you conduct your case properly the public will be overwhelmingly on your
side. It is good at such times to "view with alarm" the introduction of
Russian methods into "free" America. If there is real intelligence on
the other side your opponents will soon conclude that you are getting
more publicity for your ideas out of the police fight than you could
ever get at peaceful street meetings. After this light has dawned you
will proceed undisturbed.

BOOK-SELLING AND PROFESSIONALISM

A man who does a day's work in a shop and speaks on a street corner in
the evening has about as much chance of becoming an effective speaker as
he would have of becoming an effective musician, physician or lawyer by
the same method. It is necessary, however, to train before going wholly
into the work just as a man studies law evenings, before starting out as
a lawyer.

In New York, Socialist street meetings are a force and count for a great
deal, because the committee keeps a staff of capable speakers on salary
to do nothing else. In Chicago street, speaking is a failure and many
have concluded we should be better without it. This is because Chicago
lacks the enterprise to follow the example of New York and depends on
voluntary, haphazard, untrained, inefficient speaking.

New York, I believe, spends a good deal of money on its street meetings,
and for some reason Chicago does not seem to be able to do that. But
this barrier is not insurmountable. Street meetings with efficient
speakers may be made self-supporting, but professional speakers are the
only ones who have any chance to become efficient to the point of making
their meetings pay a salary and other expenses.

I hardly think it can be done by collections but I know by experience
that it can be done by book-selling.

I worked several weeks in New York one summer at the highest rate they
pay and instead of sending a bill for wages I sent a paper dollar which
represented the surplus from book sales after I had paid myself all that
was due to me, and no collections were taken. My best book-sale at one
meeting was $34 but it would just as easily have gone over $40 if the
supply had held out. $20 to $30 worth of literature can be sold easily
enough on any one of half a dozen corners in New York.

Chicago is not as good as New York but it is at least half as good and a
good speaker could work for $25 a week and make three or four meetings
foot the bill. I did this very easily in Chi