ivid
with excitement, and he sat staring helplessly at the speaker.

"Crime, your honour, is in the heart of man, not in the act he
performs. If I shoot at a target, and kill a bystander, the act is not
murder. But if I aim at my enemy and kill my friend I have committed
murder. Out of the heart are the issues of life. Under the laws of
to-day the act of this man is called a crime. Yet who can say that when
we shall have slowly emerged from the era of property into the era of
man, his act may not be called heroic? Morals are relative things. They
are based on the experiences and faith of the generations which express
them. Men were once hanged for daring to express an opinion contrary to
that held by their parish priest. Such men are to-day the leaders of
the world. The proud and cruel silence of ancient Europe has been
succeeded by the universal cry for equal justice. And this rising
chorus of the world is fast swelling into the deep soul conviction
which cries: 'I will not make money out of my brother who is hungry. I
refuse to be happy while my sister weeps in shame. I will not caress my
own child while that of my neighbour starves!'

"I am not excusing crime. I am crying for the equality of man before
the law. The English people beheaded their king because he imposed
taxes without the consent of their parliament.

"The millionaire who demands vengeance against this broken man to-day
has an income greater than the combined crowned heads of Europe and
wields a sceptre mightier than tzar or emperor.

"Why?

"He levies each year millions of taxes without consulting this court,
the legislature or any man who walks the earth. He does this by a
machine for printing paper-tokens of value called stocks. The essence
of theft is to take the property of another without giving a return. A
green goods man sells printed paper for money. This mighty man also
sells printed paper for money. What is the difference? Neither the
green goods, nor the bogus capital called watered stock represents a
dollar in real value. Yet we send the green goods man to the
penitentiary and bow down before the other as a captain of industry!

"A burglar breaks into a store and robs the safe. A mighty man of money
breaks into the management of a corporation which owns an iron mill
employing thousands. He shuts down the plant, throws one hundred
thousand people into want, passes the dividend, drives the stock down
to a few cents on the dollar, buys