III
In the course of the summer Jimmie had to take several days off and
go into Leesville to attend the trial of the German plotters. He had
to take the witness-stand and tell all he knew about Kumme and
Heinrich and the other men who had frequented the bicycle-shop. It
was a very serious experience, and before it was over Jimmie was
heartily glad that he had rejected the invitation to help blow up
the Empire Machine Shops. The trial ended with a sentence of six
months for Jimmie's old employer, and of two years each for Heinrich
and his pals. The law allowed no more--to the intense disgust of the
Leesville Herald. The Herald was in favour of a life-sentence for
anyone who interfered with the industry upon which the prosperity of
the city depended.
Among those who came to the trial was Comrade Smith, editor of the
Worker, and Jimmie sat with him in Tom's "Buffeteria", and heard an
account of the latest developments in the Empire Shops. The movement
of discontent had been entirely crushed; the great establishment was
going at full blast, both day and night. They were taking on
hundreds of new hands, mostly women and girls, speeding them faster
and faster, turning out tens of thousands of shell-casings every
day. And still they were not satisfied; new buildings were going up,
the concern was spreading like a huge blot over the landscape. There
was talk of an explosive factory near-by, so that shells might be
filled as fast as they were made.
The "boom" conditions continued in Leesville; speculators were
reaping harvests, it seemed as if the masters of the city were all
on a spree. Comrade Smith advised Jimmie to stay where he was, for
it was getting to be harder and harder for the workers in Leesville
to get anything to eat. But out on the heights along the river
front, the part of the city called "Nob Hill", new palaces were
rising. And it was that way all over the Eastern part of the
country, said the young editor; the rich no longer knew what to do
with their millions.
On the day the trial ended, Jimmie stayed in town to attend a
meeting of the local and pay his back dues. So he met all his old
friends, and heard "Wild Bill" get up and deliver one of his
tirades. Bill had in his hand a newspaper clipping telling of the
amazing madness that had struck Wall Street. Munition stocks were
soaring to prices beyond belief; "war-babies", men called them, with
unthinkably cynical wit. On the "Great White Way", to which they
rushed to celebrate these new Arabian Nights, there was such an orgy
of dissipation as the world had never seen. "And is this what we
have to slave for!" yelled "Wild Bill"--looking wilder than ever
since the police had broken his nose and knocked out his three front
teeth. "This is why we are chained to our jobs--shut up in jail if
we so much as open our mouths! Piling up millions for old man
Granitch, so that young Lacey can marry chorus-girls and divorce
them--or steal away another man's wife, as they say he's doing just
now!"
Then young Emil Forster spoke, explaining to Jimmie the inner
significance of terrific world-events. Russia was in the midst of a
gigantic offensive, which was meant to overwhelm Austria; England at
the same time was hurling in her new armies on the Somme; for these
two giant movements they wanted shells--millions and millions of
shells from America, which alone could make enough of them. The
railroads were clogged with them, they were piled mountain-high at
the terminals and ports; whole fleets of steamers were loading up
with them, and proceeding to England and France, and to Russia by
way of Archangel. And, of course, the German submarines were out to
stop them; the whole world was like a powder-magazine over the
issue. The President, by his series of notes, had forced Germany to
agree not to sink passenger-vessels; but this promise was not easy
to keep--accidents kept happening, and the temper of the peoples was
rising, America was being drawn nearer every hour to the vortex of
this dreadful strife. Such was the picture which Jimmie carried back
to the farm; you could hardly wonder if he missed that peace and joy
which men are supposed to imbibe at the bosom of their Mother
Nature!
