ANN EX 112 979 iH^l JM^H <f] 04? LUDLOW A MYSTERY PLAY By CHARLES HIRAM CHAPMAN Author of "The Mormon Elder" PUBLISHED BY THE RADICAL UNION COPYRIGHT 1914 LUDLOW SCENE: A high-toned church, the congregation waiting for the minister. It is prayer meeting night. Enter two angels. First Angel: Have you observed His Majesty of late? I fear he s growing A trifle lax in business- Second Angel: I ve noticed it; he s showing, Unless I err, the sad effects of years. First Angel: And cares. His reign Has lasted twenty centuries almost. Second Angel: Of course his brain Is active still. First Angel: Oh, certainly. He s fond of art and yet Not as he used to be. Second Angel: Oh, no; he always had a set Of young, ambitious cherubs round him painting, graving gems, Composing music for the harp, designing diadems For newly ransomed saints but that is past and gone ; I hear He s taken to collecting. First Angel : Yes, antiques, those very queer Old tapestries, quaint bronzes, magic rings and filmy laces, Bits of armor, swords and daggers, manuscripts and broken vases In his palace, I assure you, there s an atmosphere of death. Life and living art have vanished. Second Angel: Sad indeed. I ve heard a breath Of rumor, just a whisper, that he spends a lot of time Making verses, molding language into childish, jingling rhyme. Second Angel: Yes, I know. He s writing sonnets, but you d never guess his theme Tis free love. First Angel: My goodness gracious, what a scandal! Second Angel: There s a dream Floating nebulously, vaguely thru his age-encumbered mind Of a happy transformation, comfort, peace for all mankind 4 LUDLOW No more killing toil, no Privilege to suck the toilers blood- Equal right and equal justice- First Angel: All men sprawling in the mud Together. Second Angel: Yes, precisely so. First Angel: I m told he sits up late Reading books on sociology. Second Angel: Too true. First Angel: And talks a great Deal too much about his only son. Second Angel: The boy they crucified A sad, sad end, but then when law and order are defied Justice must take its course. First Angel: They say his son had some such plan For changing into heavenly bliss the wretched lot of man As that His Majesty now dreams of Second Angel: "Dreams"! a fitting word. It makes me sad to see him toy with visions so absurd. Meantime the rival dynasty encroaches more and more Upon his territory. First Angel: Yes, indeed. We all deplore The inroads they are making, John D. Jr. and his sire, They capture some new fortress every day. Second Angel: They re climbing higher While we sink down. It won t be long at this rate ere they gain Unlimited dominion. First Angel: So I fear. I note with pain The cdntrast most regrettable between the young John D. And His Majesty s meek son who fronts his rival with a plea For kindness, love and brotherhood- Second Angel: The Rockefellers smile At his innocence. True statesmen diplomatic, they beguile Their feeble foe with promise, protestation, honeyed praise And now and then a present while they march their ruthless ways To power. I foresee a time unless the tide soon turns When they ll own every church on earth. First Angel: With shame my spirit burns That His Majesty has sent us to congratulate his foe On his recovery. It seems like begging favor. LTJDLOW Second Angel: So It does to me. But we will do the deed howe er disrelishing Duty is duty even when it sadly needs embellishing. [Enter Minister] First Angel: Here comes the minister. I hope he won t begin to preach Before we get a chance polite to make our little speech. Second Angel: He isn t going to preach tonight. He only means to pray. I ll intercept him. Reverend Sir, behold us in your way His Majesty s ambassadors congratulations bearing To his valued John D. Jr. Kindly say how he is faring And indicate his person that our errand we may end And cease to interrupt your rites. Minister: I m glad, my heavenly friend, To tell you his recovery is perfect. We expect him Every minute but he s not here yet. Second Ang-el: You re going to elect him For your God, I m told. Minister: Twere hardly diplomatic to disclose Our plans to you. His Majesty would certainly oppose If he knew we meditated such, and you of course would feel In duty bound to tell him. Second Angel: Since you re minded to conceal Your traitorous intentions- Minister: Sir, your language is profane. Second Angel: Pardon, your Reverence, perhaps it is a little plain For this sacred tabernacle. I suppose tis very rare To hear the cold truth spoken in this dim, religious air. Minister : Tis faith, not truth, we cherish here. Second Angel: The interval to fill While we wait his presence tell us how he came to be so ill. Minister : His malady was of the soul, his body was not sick. Twas anguish of the spirit, sorrows piling on him thick From far-off Colorado where the earth is full of coal, Full of gold and iron and radium, but alas ! no living soul, 6 LUDLOW Such fatal spell was on the land, could mine those treasures varied, So in dark, subterranean tombs for ages they lay buried. Second Angel: Teach us the spell, if not too dire its horrid symbols mystic. Minister : Its baneful sense is all summed up in one word cabalistic UNOWNED the gold was public, and the coal and iron all, And therefore none might use them, for a blighting curse will fall On him who aught converts to use for food or wear or tool Ere he has feed an owner, such is fate s eternal rule. Second Angel: Since the minerals were public, why wouldn t it suffice To fee the public? Minister: Get thee hence! It fills me with surprise A proposal so subversive, atheistic and seditious, To hear from lips celestial. Such suggestions black, pernicious Were better heard from hell than heaven. Second Angel: Alas! I meant no harm. I asked for mere instruction. Minister: Pardon then my fierce alarm And remember for the future that the public was created To pay fees, not receive them. Second Angel: So. How came the curse abated? Minister: One day great John D. Jr. with a martyr s sense of duty Offered himself as owner thus to break the spell. The beauty Of his deed I dare say stuns you? Second Angel: I am simply paralyzed. Minister: Since you grasp the situation thus you will not be surprised To learn that Colorado on its benefactor cast All her radium, gold and iron and timber to the last Lone tree, and John D. Jr., bent beneath the mighty weight, But submissive to his duty, sent a message thru the great Wide earth, "Come hither, toilers! Flee your masters, break your chains, Blast my coal and mine my iron and I promise for your pains To your souls a blest salvation, for I draw at will on God LUDLOW 7 Thru the Church my faithful partner." So wherever wage-slaves trod They heard his wooing call and came, Italian, Finn and Greek. Second Angel : In return for all his trouble what did John D. Jr. seek? Minister: He sought not sordid pelf, to win their wayward hearts he longed. And so when he remarked with grief that every night they thronged Where in the falsely gay saloon the bright lights lured to hell Thru fetid mists of putrid sin, the