Page:H.M. The Patrioteer.djvu/364

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356
THE PATRIOTEER

vention on the market. It appeared under the name of "World Power," and, as a grandiloquent advertisement announced, it carried the German spirit, stqjported by German workmanship, in triumph all over the world.

Even this educational toilet-paper could not remove all possibility of conflict between master and men. One day Diederich was compelled to issue a warning that he would pay only for dental treatment, but not for new teeth, out of the insurance fund. One man had had an entire set made. As Diederich insisted upon his warning, which was issued after the event, the man sued him, and by some miracle won his case. His faith in the existing order thereby shaken, he became an agitator, his morals declined, and he would certainly have been dismissed under normal circumstances. But Diederich could not bring himself to abandon the set of teeth, which had cost him so much. Therefore he retained the man. … He did not conceal from himself that the whole business was most injurious to the spirit of the working classes. Added to this came the influence of dangerous political events. When several Social Democrats in the newly opened Reichstag building remained seated while cheers for the Emperor were called, there was no longer any doubt that the necessity for antirevolutionary legislation was established. Diederich publicly advocated the idea, and prepared his employes for it in an address which was received in gloomy silence. The majority in the Reichstag was so unprincipled as to defeat the measure, and the result was not long in making itself known; an industrial magnate was murdered. Murdered! An industrial magnate! The assassin declared he was not a Social Democrat, but Diederich knew what that meant from his own work people. The murdered man was supposed to have been well disposed towards the workers, but Diederich knew #hat that meant from his own experience. For days and weeks he never opened a door without the fear that a drawn dagger was behind it. His office was fitted with automatic locks, and in