ion, and independence for those who
would once and for all rid themselves of the shackles which the pay-roll
and time-sheet imposed upon them.

They had been called together to witness the iniquity of spending their
lives in the degrading operation of filling the pockets of those who
laboured not, by the toil in which their lives were spent. They had been
told every flowery fairy tale of the modern communistic doctrine, which
possesses as much truth and sanity in it as is to be found in an asylum
for the mentally deficient. And they had swallowed the bait whole. The
talk had been by the tongue of a skilled fanatic, who was well paid for
his work, and who kept in the forefront of his talk that alluring
promise of ease, and affluence, and luxury, which never fails in its
appeal to those who have never known it.

But something approaching an impasse had been reached when the would-be
benefactors passed over the demand that their deluded victims should
sign the roll of Communal Brotherhood. The bait that had been offered
had been all to the taste of these rough creatures who had never known
better than an existence with a threat of possible unemployment
overshadowing their lives. But in the signature to the elaborate
document they scented the concealed poison in the honeyed potion. There
was hesitation, reluctance. There was argument in a confusion of tongues
well-nigh bewildering. A surge of voices filled the great building.

The agents were at work, men who posed as workers to attain their ends.
And the pale, long-haired creature and his satellites waited at the
table. They understood. It was their business to understand. They knew
the minds they were dealing with, and their agents were skilled in their
craft. The process they relied on was the unthinking stupidity of the
sheep. Every man that could be persuaded had his friends, and each
friend had his friend. They knew friend would follow friend well-nigh
blindly, and, having signed, native obstinacy and fear of ridicule would
hold them fast to their pledge.

Presently the signing began. It began with a burly river-jack who
laughed stupidly to cover his doubt. He was followed by a
machine-minder, who hurled taunts at those who still held back. Then
came others, others whose failure to think for themselves left them
content to follow the lead of their comrades.

The stream of signatures grew. A pale youth, whose foolish grin revealed
only his fitness for the heavy, u