The mayor stepped to the telephone and called Major Strong, the chief of police.  “Send at once a captain and twenty-five policemen in patrol wagons to the city hall.  Hold fifty more men in readiness.”

A great throng of people occupied the sidewalks and the windows of adjoining buildings.  Thousands of workmen crowded the pavement from curb to curb.  The vast crowd below, though impressive was not new to Colonel Harris nor did it alarm him.

Four years before, his employees were out on a strike for several months.  Then the issue was, “Will the company recognize the demands of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers of America?” The reply of the company was, “No!” The struggle then was severe, but the strike failed.  The present issue was, “Will the company pay an increase of wages?”

The committee of five of the employees soon entered the mayor’s office.  They were much surprised to find that Colonel Harris had returned to the city; it was believed that he had actually set sail for Europe.  The committee unfortunately was a radical one, and did not represent the average thoughtful and conservative type of workingmen.  Evidently the committee had been selected for the purpose of intimidating capital, as their manner did not indicate a conciliatory policy.

Mr. Burns, acting as spokesman, said, “Mr. Mayor, it is 3 o’clock, and we are back again promptly, as you requested, and you see that our committee is increased by several thousand workingmen on the street below who have come to demand bread of a soulless corporation.  Mayor Duty, what do you advise us to do?”

The Mayor was nervous as he replied, “Mr. Burns and members of the committee, I confess that so many thousands of honest and upturned faces of workingmen move my heart.  If I were able it would give me pleasure first to ask you all to partake of a good meal, for more satisfactory business is usually accomplished after people are well fed.  You ask my advice.  Here, gentlemen of the committee, is Colonel Harris, your employer, let him speak to you.”

Memories of a wife and three babies at home, dependent for bread upon his own earnings at the forge, flashing upon the mind of Colonel Harris, sweetened his spirit and softened his voice, so that he spoke briefly and kindly to the committee, repeating, however, what his manager had told the committee at ten o’clock, viz., “that the present bad condition of the steel market would not permit the company to grant the advance of wages they asked.”

The committee, aware of the large profits of former years, sullenly retired, and after the company’s decision had been communicated to the anxious thousands below, the employees of the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co. slowly returned to their homes.  The mayor ordered his chief of police to dispatch immediately in patrol wagons fifty men to the steel works, to guard the property and keep the peace.