rd got up by you socialists."

"This bill was introduced in the House of Representatives on July 30,
1902," was the reply. "It was introduced by Representative Dick of
Ohio. It was rushed through. It was passed unanimously by the Senate
on January 14, 1903. And just seven days afterward was approved by the
President of the United States."*

* Everhard was right in the essential particulars, though
his date of the introduction of the bill is in error. The
bill was introduced on June 30, and not on July 30. The
Congressional Record is here in Ardis, and a reference to it
shows mention of the bill on the following dates: June 30,
December 9, 15, 16, and 17, 1902, and January 7 and 14,
1903. The ignorance evidenced by the business men at the
dinner was nothing unusual. Very few people knew of the
existence of this law. E. Untermann, a revolutionist, in
July, 1903, published a pamphlet at Girard, Kansas, on the
"Militia Bill." This pamphlet had a small circulation among
workingmen; but already had the segregation of classes
proceeded so far, that the members of the middle class never
heard of the pamphlet at all, and so remained in ignorance
of the law.

CHAPTER IX

THE MATHEMATICS OF A DREAM

In the midst of the consternation his revelation had produced, Ernest
began again to speak.

"You have said, a dozen of you to-night, that socialism is impossible.
You have asserted the impossible, now let me demonstrate the inevitable.
Not only is it inevitable that you small capitalists shall pass away,
but it is inevitable that the large capitalists, and the trusts also,
shall pass away. Remember, the tide of evolution never flows backward.
It flows on and on, and it flows from competition to combination, and
from little combination to large combination, and from large combination
to colossal combination, and it flows on to socialism, which is the most
colossal combination of all.

"You tell me that I dream. Very good. I'll give you the mathematics
of my dream; and here, in advance, I challenge you to show that
my mathematics are wrong. I shall develop the inevitability of
the breakdown of the capitalist system, and I shall demonstrate
mathematically why it must break down. Here goes, and bear with me if at
first I seem irrelevant.

"Let us, first of all, investigate a particular industrial process, and
whenever I state something with