A. "Yes, sir."
Q. "Then, don't you believe that society has a right to protect itself?"
A. "Not to take life."
Challenged for cause by Mr. Ingham.
Now, you see that this is proof positive that the capitalistic system is upheld by force, is perpetuated by force. Lawyer Ingham calls it in a generic term, society. What do you mean by "society?" What is "society?" Why, a wage worker is no part of society, except to build the palaces for the fellows who run society, to live in, and furnish them with fine clothes and nice wines, with luxury and ease, and so on. They—the workers—are no more part of that society than the slave was of the plantation in the south. They are part of the society as the mud-sills who do the work, but have no part of the benefits. That is the society to which my friend Ingham refers.
Now, we do not want to obey—we Anarchists; we do not want to obey this society—this generic society. What is Vanderbilt, Gould, Mr. Phil Armour, and a lot of that kind? They are the parasites, the leeches, who take all and cry for more. That is society. That constitutes the present society. Now, we do not like those fellows; we do not want to obey them. We do not want to serve them; we do not want to be slaves to them, and by golly, they are going to take our lives because we do not want to obey them; because we are Anarchists, for Anarchy simply means disobedience. Now is that not infamous—is that not ridiculous? The present society is the slavery of labor.
Now, every juryman was asked these questions by, I believe, Mr. Grinnell—or Mr. Ingham—one or the other:
"Do you believe in the enforcement of the law?"
"Do you believe that society has a right to protect itself by law?"
"Have you any sympathy for any person or class whose object is the overthrow of the law, or whose object is to overthrow law and government by violence?"
Now, your honor, what is government but violence? What is it? Force. The last resort of every law is force. They have in reserve, always in reserve, you understand, the police and the militia, always; as long as nobody questions the law, of course nothing is said about the club or the bayonet. But let a strike take place; let the working class object to overwork, starvation wages, or compulsory idleness, then out come the police, the militia, and the Pinkerton army to preserve "law and order," to force, to drive the workers into submission, and "protect" society. Thus labor is enslaved by law. Oh, you sly rogues! Oh, you sly fellows! Why, it is you who cause the workingman—especially if he is an Anarchist like me—to occupy this position. He is damned if he does, and he is damned if he doesn't. So it is tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum, whichever position you take with these gentlemen upon that question.
Now, Juryman Ames, on July 8, said he was a hat and cap merchant. He took a seat in the box. In reply to the question whether he held any prejudice against Anarchists, Communists, and Socialists, he said: "Well, my early education and bringing up is entirely against anything of this kind."
State's Attorney Grinnell then rose and objected to asking jurors as to
