They would only make further
demands, he felt. They seemed determined to put him out of business.
If only he could have dealt with the men directly, instead of with
their paid representatives, he felt that he would get somewhere.
But always, interposed between himself and his workmen, was this
barrier of their own erecting.
It was like representative government. It did not always represent.
It, too, was founded on representation in good faith; but there was
not always good faith. The union system was wrong. It was like
politics. The few handled the many. The union, with its
all-powerful leaders, was only another form of autocracy. It was
Prussian. Yet the ideal behind the union was sound enough.
He had no quarrel with the union. He puzzled it out, traveling
unaccustomed mental paths. The country was founded on liberty. All
men were created free and equal. Free, yes, but equal? Was not
equality a long way ahead along a thorny road? Men were not equal
in the effort they made, nor did equal efforts bring equal result.
If there was class antagonism behind all this unrest, would there
not always be those who rose by dint of ceaseless effort? Equality
of opportunity, yes.
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