scene he pondered well ; With his God he faced the problem, saw the light, and thenceforth there Only consecrated drinks were sold which stimulated prayer. Second Angel: How must his blood-washed soul have joyed to see those orgies foul Transformed to scenes of holy bliss. Twere impolite to growl If he made a little money from those purified saloons Minister: Oh let s not think of money. Let me turn to other boons Which his generous heart provided to beautify dull life For those hapless foreign miner boys bereft of home and wife. In his sterilized saloon a band of maidens chaste he housed In whose refined society the men who had caroused Erewhile with siren charmers read the Bible, sang of Christ. And heavenward with many a lure were craftily enticed They seasoned fleshly joys with saving principles sedate And passions born in hell were tamed to guide to Heaven s gate. Second Angel : You said a moment since those maids were chaste, your langauge now Implies some relaxation of their chill, forbidding vow. Minister : Twas spiritually chaste, I meant. Their bodies were for sale. Second Angel: May I ask who got the proceeds ? Minister: Proceeds! Ever without fail Your mind reverts to earthly filth. Fain, fain would I compel Your thoughts with mine and great John D. s on loftier themes to dwell. 8 LUDLOW ~ The laborer, as you have read, is worthy of his hire And John D. Jr. labored with incessant, hot desire To alleviate the miners and defend them from the wiles Of union organizers who with sleek, insidious smiles Sought to woo them from their liberty, by unionized compact- Sought to rob them of that precious right, the freedom of contract. Second Angel: Thru their union they contract far more efficiently, more pelf They get, than each one lonely can, unfriended for himself. Minister : You forget that John D. Jr. is every miner s friend And that liberty, not glittering pelf, is life s important end. That holy watchword "liberty" elucidates John D. With great expository skill, and power. It means, says he, The right to work for what one will and where one will and when, And to guard the right unsullied he stationed riflemen On all approaches to his mines with orders strict to shoot Each miner who from liberty s blest precincts tried to scoot, And each fiendish agitator who with glittering lures to sin In the form of union slavery, serpent-like came stealing in. I ve oft heard John D. Jr. say he d rather sacrifice Every cent of his investment than permit such ill to rise. Thus the simple miners, sheltered, lived their sweet, idyllic lives Like happy working bees that swarm in huge industrious hives Far from noisy altercations, storing honey day by day- Second Angel: And John D. got the honey ? Minister: Does he not deserve his pay, Who bears the weight of ownership ? Thus many a bright month passed And John D. in his innocence believed he had at last Out in golden Colorado an ideal realm created. But alas! into this Eden wriggling serpents penetrated Union agents spewing venom- Second Angel: My! how warm your language grows! Minister : With righteous indignation hot my outraged being glows When I think of all the mischief those paid agitators made In spite of all precautions, with never-ceasing raid On property, religion, law and order LUDLOW 9 Second Angel: Tell us pray Precisely what the doctrines were with which they led astray Those poor, deluded miners. Minister : God, they said, had made the earth The common property of men and everyone by birth Was entitled to an equal share of all that it contains, Its oil wells, farm lands, timber, water powers and mineral veins, Since God is no respecter of our social laws distorted, But would make his favors equal if his purpose were not thwarted. Second Angel : Alas! what horrid doctrines! How blasphemous, how debased. Pray, why in heaven are rank and class and privilege not erased If God is such a democrat? There some sit high, some low, Some always feast at his right hand while some on errands go. He has his favorites above, chosen we know not why, And naturally here below like principles apply. Minister : They always have and justly too, for what a falling down Would overtake art, music, those bright jewels in the crown Of our age, so grandly civilized, were none endowed with means To house the shivering poet, keep the painter clad with jeans But I m saddest when I contemplate the woes the church would rack Were our millionaires abolished. Oh the vision is too black Avaunt thou spectre horrid. Vanish army peripatetic Of preachers seeking pulpits, unwillingly ascetic ! Second Angel: Is the spectral army gone ? Minister: Tis going. Slyly day by day The incendiary traitors led those hapless men astray, Until on one sad morning they forsook their peaceful jobs, Against their master kind rebelled and massed in howling mobs They cursed the law, reviled the flag, defied the powers stellar, Nay some, with drunken rage insane, blasphemed our Rockefeller. Resuming quite the savage they refused to pay their rents, Migrated to the open wilds and housed themselves in tents. Second Angel: What fickle hearts they must have had to outrage human laws And blaspheme God and John D. for no reason but because The agitators told them to. 10 LUDLOW Minister: Oh desperately vile They are, those heathen foreigners. In patient grief the while Good John D. Jr. prayed for them and fasted with a meek Resolve to win their wayward hearts until he grew so weak He was forced to keep his bed. But now his strength has been regained Somewhat at least and he ll be here directly. [Enter His Majesty} His Majesty: I am pained To think how much he must have suffered grieving for the sins Of those benighted aliens, but such holy sorrow wins Eternal compensation. At first it seemed to me A graceful act to send these blessed angels to John D. "With polite congratulations on his precious health restored, But I finally reflected that he might perhaps feel bored- Regarding it as something less than due consideration That mere angels should my message bring to one of his high station So here I am myself. Minister: And you are welcome, I am sure, To your temple. His Majesty: Thanks; my title seems a little insecure At times to my possessions of this sort. No doubt our dear John D. Jr. with his gunmen, ere a great while, will be here. Minister: I think I hear him coming. There, the bell in solemn tones Announces his arrival. On our reverent prayer bones Let us await his entrance. [All kneel except His Majesty] His Majesty: They made no such demonstration When I came in. I see I m quite of secondary station In this scene of love adoring. In good truth I almost feel As if to show due deference I ought myself to kneel. [Minister and congregation sing] Hail mighty son of John ! Nobly thou bearest on All his great task. Humbly to thee we bow ; In thy blest presence now Beaming we bask. LUDLOW 11 Pounder of colleges, Spreader of knowledges, Prop of the church, Stay of our missions wide, Ne er us, oh radiant guide, Leave in the lurch. Our fond eyes turn up to thee, Eager, expectantly, Fountain of