“Trueman, Trueman!  Speech!”

The cry changes instantly.

From his eyrie, Nevins, the omnipresent, flutters his commands.  Under his spell the tumult rises.  Delegates from Nebraska and Louisiana rush to the Pennsylvania section and seize Trueman.  He is borne to the rostrum across a veritable sea of men.

Now Nevins hides the flag, and as though a switch key had cut off the current from a dynamo, the confusion subsides.

Now only fitful shouts can be heard; they come like the final rifle cracks in a battle.

Trueman has gained his feet and stands erect, facing an audience that is already fired to the white heat of spontaneous combustion.

He is saved the necessity of working for a climax; it is prepared.

“Pennsylvania has come to this convention to be heard,” he cries.

This happy introduction catches the crowd.  They give a long, hearty cheer and then are silent.

“The delegates from the Keystone State are here to aid in producing a platform that shall contain the declaration of the right of mankind to labor.

“The work of this convention is not to be the single effort of one State delegation; it is not to be that of any prescribed body; but must reflect the united opinions of the American people.

“I shall speak, therefore, as a representative of all liberty-loving men, and shall express their hopes and aspirations as I have found them to exist.

“It is the ever constant belief of the people that popular government is the only form that is compatible with Divine ordination; that all men shall be protected in the right to live, to labor and to prosper according to their deeds and deserts.

“These principles are the basis upon which our republic was built; they have served as the inspiration of our lives; for their perpetuation men have given up their lives on the field of battle, on the altar of martyrdom, and for these principles the vast majority of the citizens of this country are to-day ready to make any sacrifice.”

A storm of applause momentarily checks the speaker.

“When a man devotes his energy to honest toil it is for the purpose of securing to himself and to his family the blessings of thrift; the safeguard for honorable old age.  In his effort he should be protected by every means that a strong government can devise.  The ‘millstone’ should not be pledged or pillaged; the struggle of life should not be made hopeless by compelling a man to slave for mere subsistence.”

“Hear, hear!” come shouts from the galleries.

“Our people have seen the Republic dragged from the line of righteous progress and diverted into the unnatural path of Plutocracy.  Insidious methods have been resorted to by those who have wrought this transformation.  Sophists have told the plain, credulous workers that industrial combination in the form of Corporations and Trusts is the result of a natural law of evolution.  But what is the truth?  The great consolidations that have been effected during the past few years have resulted from the enactment of statutory laws.  These laws have emanated from the brains of men, paid by the Trust magnates to undermine the republic.  No more treasonable acts were ever committed than by the men who have sold the rights of a free people to a band of unscrupulous money worshipers.