the government, to be dealt with accordingly.

A unanimous decision to carry out the plan is reached.

At this juncture Nevins appears.

He asks permission to proceed with the reading of the list of the
proscribed. He is recognized and begins his startling speech.

"In the lapse of years one is apt to forget the springs from which the
wells of human action are fed; it is commonly the lot of man to sink
into a state of mind that is at once unreceptive and unretentive. The
result is that at the age of thirty he finds himself incapable of
grasping new and difficult conceptions. This is the reason why so many
injustices are permitted to exist in the world. Men in their youth are
thoughtless; in their mature and old age they are neglectful or
willingly negligent.

"A degree of success or a degree of failure has a like tendency to blunt
the finer qualities of the mind. A man with a competency will not take
the troubles of his fellow man to heart. The unfortunate man who has not
the wherewithal to support his family is in no position to take the
initiative in a labor movement or in a political revolution.

"So the work devolves upon the few men who have the means and the
inclination to strive for the betterment of humanity.

"Yet even these men are not always capable of judging events by their
true proportions and relations.

"Advancement is the one thing that reformers fear. The ends they would
attain are almost always reconstructive; they are never creative."
Nevins utters these words with impressive emphasis.

"These remarks I have made by way of prelude to the matter I shall now
proceed to discuss directly and earnestly.

"We are each and all convinced that the pernicious system of fostering
monopolies that has been instituted in this country can have but one
result, the undermining of our popular institutions, and in their place
the substitution of moneyed Plutocracy. This result is abhorrent to
every true American.

"Now, there is no way to put an end to monopolies excep