hope ! Shower thy favors down, Dolour with dollars drown, Shell out the dope ! His Majesty [to angels]: These Christians have bestowed my throne outright on young John D. And they worship him more ardently than ever they did me. Second Angel : Don t take their lapse unkindly. You re too busy to attend To their affairs. A stranger you, while he has stood their friend, Bought them an organ, paid their preacher, kept them out of debt When have you ever done as much for anybody yet? Sitting up there in heaven occupied with stars and suns Can you complain if Rockefeller takes the helm and runs Your churches ? His Majesty: I ve been negligent and things are going badly In this portion of my empire. They need regulating sadly. From this moment I will change my course, turn over a new leaf And endeavor to win back the hearts I ve lost. I think, in brief, I ll hold a day of judgment. Maybe something will come out That will cost this John D. Jr. the respect of the devout And lead them back into my fold. Tell Gabriel to bring His trump and blow a blast to summon every living thing And wake the dead. We ll see when all the hidden truth is told Whether this proud young man can still supplant me in my fold- Meanwhile I 11 treat him civilly. J. D. Jr. : I cannot be deceived ! Tis His Majesty. I know his face. I should have been most grieved Had my affliction kept me home from this auspicious meeting. His Majesty: I dropped in to congratulate 12 LUDLOW J. D. Jr. : My illness has been fleeting. I trace my swift recovery to your especial favor. His Majesty: You flatter me. But I ll confess your prayers have sweeter savor Than most of those that rise like smoke and cloud the atmosphere Around my throne. But there s one point pray tell me now, my dear John D., how did you recognize my countenance so quickly? Unless I err we ve never met before. J. D. Jr. : Oh, no, but thickly Your portraits hang upon the walls of my friend Morgan s palace And your picture s in the Bible. His Majesty: I ve sometimes suspected malice In those designs. I m glad to learn they are so accurate. [Enter Gabriel. He blows his trumpet] But here comes good old Gabriel. He s prompt and sure as fate. J. D. Jr. : What s the meaning of his trumpet? It can t be that the Day Of Judgment s come? I m not prepared I ll have to get a stay Postponement sure tis wrong to bring it on in such a hurry. I refer you to my lawyers. His Majesty: Don t fall into a flurry, My dear John D. You ll recollect you couldn t ask much warning, For your Bible tells you plainly that the awful judgment morning Shall dawn quite unexpectedly. But pray collect your wits This is only a rehearsal J. D. Jr.: Still I think it s best it fits My station better, you ll concede, to have my lawyers here Lest anything untoward should occur. Mis Majesty: Oh, never fear. A man as good as you should face his final reckoning bold As any lion, confident he 11 glide into the fold Among the sheep. And since when comes the real Judgment Day You must answer without lawyers, twere better, I should say, To dispense with them on this occasion. J. D. Jr. : Very well, I bow To your opinion. Still no doubt you ll graciously allow My right to an appeal. LUDLOW 13 His Majesty: To whom appeal from my decree? J. D. Jr.: Why to the Supreme Court of course. Mis Majesty: Of course; oh, certainly. I d forgotten that tribunal so much higher than my own. [Enter a stranger] Speak up, you wandering pilgrim fierce, of countenance unknown. Tell us your name and why you came to this dire judgment place. U. Sin. : My name is Upton Sinclair and unto his brazen face To accuse this John D. Jr. am I come. His Majesty: So. By your grace, Kind pastor, in your pulpit I will take the cushioned seat, And this wild wanderer shall tell his story at my feet. Upton hum Upton by that name my memory is stirred It seems to me as if its sound somewhere I must have heard. Upton ah yes are you not he who wrote that famous book, The Jungle? All the angels, each secluded in a nook, I caught reading it one day. Their hymns were still, their pallid wings With agitation waved. U. Sin.: I m he, and the same impulse brings Me here today that fired my soul when I composed the Jungle Hatred of wrong and tyranny, contempt for that gross bungle, Our so-called civilization, a machine of crime invented To enslave the weak and simple for the cunning strong. Contented The Rockefeller slaves toiled on in misery most foul Too ignorant to feel their wrongs, too cowardly to howl When they were robbed and murdered. His Majesty: Murdered? U. Sin. : Murdered by the score By tricky engineering, cheap and deadly; o er and o er The walls caved in and buried them, the fiery gas exploded Their lives cost Rockefeller naught- why should he then be loaded With the price of honest engineering? Fraud would do as well And so he kept his murderous mines a profitable hell, Staining every coin with blood drops, Some laws the harlot state, The harlot Colorado, had enacted to protect The ignorant foreign miners, but these feeble laws were wrecked By the Rockefeller hirelings, who, more ravenous than their lord 14 LUDLOW His Majesty: Tut, tut, not me, I hope? U. Sin.: Oh, no, I mean that fiend abhorred Whom your saints adore instead of you. With politicians linked As vile as he to every vice, to every brute instinct That would yield a slimy penny Rockefeller pandered grinning Thru his hirelings, knowing well that while he kept his poor slaves sinning, Kept them whoring, kept them drunken, kept them hungry and in debt, He could rob them unresisting. His Majesty: So you make it out and yet They did resist. U. Sin. : I ll come to that. Pray let me tell my tale Consecutively. Colorado s laws within the pale Of Rockefeller s mines were all abolished. Guards cried halt On every road ; the ragged slaves must buy their bread and salt At Rockefeller s stores, their drinks at his saloons, their lust Must sate upon his prostitutes. No slave the roadway dust Beyond the pale dared tread. The starving fugitive was shot And Colorado made no sign. His Majesty: Dear pastor, did you not A short while since as Eden blest those woeful mines describe 1 Minister: I do so still. These Sinclairs are a shameless, lying tribe, I ve heard them slander you yourself. His Majesty: You have? As if that mattered ! My reputation hopelessly long years ago was shattered By you preachers. You have given me a character so black That Sinclair s hardest epithets are praises. U. Sin. : To come back, In spite of Rockefeller s gunmen, sentinels and guards, In spite of filth and lust and blood and ignorance those shards And images of men defiled for Rockefeller s gain Began at last to think Minister : God, that word gives me a pain ! As soon as men begin to think their lords divinely chosen Begin to suffer. All the misery, all the myriad woes on Earth arise from thinking. If their minds would only rest There s no reason under heaven why men should not be blest. Thought is our curse, our bane, our blight. LUDLOW 15 U. Sin. : "Pis curse and blight and bane To those who out of human woe amass their cruel gain. The