m of the power of
gold and I inherited his misfortune.

"My first work was as a helper in the great Pennsylvania Iron Trust's
works that are owned by that old man, the self-styled philanthropist,
Ephraim Barnaby, a hypocrite of the first water, who goes about the
world asking people how he can best dispose of his fabulous fortune.

"From the rank of helper I soon rose to the position of foreman of the
moulding shop. This was a most important place and I felt proud that I
had attained it in so short a period as three years.

"It was my ambition to learn all I could relating to the work in the
iron industry. Toward this end I spent four hours every night in reading
and experimenting. At the end of another three years I had a fund of
knowledge that put me in the front rank as a constructing engineer.

"But I was not a graduate of a college of engineering, so I could not
get the degree. The opportunity of utilizing my practical knowledge by
forming a competing company was closed by the bar of traffic rates.

"My employers advanced me to the rank of superintendent of the shops in
the largest iron manufacturing city in the state. I had to be satisfied
with a position under the iron masters.

"Then came the memorable strike that led to the killing of the men by
the paid detectives of the Iron Masters.

"The claims of the men were just, and as a man I could not side against
them. I put my fortune in with them. The details of the strike are known
to you all. The story of the shooting of unarmed mill hands at the
instance of the mill owners will never be forgotten; it has marked an
era in the history of this country.

"Well, I was a conspicuous figure in those days. The strikers hailed me
as a champion; the mill owners first sought to win me over; then they
contrived to do away with me. Three times I was assaulted by murderous
men who had been hired to kill me.

"When their schemes of violence failed they resorted to the most
effective method of destroying me. They discharged me and