Upton Sinclair

“ And then John Edstrom spoke, suggesting that they should agree upon their course of action in case they were offered violence.
"You think there's much chance of that?" said some one.
"Sure there be!" cried Mike Sikoria. "One time in Cedar Mountain we go see boss, say air-course blocked. What you think he do them fellers? He hit them one lick in nose, he kick them three times in behind, he run them out!"
"Well," said Hal, "if there's going to be anything like that, we must be ready." ”

“ I tell weigh-boss somebody steal my cars, and he pull gun on me, and he say, 'Get the hell off that tipple, you old billy-goat, I shoot you full of holes!'"
Among his class-mates at college, Hal had been wont to argue that the proper way to handle a burglar was to call out to him, saying, "Go ahead, old chap, and help yourself; there's nothing here I'm willing to get shot for." What was the value of anything a burglar could steal, in comparison with a man's own life? ”

“ His admiration was increased by what John Edstrom was saying--they must do nothing that would injure the cause of the "big union," and so they must resolve to offer no physical resistance, no matter what might be done to them. ”