brutal slaves began to think about their wrongs and rights They saw that while their richest blood was sucked by parasites They must be wan and thin themselves. His Majesty: By parasites you mean ? U. Sin: John D. Jr. and his fellows who keep the workers lean By devouring what their toil produces owners of the earth His Majesty: Oh, ownership ! That superstition causes constant mirth Among the devils down in hell who laugh to think that man Devises tricks to keep himself as wretched as he can And ownership ! of all the tricks it is the most absurd. Minister : Hush, hush! I cannot suffer here such language to be heard, Such dread, incendiary speech against the sacred right Of property. His Majesty: In my own church it seems as if I might Say what I please. Minister: You must observe becoming reverence For these sanctified surroundings. His Majesty: Oh, I meant no offense I will apologize. U. Sin. : Alas ! these interruptions endless ! How shall I ever tell my tale ? The miner lone and friendless Beheld himself a feeble unit, helpless in the hands Of myriad mighty owners all united by the bands, Of the law in corporations. The proud owners never deal As man to man, defending each his own particular weal, But all for each. For them alway their legal unions speak, Their corporations. From their lords the starving miners weak The lesson learned, "In union there is strength." For them as well As for their masters one great voice the will of all should tell, But the lords well knew the danger that the strength of union brings To the economic tyrant as it did of old to kings, And thru their legal spokesman, who spoke for each and all, Decreed that every miner by himself must stand or fall For the lords a compact union isolation for the thrall. 16 LUDLOW J. D. Jr.: Whoso joins a labor union must give up his liberty, And the freedom of the laborer so precious is to me So holy, that I d sooner all my money spend in fight Than permit my dear loved miners thus to sacrifice their right To sell as individuals their brawn and sweat. His Majesty: Just so. But did it seem a sacrifice, I d really like to know, When you joined your corporation and thus your right divine Lost as an individual to sally forth and mine Your coal with your own sturdy hands? J. D. Jr. : I will not talk. I must Refer you to my lawyers sage. U. Sin.: Their lords decree unjust Drove the men to desperation. Outraged, despised, oppressed, They struck for the right to organize, the right their lords possessed And used to wrong and ruin them. The cabins where like swine, To swell the masters tribute bled from them by right divine, They dwelt in filth and shame, were built on Rockefeller s land, And when they struck their pious lord invoked the leprous hand Of harlot Colorado s kept and prostituted law To drive them from their bestial homes in icy tempest raw. Mothers with newborn. babes were cast upon the freezing street And naked children cried forlorn amid the killing sleet. Their pitiful possessions in the muddy gutters piled, Old keepsakes, dear mementoes-, all desecrate, defiled, Were hurled in mingled ruin. Fleeing death they sought a vale. Not yet, most strange to say, enclosed in Rockefeller s pale And there to shelter wife and babe from cruel elements, Aided by faithful brothers hands, they built a town of tents Where in their patient misery sustained by hope they wait Oh fatal hope ! that time and prayer their lords proud wrath may bate And they may win the piteous grace to bend to toil again, Not cursed and robbed as sodden slaves, but free and upright men. This was their prayer to that hard soul who stands before you now With simulated love to man wreathed falsely round his brow. His dollars drip with babies blood, his gifts to you have cost A hundred thousand human souls in hellish misery lost. His Majesty: Tut, tut, be accurate, my friend. I never get his gifts, LUDLOW 17 Somewhere twixt him and me there is a hand that always lifts The glittering gob. Minister: I really hope Your Majesty descries This wretch s black depravity. The tale he tells is lies, From alpha to omega. The wild mob for whom he seeks To rouse your feelings gullible, it was a gang of Greeks Savage. They were not citizens, they did not speak our tongue, Their religion un-American, they did not send their young To public school. In nauseous huts they lived, like shameless swine With such beasts you cannot reason nor by love their souls refine. Kindness makes them only fiercer. Would we quell their murderous rage We must whip them till they howl with pain, must herd them in a cage We must shoot their boldest leaders, and if now and then by chance A bullet on its way to tame some miscreant should glance And spatter baby s tender brains o er nursing mother s breast Why that s regrettable of course, but you who do your best To rule the universe with love are sometimes, are you not, Forced for the sake of greater ends some swarming town to blot Without a moment s warning, from the earth ? So in those mines Our precious John D. Jr. by necessity combines Severity with kindness. To produce a perfect rose Bud by the thousand after bud to swift destruction goes. His Majesty: I do not for a moment doubt that your adored John D. In all his acts, both here and there, has patterned after me. But on the score of harshness, unless I judge amiss, He has bettered my example. U. Sin. : If you two go on like this How shall I ever tell my tale? The miners patient wait Housed in their tents, for happier days. The lords manipulate The scenes for their own purposes. Far too intelligent These men had grown to please them now and far too keen their scent For right and wrong. They must be harried, driven from the land And new hordes brought to take their place, some dark and savage band, Priest-ridden, abject, swinish, docile to fist and oath, Eager for slavish wage to barter soul and body both. Such workmen Rockfeller craves, such he describes as free, Because each one is ready to devour his fellows. He 18 LUDLOW Se*nt out his call to every sottish, dark, unlettered clime Where tyranny has dulled men s souls and wrong by hallowing time Grown sacred. There his agents massed a fearsome, gibbering horde And, shipped like cattle with their priests, into the mines they poured. His Majesty: I notice when you speak of priests a sneer, contemptuous, proud, Distorts your lips. Is that because those holy men are vowed To me? Minister: Your faithful servants he scorns and hates like mad U. Sin. : Your servants true I d love and praise if any such you had Among the priests. They laud you to your face but when your back Is turned they serve the devil. Minister: That s a slanderous attack. His Majesty: Well, never mind. Don t quarrel. I ll investigate the charge When I get time. Proceed. U. Sin. : Thruout the country then at large Your holy John D. Jr. spread another urgent call For assassins, cutthroats, butchers. Hundreds came. He sent them all To harlot Colorado who enrolled them in the ranks Of her own militia cohorts, joining like to like, with thanks Most grateful to her master. Their