You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Sunday March 12, 1905
From the Appeal to Reason: "The Jungle, A Story of Chicago" by Upton Sinclair
In this weeks edition of the Appeal, we find Chapter II of the latest work by Upton Sinclair, "The Jungle," which tells the story of the trials and tribulations of Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant, and his wife, Ona, as they try to survive in the city of Chicago. The series was begun in the February 25th edition of the Appeal and will continue through December. The following is taken from yesterday's portion of the series:
A little way further on, and Jurgis and Ona, staring open-eyed and wondering, came to the place where this "made" ground was in process of making. Here was a great hole, perhaps two city blocks square, and with long files of garbage wagons creeping into it. The place had an odor for which there are no polite words; and it was literally black with children, who raked in it from dawn till dark. Sometimes visitors from the packing-houses would wander out to see this "dump," and they would stand by and debate as to whether the children were eating the food they got, or merely collecting it for the chickens at home. Apparently none of them ever went down to find out....
They stood there while the sun went down upon this scene; the sky in the west turned blood-red, and the tops of the houses shone like fire. Jurgis and Ona were not thinking of the sunset, however-their backs were turned to it, and all their thoughts were of Packingtown, which they could see so plainly in the distance. The line of the buildings stood clear-cut and black against the sky; here and there out of the mass rose the great chimneys, with the river of smoke streaming away to the end of the world. It was a study in colors how, this smoke; in the sunset light it was black and brown and grey and purple. All the sordid suggestions of the place were gone-in the twilight it was a vision of power. To the two who stood watching while the darkness swallowed it up it seemed a land of wonder, with its tale of human energy, of things being done, of employment for thousands upon thousands of men, of opportunity and freedom, of life and love and joy. When they came away, arm in arm, Jurgis was saying: "Tomorrow I shall go there and get a job!"
[banner from February 25th edition of the Appeal]
More from the Appeal to Reason of March 11, 1905:
WORK
By Franklin H. Wentworth
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Let me but do my work from day to day,
In field or forest, at the desk or loom,
In roaring market-place, or tranquil room;
Let me but find it in my heart to say,
When vagrant wishes beckon me astray-
"This is my work; my blessing, not my doom;
Of all who live, I am the one by whom
This work can best be done in the right way."
Then shall I see it not too great, nor small
To suit my spirit and to prove my powers;
Then shall I cheerful greet the laboring hours,
And cheerful turn, when the long shadows fall
At eventide, to play and love and rest,
Because I know for me my work is best.
-Henry Van Dyke in the Outlook.
But the prevention of discontent will be the prior study, to which the intellect and the energies of the nobles and their legates will be ever bent. To that end the teachings of the schools and colleges, the sermons, etc., will be skillfully and persuasively molded.
-W. J. Ghent: Our Benevolent Feudalism.
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THE MINER SPEAKS.
Let me but do my work from day to day
A thousand feet from daylight in the murk,
Bent double in a narrow vein of coal;
While at his desk some lady-handed shirk
Writes poems of the sunshine of the soul,
A-preaching what my tired heart should say
What boots it if swift death lurks close beside
To snuff my life out at a candle's flame,
The low walls reek with seeping wet,
The fire-dew creeps my shortened breath to claim,
While far above me, cursed by naked need,
Wife suckles babe, and hearts of daughters bleed
At giving all they have to shameless greed?
What matters it! When the long shadows fall
At eventide, I'll play and love and rest!
Because I know for me my work is best.
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THE SWEATER SPEAKS.
Let me but do my work from day to day,
In sun-baked attic room or reeking shack,
My needle clicking to consumptive hack,
My throbbing head, My stiff and aching back
Are fitted best for this, the poets say.
Let me but find it in my heart to pray-
When vagrant wishes beckon me astray,
(Wishes for food, or hope of rest, a day)-
"Ah let this be my blessing, not my doom!
Of all who live, I am the one by whom
This work can best be done, in the right way.
Oh, let me sit and stitch and stitch alway!"
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THE WEAVER SPEAKS.
Oh, let me cheerful greet the laboring hours,
From reddening dawn to silent-gathering dark,
Stalking with empty mind and nerves in shreds,
The endless travel of the running threads.
What care I for the woods and blooming flowers?
This suits my spirit and this proves my powers,
What matter song of lark, and radiant sky?
Another reason for my spirits high;
No one can tramp this floor so well as I,
Oh, let me watch the looms until I die!
L'ENVOI.
Oh, Monuments of Greed, who take from toil
The joy and hope that should in toil abide,
How fortunate art thou, that at thy side
A singer sweet with specious song is set
To counsel patience in the face of wrong.
While Justice sleeps, and Tyranny is strong
To keep her throne on Labor's back, so long!
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SOURCE
Appeal to Reason
(Girard, Kansas)
-Mar 11, 1905
http://www.newspapers.com/...
http://www.newspapers.com/...
See also:
"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
http://dlib.nyu.edu/...
Upton Sinclair's original serial version of "The Jungle," published in 1905 by the socialist newspaper, Appeal to Reason, edited and republished the following year by Doubleday after McMillan reneged. The newspaper serialized Sinclair's novel nearly week by week between February 25 and December 16, 1905 and offered the completion of the series in a special supplement that readers had to request separately. PDFs of the articles provided courtesy of Special Collections Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, Kansas.
The Socialist Spirit, Volume 1
F.H. Wentworth, 1901 - Socialism, Christian
(The poet above is most likely the same Franklin H. Wentworth who was the editor of
The Socialist Spirit.)
https://books.google.com/...
IMAGES
Banner for "The Jungle"
http://www.newspapers.com/...
All images with poem by Wentworth
http://www.newspapers.com/...
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Banks of Marble-Pete Seeger
I've seen my brothers working
Throughout this mighty land
l prayed we'd get together
And together make a stand
Then we'd own those banks of marble
With a guard at every door
And we'd share those vaults of silver
That we have sweated for
-Les Rice
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