*

* The newspapers, in 1902 of that era, credited the
president of the Anthracite Coal Trust, George F. Baer, with
the enunciation of the following principle: "The rights and
interests of the laboring man will be protected by the
Christian men to whom God in His infinite wisdom has given
the property interests of the country."

"The weakness in their position lies in that they are merely
business men. They are not philosophers. They are not biologists nor
sociologists. If they were, of course all would be well. A business man
who was also a biologist and a sociologist would know, approximately,
the right thing to do for humanity. But, outside the realm of business,
these men are stupid. They know only business. They do not know mankind
nor society, and yet they set themselves up as arbiters of the fates of
the hungry millions and all the other millions thrown in. History, some
day, will have an excruciating laugh at their expense."

I was not surprised when I had my talk out with Mrs. Wickson and Mrs.
Pertonwaithe. They were society women.* Their homes were palaces. They
had many homes scattered over the country, in the mountains, on lakes,
and by the sea. They were tended by armies of servants, and their social
activities were bewildering. They patronized the university and the
churches, and the pastors especially bowed at their knees in meek
subservience.** They were powers, these two women, what of the money
that was theirs. The power of subsidization of thought was theirs to a
remarkable degree, as I was soon to learn under Ernest's tuition.

* SOCIETY is here used in a restricted sense, a common usage
of the times to denote the gilded drones that did no labor,
but only glutted themselves at the honey-vats of the
workers. Neither the business men nor the laborers had time
or opportunity for SOCIETY. SOCIETY was the creation of the
idle rich who toiled not and who in this way played.

** "Bring on your tainted money," was the expressed
sentiment of the Church during this period.

They aped their husbands, and talked in the same large ways about
policy, and the duties and responsibilities of the rich. They were
swayed by the same ethic that dominated their husbands--the ethic of
their class; and they uttered glib phrases that their own ears did not
understand.

Also, they grew irritated when I told them of the deplorable condition
of Jack