I grew sick at heart. I can only ask myself the
old, old question: What can we, the people do?
How can we bring Peace, justice, Truth and Law to
the world? Must we go on bended knees and ask
our public servants to see that justice is done to
the defenceless, rather than this eternal prosecuting
of the world’s noblest souls! You will find
these men guilty, and sentence them to be shut behind
iron bars—which should never be for human
beings, no matter what their crime, unless you want
to make beasts of them. Is that your object,
sir? It would seem so; and so I say that we must
overturn the system that is brutalizing, rather than
helping and uplifting mankind.
Yours for Peace..Justice..Truth..Law—
Mary Angelica Godd.
What were you going to do with such a woman?
Peter could understand the bewilderment of His Honor,
and of the district attorney’s office, and of
the secret service department of the Traction Trust—as
well as of Mrs. Godd’s husband! Peter was
bewildered himself; what was the use of his coming
out here to get more information, when Mrs. Godd had
already committed contempt of court in writing, and
had given all the information there was to give to
a Federal agent? She had told this man that she
had contributed several thousand dollars to the Peoples’
Council, and that she intended to contribute more.
She had put up bail for a whole bunch of Reds and
Pacifists, and she intended to put up bail for McCormick
and his friends, just as soon as the corrupt capitalist
courts had been forced to admit them to bail.
“I know McCormick well, and he’s a lovely
boy,” she said. “I don’t believe
he had anything more to do with dynamite bombs than
I have.”
Now all this time Peter had sat there, entirely under
the spell of Mrs. Godd’s opulence. Peter
was dwelling among the lotus-eaters, and forgetting
the world’s strife and care; he was reclining
on a silken couch, sipping nectar with the shining
ones of Mount Olympus. But now suddenly, Peter
was brought back to duty, as one wakes from a dream
to the sound of an alarm-clock. Mrs. Godd was
a friend of Mac’s, Mrs. Godd proposed to get
Mac out on bail! Mac, the most dangerous Red
of them all! Peter saw that he must get something
on this woman at once!
Peter sat up suddenly among his silken cushions, and
began to tell Mrs. Godd about the new plan of the
Anti-conscription League, to prepare a set of instructions
for young conscientious objectors. Peter represented
the purpose of these instructions to be the advising
of young men as to their legal and constitutional rights.
But it was McGivney’s idea that Peter should
slip into the instructions some phrase advising the
young men to refuse military duty; if this were printed
and circulated, it would render every member of the
Anti-conscription League liable to a sentence of ten
or twenty years in jail. McGivney had warned Peter
to be very cautious about this, but again Peter found
that there was no need of caution. Mrs. Godd
was perfectly willing to advise young men to refuse
military service. She had advised many such, she
said, including her own sons, who unfortunately agreed
with their father in being blood-thirsty.
