Upton Sinclair

“ MRS. AUSTIN. [Eagerly.] Wait and see. You are a man... you can be helped yet...
AUSTIN. [Coming forward.] What does this mean?
JIM. [Starts wildly and reaches for revolver.] Ha!
AUSTIN. [Raising weapon.] Holdup your hands!
MRS. AUSTIN. [Rushing forward.] No. Stop!
AUSTIN. What do you mean?
MRS. AUSTIN. I say stop! I promised him his freedom!
AUSTIN. My dear...
MRS. AUSTIN. Give me the weapon.
AUSTIN. Why...
MRS. AUSTIN. Give it to me. [Takes revolver.] Now sit down.
JIM. [Has been staring wildly at AUSTIN.] My God, it's the lawyer fellow!
MRS. AUSTIN. Yes, it is he. ”

“ You can talk and feel sorry... but you ain't made to do things. You have to have your houses and your fine dresses ... and you couldn't live without them, and there'd be no use your trying. And that means you have to live off my class... you have to ride on our backs. And it don't much matter which part you ride on, as far as I can see. You'll make your husband get a new job, maybe; but he'll do the same thing in another way... only you won't find it out. But any way he gets his money it'll come out of me and my kind. D'ye see? I do the work... I'm the man underneath. ”

“ There's an awful lot of accidents... more than the world has any idea of. I've seen a man sent to hell in the snapping of a finger. And they don't treat them fair... they hush things up. There are things you wouldn't believe if I told them to you.
MRS. AUSTIN. Tell them.
JIM. I've seen a man there get caught in one of the cranes. They stopped the machinery, but they couldn't get him out. They'd have had to take the crane apart, and that would have cost several days, and it was rush time, and the man was only a poor Hunkie, and there was no one to know or care. ”

“ This looks pretty good.
[Goes to mantel, takes silver cup and puts it into bag which he carries; then exit left.]
AUSTIN. [Enters at front door without much noise. Hangs up coat and hat, and then stands in entrance. He is a smooth-faced young man in evening dress.] All gone to bed, hey?
[Takes out cigarette case and is about to light one, when a crash is heard off left, as of a vase falling. He starts, then runs to table, opens drawer, takes out revolver, and examines it, and steals off through the other entrance at left, saying, "That noise seemed to come from downstairs."] ”

“ Only sometimes I've thought I'd like to meet that young lawyer...
MRS. AUSTIN. [Starting up.] Oh!
JIM. Yes, it all began with him. But I don't know... they'd only jug me. Anyway, tonight I was sitting in a saloon with two fellows that I had met. One of them was a second-story man... a fellow that climbs up porches and fire-escapes. And I heard him telling about a haul he'd made, and I said to myself: "There's a job for me... I'll be a second-story man." And I tried it... but you see I didn't do very well. I'm not good for much, I guess, any more. ”

“ MRS. AUSTIN. A release?
JIM. I had accepted the hospital expenses as a release for all the company owed me. And I couldn't get any damages... and my eye was gone, and all the weeks without any wages.
MRS. AUSTIN. My God!
JIM. And they turned me out so weak I could hardly walk; and...
MRS. AUSTIN. [Greatly excited.] Who was this man?
JIM. Which?
MRS. AUSTIN. This lawyer?
JIM. I never heard his name. He was a young fellow... handsome... smooth-faced...
MRS. AUSTIN. [Whispering.] Oh!
JIM. Ah, they don't mind it... they're smooth. They do that all the time. ”

“ JIM. It's the way I live.
MRS. AUSTIN. Isn't it a rather trying kind of work?
JIM. It ain't all play, ma'am.
MRS. AUSTIN. [Smiling.] I should think it would be hard on the nerves. [After another pause.] Is there no honest way you can earn a living?
JIM. I don't know. Maybe so. I got tired of looking for it.
MRS. AUSTIN. I might help you if you would let me.
JIM. I ain't asking any help.
MRS. AUSTIN. No, but I'm offering it. [After a pause.] Have you been doing this sort of thing very long?
JIM. No.
MRS. AUSTIN. How long?
JIM. [After hesitation.] This is my first job. ”

“ We cannot let the evil go on. You yourself have no right to do it... you have no right to give up your life.
JIM. I see what you mean, lady; and I'm sorry for you. I'd help you if I could. But it's too late... I know that. There can't anybody save me. I'm rotten... I'm a boozer. I couldn't stop if I wanted to. And I ain't got any reason to want to. I ain't in the running.
MRS. AUSTIN. [Stretching out her arms.] But what can I do?
JIM. You can look after them that ain't down. Look after them that your husband and the rest of the company's sharks will do up tomorrow. ”