gram evokes a
storm of applause. Trueman wins the full sympathy of his audience; they
are his to command.

"I am expected to address an audience at the foot of Barclay street. It
will afford me unbounded pleasure if I may tell them that the meeting
will not be disturbed; that you have decided to apply to politics the
same spirit of fair play that you would demand in a street brawl."

"We're with you," cries a man. "You're all right." Trueman steps from
the music stand. The crowd gather about him, shouting and cheering for
him.

"This is an Independence parade," some one shouts.

"Forward, march, for Barclay street!" becomes the general shout. Trueman
is pushed on toward the edge of the Battery Park till the line of
carriages in which some of the members of the parade were to ride is
reached. He is lifted into one of the carriages and the march for the
West street stand is begun. The line of march leads along State street
to Battery Place; here it turns west to the river, and thence up West
street. The traffic which chokes that thoroughfare in the day is absent
and the broad expanse of street affords an excellent concourse.

With the clashing strains of three bands, the shouts of thousands of
men, the flickering lights of torches and Roman candles, Trueman
approaches the audience which has been impatiently awaiting him. Flushed
with the pride of his victory he mounts the stand to address ten
thousand men in the citadel of Plutocracy. His advent in New York is a
signal triumph.

CHAPTER XIX.

DEPARTURE OF THE COMMITTEE.

By the last election for President a man has been put in office who is
the acknowledged tool of the Trusts and Monopolies. He has avowedly
sealed his independence by accepting a nomination brought about by the
ring leader of a syndicate of Railroad Magnates and Steel and Oil Kings.

The people are in such a depressed condition that it is believed no
determined opposition to the dominant party can be conducted. So this
man is a candidate for re-election. The few intrepid men who succeed in
keeping the people's party in the field are derided and denounced as
anarchists. Their very lives are threatened, and in one instance a
Governor of the people being elected, he is immediately assassinated.
But for the certainty of the Plutocrats that their money will win them a
victory, all the leaders of the Independence party would be forcibly
done away with.

The prospects of the coming election l