o the labor
press that two of the strikers in the copper mines in Michigan were shot
down by detectives, in the effort, he says, to provoke the men to
violence. Anyone who cares to follow the labor press for but a short
period will be astonished to find how frequently such outrages occur,
and he will marvel that men can be so self-controlled as the strikers
usually are under such terrible provocation. I mention hastily these
facts in order to emphasize the point that the cases in which I have
gone into detail in this chapter are more or less typical of the bloody
character of many of the great strikes because of the deeds of the
so-called detectives.

Brief, however, as this statement is of the work of these anarchists
"without phrase" and of the great commerce they have built up, it must,
nevertheless, convince anyone that republican institutions cannot long
exist in a country which tolerates such an extensive private commerce in
lawlessness and crime. Government by law cannot prevail in the same
field with a widespread and profitable traffic in disorder, thuggery,
arson, and murder. Here is a whole brood of mercenaries, the output of
hundreds of great penitentiaries, that has been organized and
systematized into a great commerce to serve the rich and powerful. Here
is a whole mess of infamy developed into a great private enterprise that
militates against all law and order. It has already brought the United
States on more than one occasion to the verge of civil war. And, despite
the fact that numerous judges have publicly condemned the work of these
agencies, and that various governmental commissions have deprecated in
the most solemn words this traffic in crime, it continues to grow and
prosper in the most alarming manner. Certainly, no student of history
will doubt that, if this commerce is permitted to continue, it will not
be long until no man's life, honor, or property will be secure. And it
is a question, even at this moment, whether the legislators have the
courage to attack this powerful American Mafia that has already
developed into a "vested interest."

As I said at the beginning, no other country has this form of anarchy to
contend with. In all countries, no doubt, there are associations of
criminals, and everywhere, perhaps, it is possible for wealthy men to
employ criminals to work for them. But even the Mafia, the Camorra, and
the Black Hand do not exist for the purpose of collecting and organizing
merc