Page:H.M. The Patrioteer.djvu/229

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THE PATRIOTEER
221

immediately and had gone off to the South. To the South!—while her wedded husband sat up there in prison, with a sentry marching beneath his barred window. And … a remarkable coincidence! Judge Fritzsche suddenly took leave. A card from him, posted in Genoa, reached Dr. Heuteufel, who showed it round, probably in order to make people forget his own conduct. It was hardly necessary to pump the Lauer servants and the poor, forsaken children. People knew exactly what to think. The scandal grew to such dimensions that the "Netzig Journal" intervened with a warning to the upper ten not to encourage revolutionary tendencies by shameless profligacy. In a second article Rothgroschen set forth the unwisdom of overpraising such reforms as Lauer had introduced into his factory. What did the workers get out of profit-sharing? On an average, according to Lauer's own showing, hardly eighty marks a year. That might have been given to them in the form of a Christmas present. But then, of course, it would no longer be a demonstration against the existing social order! Then the anti-monarchical views of the manufacturer, as established by the court, would derive no advantage! And if Herr Lauer had counted on the gratitude of the workers, he could now learn better, provided, Rothgroschen added, that he was allowed to read the Social Democratic newspaper in prison. There they accused him of having endangered the existence of several hundred working-class families by his irresponsible remarks about the Emperor.

The "Netzig Journal" took account of the changed circumstances in another very significant way. The manager, Tietz, went to Hessling's factory for a portion of his paper supply. They were printing more papers, and Gausenfeld, he said, had more orders than could be filled. Diederich thought at once that old Klüsing himself was behind this move. He was interested in the newspaper, and nothing happened there without his consent. If he surrendered something it was obviously because he was afraid he would otherwise lose even more. The