duty to expel From their tented homes the miners lest they teach the word "rebel" Unto the new-brought servile horde [Enter Mother Jones] His Majesty: Who shall this figure name? Her eyes they gleam with quenchless fires, her warring features flame With passion. Is it love or hate ? U. Sin.: Your Majesty, tis love. She has fought with Hell for justice. She has prized the right above All sacred forms, all human law. For them that live in woe Her soul is dedicate to strife. No furlough shall she know In the war till death discharges her. LUDLOW 19 Mother Jones : Excuse me butting in But Gabriel s tooting trumpet set up such a frightful din The country over I inferred some high, momentous scene Must be enacting here. His Majesty: There is. I m trying hard to glean The bare, unvarnished truth about the lamentable strife In John D. Jr. s mines. Mother Jones : I wish you luck. In all my life, And it s been long and active, the truth I ve never known About a strike of workers to attain your holy throne. It must reach you thru the preachers if it reaches you at all, And they, I m sad to say, are bound in Rockefeller s thrall Or to Morgan or Carnegie or some other pirate chief, So the truths that reach your Majesty are very sparse and brief. His Majesty: And by what warrant do you thus impeach my saintly sources? Your locks are white, your withered cheeks betoken quiet courses And yet your eyes are all aglow, you speak with fiery tongue- Mother Jones : My love of liberty and right keeps me forever young I m Mother Jones. Where er the fight grows hot with tyrant power You will hear my voice uplifted for the rebels. In the hour Of victory I share their joy I cheer them when they grieve, I bind their wounds I mother them Minister: Don t let her tongue deceive Your Majesty s good judgment, she s an agitator wild She disseminates sedition; by her serpent lure beguiled The most contented force of hands turn raging anarchists In half an hour. She s sure to go wherever strife exists A screaming fury pouring oil on fire. She sought the mines As soon as trouble broke to fan the flame. In peace she pines, In war she hideous blooms. His Majesty: It seems to my impartial view That Mother Jones, if she knows aught should tell it. Mother Jones : If you knew The hundredth part that I know if you d seen the sights I ve seen Pell cruelty upheld by law, the army intervene Always upon the side of wrong, mothers with babes shot down While from their burning homes they fled, the brutal soldiers crown 20 LUDLOW Day after day of slaughter with nights of drunken lust You would wonder at my patience. Do you think it can be just That the weak should always suffer, that the poor should always weep? His Majesty: Don t ask me what s just or unjust the subject is too deep I m supposed to have a purpose some eternities away That will straighten out the tangled threads that bother us today. The thought is very comforting it keeps my mind at ease Everything comes right tomorrow, or some time. So now then please Go on and tell your story. Mather Jones: I was going to console The miners wives and children, but I never reached my goal, For Rockefeller s gunmen seized my old, decrepit frame And threw me in a dungeon. There he kept me till his game Was played. His Majesty: Not in a dungeon he could not the law insures Freedom to all impartially as long as time endures. Mother Jones : That lovely dream, impartial law! for us who toil there s none, Though plenty that s against us. From my dungeon dark and lone Thru the grated windows peering I beheld the gunmen leal Wearing Colorado s colors crowned with Rockefeller s seal- Saw the gay, pot-bellied majors sally forth to lead their bands To mercenary slaughter saw them come with gory hands Back from the massacre of babes and mothers slain for hire, Proud with the memory of lust and hate and murderous fire, And I saw the stars and stripes entwined on Colorado s soil With the black assassin banner of Jesuit Standard Oil. To Colorado s venal courts I prayerfully appealed For those dear rights our fathers won on many a bloody field. But soon I found there were no rights for me the courts were sold And paid for, like the majors, with Rockefeller s gold. So I languished in my dungeon till the evil game was won By Rockefeller s players. His Majesty: Are you sure your story s done? Mother Jones : Yes tis done. When all was over and the poor I went to save Were hunted o er the mountains or sleeping in the grave, They set me free. [Enter ghost of Louis TiJcas~\ LUDLOW 21 Tikas : The trumpet in the depths of hell I heard. From the stern reverberations of its clangor I inferred That the Judgment Day had come and so I left my flaming bed And sure at last of justice to your royal seat I sped. His Majesty: Here s another claiming justice. One would think to hear their cries I had nothing else to think about up yonder in the skies. Dear sir, you ve no idea how my time is taken up With draining off my blood to fill the sacramental, cup And christenings and baptizings, tens of thousands every day, I must be there on the spot. Just think were I away How the ritual would stagger! And there s prayers and hymns to hear And sermons I must criticise lest heresies appear. I m sure you will acknowledge, if your brain is worth a dime, That for trifles such as justice I have very little time. The purpose of this gathering is from witnesses to learn The truth about these miners. You of course may take your turn If you ve anything to tell. But don t imagine I can spend Much time on private grievances. I want to clear my friend, John D. Jr., of these imputations sad which serpent breath Has blown upon his snow-white soul. Tikas : The story of my death Will whiten his repute. His Majesty: Go on and tell it then. Tikas: In life I was one of John D. Jr. s slaves, a miner. Ere the strife Had flamed to bloody warfare I was chosen by the men To lead them I was spokesman and adviser. Now and then I went to John D. s agents with a message and a plea Begging our feudal masters from our hell to set us free And let us live and work like decent men. His Majesty: And what reply Did my dear friend Rockefeller make you ? Tikas : That which power on high Irresponsible and absolute makes ever to the poor The reply of proud and privileged lord to dull, toil-blighted boor We must grovel, we must crawl and beg, forget our human right And submit without complaint to live our- lives in bestial plight. We must take with grateful fawning any crumb they pleased to toss And worship for the miner s God the miner s brutal boss. 22 LUDLOW His Majesty: You can t mean that John D. Jr., my tried and trusted friend, On whose gold so very many of my holiest works depend, Tried to usurp my throne ? Tikas : Your throne he captured long ago. There s not a church in all this land where you have any show Competing with your dear John D. for hymns and prayers and praise. You get constrained lip service on your formal Sabbath days, He gets heart adoration from your superficial saints, And he gets it all the time. His Majesty: I ve heard before some such