it wins man's greatest victory,
a victory of peace.

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE NEW ERA.

From every section of the country the news of the pending election gives
promise of a victory for the Independence party. The people have
accepted the assurances of Harvey Trueman that he will not countenance
violence on the part of the radical element of either the people or the
Plutocrats. His conspicuous action at Wilkes-Barre is an incontestible
proof of his sincerity, and also demonstrates that the masses are not
desirous of reverting to an appeal to force in order to regain their
rights. If the man whom the public hails as a deliverer can be elected,
all the evils of the Trusts and monopolies, it is believed, can be
settled amicably.

So strong has the sentiment in favor of the Independence party become,
that for days before the election great parades of the workingmen in the
principal cities celebrate the coming victory of the people.

Yet the subsidized press maintains a defiant position, and gloomily
predicts that anarchy will prevail upon the announcement of the election
of the Independence party's candidates.

This foreboding has little or no effect on the minds of the earnest
workers; they are ready to trust their interests to men who have proven
themselves honest champions of right, rather than suffer the bondage
imposed by the Magnates.

Trueman, since the hour of his marriage, has spent much of his time in
Wilkes-Barre. He decides that it is better for him to guide the closing
days of the campaign from his home.

After settling the estate of Gorman Purdy, and turning over to the
workingmen the mines, furnaces and breakers that were owned by the late
Coal King, Harvey and his wife go to live in a comfortable villa in the
suburbs.

By her voluntary surrender of the $160,000,000 which the criminal
practices of Gorman Purdy had amassed, Ethel becomes the idol of the
people, not only of Wilkes-Barre, but of the entire country. She gives
substantial proof of the sincerity of her promise made at the grave of
her father. This act of altruism does much to avert any reaction of the
turbulent elements of the large cities.

The prospect of regaining the public utilities by purchase and the
establishment of governmental departments to control them in the
interests of the people as a whole, is made bright by the magnificent
example that is furnished by the towns of Pennsylvania.

Harvey Trueman establishes the lead