Some of those fellows
know it and some of them don't, but the real discontent is with the whole
system, with the nature of things. I had a curious revelation on that
point the last time I tried to deal with my men as a union. They were
always bothering me about this and about that, and there was no end to the
bickering. I yielded point after point, but it didn't make any difference.
It seemed as if the more I gave the more they asked. At last I made up my
mind to try to get at the real inwardness of the matter, and I didn't wait
for their committee to come to me--I sent for their leading man, and said
I wanted to have it out with him. He wasn't a bad fellow, and when I got
at him, man to man that way, I found he had sense, and he had ideas--it's
no use pretending those fellows are fools; he had thought about his side
of the question, anyway. I said: 'Now what does it all mean? Do you want
the earth, or don't you? When is it going to end?' I offered him something
to take, but he said he didn't drink, and we compromised on cigars. 'Now
when is it going to end?' said I, and I pressed it home, and wouldn't let
him fight off from the point.
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