complaints- Mere atheistic gibber I imagine. Tikas : Born in Crete, From her ancient kings descended in their legendary seat, I beheld the world around me blasted with helpless pain The bestial peasant toiling clanked his master s iron chain, He ate the fetid offal rejected by his swine That his silken lord off dainty food from golden plate might dine. He toiled in blazing harvest suns with aching muscles whipped By hunger gaunt that lords might loll in shady dalliance dipped. He in a filthy hovel dreamed his nightmare rest away That his razored lord till daylight might with jeweled harlots play. I saw the smirking priest astride the backs of docile fools, I heard the lying lore they taught in old oppression s schools I saw the supercilious smile of landlord, king and priest As they cracked the driver s lash above the chained and harnessed East- Old Samson eyeless, conquered, grinds his masters weary mill While they sip their wine and watch him work their high, imperious will. His Majesty: What world are you describing? Tikas : Earth. His Majesty: The world I sent my son To save ? Tikas: The same old earth, your gracious Majesty, the one You rule in righteousness and love, where pain remorseless gnaws, Where the weeping poor have no appeal and might enacts the laws. LUDLOW 23 His Majesty: From your piteous description I d suppose you spoke of hell, Which I planned to make repellant. Tikas: And succeeded fairly well, But it can t compare with earth for woe relentless, black, appalling. From the free West untamed, unchained, I heard Columbia calling Columbia with the starlight in her eyes upon her brow The diadem of promise and the sealed, eternal vow To right the aged wrongs of men, the friendless to defend, To free the soul for godlike deeds His Majesty: You flatter me, my friend. Godlike ? By that I see you mean deeds great, emancipating, Diffusing joy thru all the world. I cannot help inflating My breast with pride that you ascribe activities to me Like those, and whiles I sit and think how pleasant it would be To take a hand in something good or interesting or great But there s my church, my creeds, my prayers, my sacraments too late Too late alas ! for me to dream of helping on the world. I m overwhelmed with holy bunk, my spirit s sails are furled In a fetid Saragasso sea of pieties tenacious. U. Sin.: Your tongue seems still unfettered. Mother Jones : His tongue ! Yes. Please your gracious Majesty, reserve for some appropriate time your plaint And let poor Tikas have his say. His Majesty: Go on. Tikas : I sought to paint, When you broke in, the hopes that sprung within me when I saw The torch of Liberty ablaze upon the shores of law Equal for all ; when rising from the gray Atlantic wave I beheld the home of Justice where the poorest man may brave The richest in impartial courts and win his right unawed By power or frowning prestige. So with expectations broad Of faithful work and sure reward to Rockefeller s mines I journeyed. His Majesty : Yes. Now tell me what you found in those confines. Tikas : I found old Europe s feudal woes thriving in kindred soil, I found men there, just as at home, despised because they toil, 24 LUDLOW Enslaved by crafty power and robbed, wrong lording over right, Man s kindliness and gentleness depraved by cruel might To bestialize him ; and I found, what Europe cannot show, The crafty judges fawning on the lords of human woe, Blazing dispiteous crime for law, decreeing hellish wrong, And merchandizing justice. In alliance with the strong, The cunning, leaden-hearted rich I found the powers of state, The army sold to vulture greed, the law confederate With cynic lust and murderous hate, society putrescent Crawling with worms of rot and thru the ropy mass incessant Bubbled the preacher s ghoulish breath with carrion stench areek Proclaiming this was your work, God, your will, and we the meek, The beaten curs, the oxen yoked and goaded in our path Must uncomplaining toil or feel in hell your quenchless wrath. His Majesty: I sometimes really wish I had a hell like they describe, Twould be convenient when I come to settle with that tribe. But never mind. Let s hear the rest. U. Sin.: He s making an impression! Mother Jones : So many of God s intimates are liars by profession That truth must seem a luxury to him like desert rains. Tikas: When racked by tyranny obscene the miners broke their chains And struck I was their captain, I was brain and heart and hand For all the childlike multitude. Docile at my command They built their canvas refuge town strategic where the roads To many a coal mine focus, thus to intercept the loads Of Rockefeller s thugs and scabs discharged from cattle trains To eat our bread and starve our kids ; and down the weary lanes Our comrades met them pleading, "0 brothers kind, forbear. " Tis your battle we are fighting and the victory you ll share "The long, long gains of victory, freedom and manly weal, "The joy of chainless work and homes secure." To our appeal Deaf they marched on, but here and there along the sullen line Dark faces paled with keen remorse, hard hands struck ours, divine In pledge of brotherhood, and some, seduced by artful lies To wrong their fellow toilers, when the black truth smote their eyes Forsook the assassin hypocrite with his gore-smeared Bible armed And joined our band. The barons, for their slaves and power alarmed, Resolved upon a deed LUDLOW 25 His Majesty: What deed? Tikas: Monstrous, inhuman, one That History dare not look upon so black that once tis done Mankind for fear of going mad with horror turn away And will not believe the story. His Majesty: Oh, of such deeds in my day I ve known too many, many. U. Sin.: Usually done, you can t deny, To glorify your Majesty. His Majesty: Tut, tut. There you and I Must differ. When men do a deed too hideous for hell They are apt to fancy queerly that it makes the evil well To say twas for God s glory that s the ordinary game- But they always act for their own power and profit just the same. U. Sin.: For once you reason soundly. Tikas: Massacre was their plot- To kill and burn obliterate our city "sparing not The nursing mother nor the babe. Minister: Your Majesty does wrong To list to such a slander upon active Christians strong For law and order, generous to charity, stiff props Of church and state. The man who tells that wicked story lops All possible belief by his own words. Mother Jones: That s just the fix Tikas predicted he d be in if he exposed the tricks Your sanctified assassin plays upon his helpless slaves. The holy butcher finishes his bloody work, then braves It out as something too absurd for rational belief. Tikas: We their dull cattle, born to toil patient in mindless grief, Had conspired against our owners, we had blocked the easy game They d played so often luring blinded levies meek and tame To supersede the bands grown wild with freedom s calling scent Faint on far breezes borne and now they d cure our discontent With one fell lesson, and upon the slave s crushed heart record That the crime past all forgiveness is defiance of his lord- When defiance cripples profits. 