The Brigands at Work
better off than the poverty-stricken, half-starved wretches who worked for private firms.
Councillor Didlum said that it was very hevident that Dr Weakling had obtained his seat on that Council by false pretences. If he had told the ratepayers as he was a Socialist they would never have elected him. (Hear hear). Practically every Christian minister in the country would agree with him (Didlum) when he said that the poverty of the working classes was not caused by the 'wretched renumeration they receive as wages,' but by Drink (loud applause), and he was sure enough of one thing, that the testimony of the clergy of all denominations was more to be relied upon than the opinion of a man like Dr Weakling. (Hear, hear).
Dr Weakling said that if some of the clergy referred to or some of the members of that Council had to exist and toil amid the same sordid surroundings, overcrowding and ignorance as prevailed among the working classes, they would probably seek to secure some share of pleasure and forgetfulness in drink themselves. (Great uproar and shouts of 'order', 'withdraw', 'apologise.')
Councillor Grinder said that even if it was true that the haverage lives of the working classes was twenty years shorter than those of the better classes, he could not see what it had got to do with Dr Weakling. (Hear, hear). So long as the working class was contented to die twenty years before their time he failed to see what it had got to do with other people. They was not runnin' short of workers, was they? There was still plenty of 'em left. (Laughter). So long as the workin' class was satisfied to die orf, let 'em die orf! It was a free country. (Applause). The workin' class 'adn't arst Dr Weakling to stick up for them, had they? If they wasn't satisfied they would stick up for theirselves! The working men didn't want the likes of Dr Weakling to stick up for them, and they would let 'im know it when the next election came round. If he (Grinder) was a worldly man he would not mind betting that the workin' men of Dr Weakling's ward would give him 'the dirty kick out' next November. (Applause).
Councillor Weakling, who knew that this was probably true, made no further protest. Rushton's proposition was carried, and then the clerk announced that the next item was the resolution Mr Didlum had given notice of at the last
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