he capitalists, the greatest menace to
civilization. We were absolutely lacking in principle, we were ready at
any time to besmirch our profession by legalizing steals; we fouled our
nests with dirty fees. Not all that he said was vituperation, for he
knew something of the modern theory of the law that legal radicals had
begun to proclaim, and even to teach in some tolerant universities.

The next night, in the middle of a prepared speech I was delivering to
a large crowd in Kingdom Hall there had been jeers from a group in
a corner at some assertion I made. Guptill's accusations had been
festering in my mind. The faces of the people grew blurred as I felt
anger boiling, rising within me; suddenly my control gave way, and I
launched forth into a denunciation of Greenhalge, Krebs, Guptill and
even of Perry Blackwood that must have been without license or bounds. I
can recall only fragments of my remarks: Greenhalge wanted to be mayor,
and was willing to put the stigma of slander on his native city in order
to gain his ambition; Krebs had made a failure of his profession, of
everything save in bringing shame on the place of his adoption; and on
the single occasion heretofore when he had been before the public, in
the School Board fiasco, the officials indicted on his supposed evidence
had triumphantly been vindicated--, Guptill was gaining money and
notoriety out of his spleen; Perry Blackwood was acting out of spite....
I returned to Krebs, declaring that he would be the boss of the city if
that ticket were elected, demanding whether they wished for a boss an
agitator itching for power and recognition....

I was conscious at the moment only of a wild relief and joy in letting
myself go, feelings heightened by the clapping and cheers with which my
characterizations were received. The fact that the cheers were mingled
with hisses merely served to drive me on. At length, when I had returned
to Krebs, the hisses were redoubled, angering me the more because of the
evidence they gave of friends of his in my audiences. Perhaps I had made
some of these friends for him! A voice shouted out above the uproar:--"I
know about Krebs. He's a d--d sight better man than you." And this
started a struggle in a corner of the hall.... I managed, somehow, when
the commotion had subsided, to regain my poise, and ended by uttering
the conviction that the common sense of the community would repudiate
the Citizens Union and all it stood for....