ward. To this the Republicans had assented at once; but
the hell of it was -- so Harper explained -- that the Repub~
licans were all of them fools -- a man had to be a fool to
be a Republican in the stockyards, where Scully was king.
And they didn't know how to work, and of course it
would not do for the Democratic workers, the noble red~
skins of the War-Whoop League, to support the Repub~
lican openly. The difficulty would not have been so great
except for another fact -- there had been a curious develop~
ment in stockyards politics in the last year or two, a new
party having leaped into being. They were the Socialists;
and it was a devil of a mess, said "Bush" Harper. The
one image which the word "Socialist" brought to Jurgis
was of poor little Tamoszius Kuszleika, who had called him~
self one, and would go out with a couple of other men and
a soap-box, and shout himself hoarse on a street corner Sat~
urday nights. Tamoszius had tried to explain to Jurgis what
it was all about, but Jurgis, who was not of an imagina~
tive turn, had never quite got it straight; at present he
was content with his companion's explanation that the So~
cialists were the enemies of American institutions -- could
not be bought, and would not combine or make any sort
of a "dicker." Mike Scully was very much worried over
the opportunity which his last deal gave to them -- the
stockyards Democrats were furious at the idea of a rich
capitalist for their candidate, and while they were changing
they might possibly conclude that a Socialist firebrand was
preferable to a Republican bum. And so right here was a
chance for Jurgis to make himself a place in the world,
explained "Bush" Harper; he had been a union man, and
he was known in the yards as a working-man; he must
have hundreds of acquaintances, and as he had never talked
politics with them he might come out as a Republican now
without exciting the least suspicion. There were barrels of
money for the use of those who could deliver the goods;
and Jurgis might count upon Mike Scully, who had never
yet gone back on a friend. Just what could he do?
Jurgis asked, in some perplexity, and the other explained
in detail. To begin with, he would have to go to the

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v?