26 LUDLOW U. Sin. : That was well put in. They ll stand Anything under heaven as long as gains expand, But once their profits suffer they re implacable. Tikas: The day Was Easter. Mother Jones: Yes, Your Majesty, the morning when, they say, Your meek son from the dead arose, his sacrifice complete, To smile forevermore upon the world he d made the seat Of perfect happiness, the realm of mutual love divine His Majesty: No, madam, you misapprehend the purpose all benign We had in mind, my son and I, when we arranged the scene On Calvary dramatic. It was not to intervene In your affairs terrestrial, vain phantoms fading swift, Unworthy of a moment s thot, but rather to uplift Your spirits longing heavenward and your admission pay Within the pearly gates. Tikas: The sun of holy Easter Day Shone bright upon our tented town, and after weeks of rest The first in all our driven lives the heart in every breast Beat high with hope and confidence. From tent to sunny tent The women s voices echoed gay, the children s merriment Made music in the clear, sweet air, the melody of peace. And with virile jest and laughter, as they used at home in Greece On Eastern morn, the young men formed a game upon the green. His Majesty: What game? Mother Jones: Baseball, Your Majesty. It was a heartening scene. The striker at the hat with manly gesture plays his part, The pitcher twirls the wily ball with deft, elusive art, The basemen straddle at their bags alert to catch and guard, The runners steal their crafty way, advancing yard by yard, Till far, far out upon the wild the batsman knocks a fly- Beyond the racing fielders stretch it sails across the sky. The shouting fans surge forward like the sea waves crest of foam And the men upon the bases black with sweat come panting home. His Majesty: I d like to see a game. Minister: Tut, tut. Your Majesty forgets Tis often played on Sunday and a sinful bunch of wets LUDLOW 27 Are those who most affect it. Twere a hideous sight to scan Should Your Majesty be tempted to become a baseball fan. His Majesty: Well, well, I ll think it over. Tikas: From the hills about the town Rockefeller s hired militia on the merry scene looked down, Swaggering, bragging, swearing the edict was to slay "Shoot all that moves," the order ran they hungered to obey. Prom the lawless plains of Texas there were cowboys gathered there, Drunken, filthy tongued, obscene of heart; from Rockefeller s lair, New York, the nation s cesspool, where the pirate robs and rules, His subject thieves by hundreds had vacation from the schools Where they learn in modest little their master s mighty art And had flocked to Colorado; yea, from every butcher s mart In all the land where crime is bought and human blood is sold Had gathered bands to earn their share of Rockefeller s gold, And the harlot state enrolled them in her brave militia proud Of kindred spirits fellowship; fraternal greetings loud Rang from Colorado s native thugs to brother thugs. At last From hill to hill that Easter morn the silent signal passed His Majesty: What was the signal? U. Sin. : Chosen out of deference polite To Rockefeller s feelings, twas a Bible bound in white. Tikas: And as each militia major passed the Bible from his hand He arrayed in warlike order his own assassin band. Upon the heights in ambush two machine guns treacherous, aimed Straight at the merry ball ground, at the evil moment flamed, And the players on the bases shouting boyish jests fell dead And the Easter-clad spectators torn with bloody slaughter fled. Here a stalwart miner writhed in death, a fear-crazed mother there Fell with her babe whose fingers clung amid her clotted hair. The little children fleeing to the shelter of the town Were chosen marks the gunmen with obscene jests shot them down. For now the brave militia by their gallant majors led Marched on the helpless city across the trodden dead. "Kill all that moves," their watchword passed from ribald tongue to tongue "Kill" was their master s order, "spare neither old nor young." 28 LUDLOW Tis thus that slaves rebellious are taught to bow the head And bend their shoulders to the yoke. The bleeding miners fled To seize their disused rifles and form some poor defense, The women with their children found a treacherous pretense Of safety in the shallow pits neath canvas dwellings dug In troubles past for shelter. The majors with a shrug, Scornful of vermin easy trapped, poured holy kerosene, Sacred to John D. Jr., upon the canvas screen That hid their cowering prey and then, lechers of agony, They fired the tents and listened with grins of lustful glee For tortured shrieks. The fugitives who fled the tents aflame Were shot like rats. Mother Jones: Your Majesty, it was a merry game. Tikas: A merry, merry game. From out the fiery pits charred hands Reached piteous heavenward for help, and Rockefeller s bands Made marks of babies fingers cramped in torment. His Majesty: "Were you there ? Tikas : I was there, I saw the horror. In the pits the fire stripped bare I saw the dead. His Majesty [to John D. Jr.] And where were you, while this went on, dear sir ? John D. Jr. : At home my Bible reading. Twere injustice to infer That I m accountable at all for anything that s done In those far-off mining regions. For I merely am the one That own the mines. With managing the business, with the hands, With all their petty rights and wrongs, and how the payroll stands I ve naught to do. I trust all that to mercenary brain Subordinate but competent. His Majesty: And will you please explain What helpful part you play? John D. Jr. : I take the profits. His Majesty: Does that help? John D. Jr. : I give jobs and pay their wages from the lowest drunken whelp That drills my coal and blasts it to the bulbous major gay That leads the proud militiamen they look to me for pay. LUDLOW 29 His Majesty: It strikes me that they pay themselves at least the workmen do. Part of what they produce they keep and give the rest to you But why they give it, that s what ever puzzles me. Minister: I fear The sacred rights of property are not entirely clear To Your Majesty s intelligence. His Majesty: They re muddy, I confess. This ownership, it sucks the blood. The word that would express My notion of it, were it not so impolite, is louse. Minister : Such sentiments subversive here in this holy house, I must say, are very shocking. His Majesty: Well, this holy house is mine. As owner I ll say what I please. Minister : But how it sounds ! His Majesty : It s fine If my dear friend Rockefeller can do what he likes with coals And oil and ore and timber, with money, men and souls, While I can t even speak my mind within my temple walls I ll say again, howe er it sounds, this ownership appals My common sense. I am surprised that men whom I created Intelligent, or thot I did, should let themselves be freighted With such a load. Minister: The world is full of mysteries profound. Your Majesty must not expect the depths of all to sound What were our holy church without her mysteries abysmal? Where Knowledge wallows blind and lost