“What is the use of the secret ballot if men cannot go to the polls and register there the opinion they hold?” Martha asks, with irony in her voice.

“Ah, the secret ballot is but another of the illusive baits which the rich wisely throw out to the poor to keep them in submission.  It is secret only in name.  The results of an election are what count.  The Magnates have so intimidated the masses that they are no longer possessed of the spirit to vote according to their thoughts,” Trueman replies sadly.

“The Pharisees have preached the doctrine of the sacredness of ’vested rights’ until the people, in many sections of the country, have come to regard the right of property as paramount to the right of mankind to life and liberty.

“Every act that would alleviate the sufferings of the people is at once stigmatized as anarchistic; while the aggressions of the men of money in the legislatures, and through executives, are upheld as justifiable means for the proper protection of property.

“My trip to the West and East has made me doubtful as to the result of the election.  In New York City alone is there a tendency to support me.”

“Oh, do not say that you have lost hope,” expostulates Sister Martha.

“It is not my intention to intimate that I have done so, to any one, other than to you.”

“Ah, I cannot believe that a just God will see you defeated!”

“As matters stand now it will take almost a miracle to elect me.  I have studied all the elements that enter into this campaign.  It will be the last one that can be conducted with the semblance of order.  Four years from now, if not before then, the conditions will be ripe for a revolution; the oligarchy of American manufacturers and bankers will have reached its height and will be on the point of dissolution.  The perfected mechanism of government that it will have established, will be in readiness to be turned over to the people.

“Socialism of a rational sort will result from the sudden and sharp revolution.  History will not be enriched by a new chapter, but be marked by the repetition of its most frequent story—­the fall of empire and the establishment of a new government.  In the end of all governments at the same point, is the strongest argument in support of the theory of reincarnation; a state, as a being, has its birth, mature age, and decay.  None seemingly is endowed with the attribute of immutability.  It was the fond hope of our forefathers that the United States should prove the exception.  Imperialism was the reef on which the classic empires were wrecked; commercialism is the danger that threatens our ship of state.”

“You must take a brighter view of the situation,” insists the sensitive woman, to whom these lugubrious words are as dagger thrusts.  “You must fight as if there was not the shadow of a doubt but that you will be successful.  I have a premonition (woman’s intuition, if you prefer), that you will be the victor in this struggle.”