yards and work, and he mightn't relish that; but he
would have what he earned, as well as the rest that came to
him. He would get active in the union again, and per~
haps try to get an office, as he, Harper, had; he would tell
all his friends the good points of Doyle, the Republican
nominee, and the bad ones of the "sheeny"; and then
Scully would furnish a meeting-place, and he would start
the "Young Men's Republican Association," or something
of that sort, and have the rich brewer's best beer by the
hogshead, and fireworks and speeches, just like the War-
Whoop League. Surely Jurgis must know hundreds of
men who would like that sort of fun; and there would be
the regular Republican leaders and workers to help him
out, and they would deliver a big enough majority on
election day.

When he had heard all this explanation to the end,
Jurgis demanded: "But how can I get a job in Packing~
town? I'm blacklisted."

At which "Bush" Harper laughed. "I'll attend to that
all right," he said.

And the other replied, "It's a go, then; I'm your man."

So Jurgis went out to the stockyards again, and was
introduced to the political lord of the district, the boss of
Chicago's mayor. It was Scully who owned the brick-
yards and the dump and the ice pond -- though Jurgis
did not know it. It was Scully who was to blame for the
unpaved street in which Jurgis's child had been drowned; it
was Scully who had put into office the magistrate who had
first sent Jurgis to jail; it was Scully who was principal
stockholder in the company which had sold him the ram~
shackle tenement, and then robbed him of it. But Jurgis
knew none of these things -- any more than he knew that
Scully was but a tool and puppet of the packers. To him
Scully was a mighty power, the "biggest" man he had
ever met.

He was a little, dried-up Irish man, whose hands shook.
He had a brief talk with his visitor, watching him with
his rat-like eyes, and making up his mind about him; and

[[311]]

p310 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p311w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p312

v?