"What could Major Thorne do against such
a combination?" he asked.
"I don't know," said the Major, shrugging his shoulders. "It's a
case to take to a lawyer--one who knows the ropes. Hawkins over
there would know what to tell you. I should imagine the thing he'd
advise would be to call a strike of the men who handle the coal, and
tie up the companies and bring them to terms."
"You're joking now!" exclaimed the other.
"Not at all," said the Major, laughing again. "It's done all the
time. There's a building trust in this city, and the way it put all
its rivals out of business was by having strikes called on their
jobs."
"But how could it do that?"
"Easiest thing in the world. A labour leader is a man with a great
deal of power, and a very small salary to live on. And even if he
won't sell out--there are other ways. I could introduce you to a man
right in this room who had a big strike on at an inconvenient time,
and he had the president of the union trapped in a hotel with a
woman, and the poor fellow gave in and called off the strike.
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