in bridgeless quagmires dismal Faith sees a starlit path ahead well paved and ground secure There s some great purpose runs thru all, of that you may be sure. His Majesty: There tis again my purpose grand which everything excuses. I wish to God I knew what tis. No doubt my dear friend uses That pretext too. He has like me some purpose grand, sublime, Which leisurely evolves itself thru endless links of time, And all such little episodes as that which Tikas tells Are wavelets on a mighty crest that toward some haven swells Far off, divine. John D. Jr.: Your Majesty is jocular, I fear, But really and truly, Sire, there is a purpose clear 30 LUDLOW That guides my life. But, sad to say, tis oftentimes obscured By these distracting worriments. His Majesty: The grief that I ve endured From that same cause ! The trouble is that men like you and me Are overworked we have too much responsibility Upon our shoulders. But we stray. I m eager to inquire Of Tikas what befell his friends whom massacre and fire Had spared. Tikas : They crept, a shuddering band, women and children pale, A little way to shelter from the bullets deadly hail, Mothers who clasped dead babies to their ghastly bosoms charred With fire, and butchered children ; the writhing flames had scarred Their faces, eaten out their eyes, consumed their helpless hands, And as they blindly followed us the brave militia bands Silenced their cries with bullets. U. Sin. : Twas an edifying scene, Sacred property, religion, law and order and serene, Impartial justice handing to the poor the fruits mature Of our luscious civilization. Tikas : Hoping respite to secure From the gunmen s murderous bullets while we gathered up our dead I crossed the blackened ruins with a white flag o er my head And made my sad petition to the leader. His Majesty: Tell the rest. Don t stop right in the middle of your tale. Mother Jones: He s done his best, Your Majesty. While Tikas begged the General s consent To collect the fire-scarred bodies from each burned and plundered tent A brave Lieutenant struck him with his gun butt from behind And he fell a silent corpse. His Majesty: Indeed! I d like to keep in mind The name of that Lieutenant brave for future recompense. Mother Jones : Twas Linderfelt, Your Majesty, but I ll make no pretense That he was worse or better than his comrades. You perceive That Tikas s tale is ended. [Enter Colorado] LUDLOW 31 His Majesty: So I see, but still I grieve To stop right in the middle this investigation fair. But hist ! what form comes yonder with the pale, peroxide hair And cheeks with paint made witching? Those belladonna eyes, Those patent breasts seductive ! Mother Jones: If Your Majesty is wise You ll look for better company. A trollop loose and lewd She shows herself ""by every sign. Events have made me shrewd In sizing up such huzzies, but I fear you ll be beguiled, Your Majesty s so innocent, so sheltered, such a child, By her false charms entangled, and a scandal will ensue ! His Majesty: Don t worry. Well, dear madam, kindly say to what is due The honor of this visit ? "We are charmed to see you here And shall listen with attention while you make your errand clear. Colorado : My name is Colorado. I am here from far away To defend my reputation dear impeached by those who say That to gay young John D. Jr. I have sold my virtue bright Not with empty protestations, not with vain words shall I fight, There are those, a loyal cohort, who ll strike when I am wronged. Come in, my brave defenders, let this holy place be thronged "With injured Virtue s champions. [Enter Majors] Now who says I m a whore? Majors : We re fat militia majors bold our Queen we all adore, And our last leaping virile drop of blood so rich and red For Colorado s fair white fame we ll gladly, gladly shed And for the stainless honor of the flag. That we murdered helpless prisoners was commendable and right Since we did it for the honor of the flag. We broke our sacred pledges for John D. s dollars bright And we did it for the honor of the flag. We sprinkled kerosene with brooms the miners tent homes o er, And we did it for the honor of the flag. We fired the tents and shot the forms that fled each blazing door And we did it for the honor of the flag. We brained with rifle butts the babes that crept between our feet And we did it for the honor of the flag. We trampled wounded women s breasts upon the bloody street And we did it for the honor of the flag. 32 LUDLOW We shot at little hands to God from flaming pits upraised And we did it for the honor of the flag. We murdered mothers fleeing with their babes, by torment crazed, And we did it for the honor of the flag. In putrid lust we ve wallowed, we have steeped our souls in shame, And we did it for the honor of the flag. We did it all as patriots without reproach or blame, Since we did it for the honor of the flag. Minister : Oh, let us give them glory due, these Majors so devout, With the beautiful gin blossom on each bellicose brave snout. Since all, Your Majesty, was done in honor of the flag For virgin Colorado s sake why should your verdict lag? It must be evident to you from all that has transpired That our precious John D. Jr. with holy zeal was fired For Law and Order. All he did was permeated thru And thru with some great purpose, not discernible to you Perhaps, or me, but still our sacred duty is to trust That he s striving, far beyond our ken, for some great end and just. In his good time his purpose will appear as clear as day And the glory of his righteousness will shine with blinding ray. His Majesty: I remember that same language used of me in days of yore. Minister : So it was when you were potent, in those dim old days before The dynasty we worship now had risen into power Gods rise and set like stars and suns, each has his little hour. His Majesty: It seems so. Well, I came here hoping these disclosures grave About your John D. Jr. would suffice your souls to save From this apostasy profane. But since you re lost past cure I may as well go back to heaven. Minister: You ever may feel sure, Your Majesty, that you shall have our reverence and respect. We ve the greatest admiration for your brilliant intellect We esteem you as a patron of poetry and art But in humdrum practical affairs you ve ceased to play a part. Tis give and take in worship as in other earthly things Perhaps in heaven tis different. His Majesty: Come, Gabriel, spread your wings And we ll be going. Don t forget to bring along your trump, You ll need it by and by again when this distressing slump LUDLOW 33 In our affairs has been retrieved, as well I trust it may. When that time comes I mean to hold another Judgment Day With all becoming pomp, and your delightful task will be To summon with your brazen notes this Anti-God John D. It will not much surprise me if that trial harder goes With him than this, and finds a far more satisfying close. [Exeunt] RADICAL BOOK 8TOBE TOM BURNS Scientific, Freethought & Socialist Literature Current Periodicals, Daily Papers and Subscription Agency, 2 N. 4th St - Portland, Ore. . ^L^^SKt^ySt