Page:The Wisconsin idea (IA cu31924032449252).pdf/77

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THE REGULATION OF BUSINESS
53

the eve of the trial considerable more than the maximum mentioned.'


"The local attorney finally succeeded in making a compromise settlement for $2500, the face of the policy, thus evading the double indemnity."

The horrible thing about all this is that it is so universal. How can we make good citizens out of the fellow-workers of Anton Lund and Mike Koran with such an example before them? Is it any wonder that the "Boss" is triumphant in American politics? Why, the Boss is absolutely needed in a system of this kind! The Boss can get justice; he has power and sympathy and can strengthen his hold with every appeal for his aid.

Read the following from an article in Everybody's Magazine—true, every word of it.


"'Somebody's got to get hurt, and that's all there is to it. But there is one thing that makes the boys mad.' The speaker was a lean, quiet, shrewd-looking Scotchman of middle age, proprietor of a tiny lunch room where dinner is served for a quarter. He leaned over the desk, on his right elbow.

"'Who ought to pay the damage?' With his thumb he pointed to the limp sleeve that hung in place of his left arm. 'There is a law for damages,' he went on, 'and there's plenty of lawyers around the docks who know just how to handle it. These lawyers are employed by the Ship Company, or by some insurance firm that hacks the Company, I don't know exactly which. All I do know is that for a good many years while I was at work as a docker