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people." So the papers obligingly remain silent, or, if commit themselves, opine that government ownership of telegraph lines is not a desirable tiling the United States and Hayti are the only republics in the world which submit to private ownership of the means of graphic communication.
And perhaps you think that we newspaper boys—when working for the Capitalist press and writing this of stuff—maybe you think we believe it ourselves! Well, we don't.
You know that for $25 a week a reporter will go to work on a Republican paper; in that rapacity he'll write with all the force at his command, declaring that everything politically righteous and holy is to be found within the Republican party—and nowhere else. And for a raise of $5 a week he'll walk right across the street and the same thing about the Democrats. Then for $5 more he'll go to a third paper right around the corner and line about a so-called independent party or candidate. In the face of this, I solemnly declare to you that the newspaper man is honest. He has his work to do and he does it. Then why change his polities so readily? I'll tell you. We have learned that whether we work for a Republican paper, or a Democratic paper, or a so-called Independent paper, that we're working for the same gang. We're working for Capitalism. So the Capitalist newspaper man changes his polities as readily as you change your coat.
"Oh," you say. "that applies to the Socialist press too, Creel. You and other men on Socialist papers have changed your politics momentarily. You Socialists, too, are insincere."
There are a number of good reasons why this does not apply. I'll give you three.
In the first place, it would be utterly impossible for a man who has made no deep study of Socialism to write intelligently on the subject. You Socialists will appre-
