"There are the charities," the minister suggested.
"But his economical status," the Altrurian pursued, "is in a state of
perpetual uncertainty, and to save himself in some measure he has
organized, and so has constituted himself a danger to the public peace?"
"A very great danger," said the professor.
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